Alex de Minaur (/də mɪˈnɔːr/ də mih-NOR; Spanish: Álex de Miñaur Román, pronounced ; born 17 February 1999) is an Australian-Spanish professional tennis player also known as “pocket Fromberg”. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 15 on 28 June 2021 and a doubles ranking of No. 58 on 12 October 2020.
Early life and junior career
De Minaur was born in Sydney, Australia. His father, Anibal, is Uruguayan and his mother, Esther, is a Spaniard. His father owned an Italian restaurant on George Street in Sydney and met Esther when she began working there as a waitress. De Minaur has two brothers and three sisters — Dominic, Daniel, Natalie, Cristina, and Sara.
His name is commonly pronounced /diː mɪˈnɔːr/, inspiring both his nickname of the Minotaur and his logo used when signing the camera lens after winning matches.
De Minaur has dual Australian and Spanish citizenship. He spent the first five years of his life in the south Sydney suburb of Carss Park before relocating to Alicante, Spain. He completed most of his early education in Spain before returning to Australia at age 13. As of 2015, de Minaur was living in Spain. De Minaur has stated that he has always felt a strong bond with Australia even though he has lived most of his life in Spain. In 2017, he told the Sydney Morning Herald "I used to represent Spain but I always felt I was Australian. As soon as we moved back here again that was the first thing I wanted to do — play for Australia."
De Minaur is fluent in English and Spanish and also speaks some French.
Alex, in 2005, with his parents (back) and his first coach, Cindy Dock (left), a former Australian player. Taken in Alicante, Spain.
De Minaur began playing tennis at age three at the Sydney Private Tennis Academy at the Parkside Tennis Courts in Kogarah Bay. He was coached by Kerry Dock and then by Cindy Dock, a former Australian player. He has been coached by Adolfo Gutierrez since he was nine years old and living in Alicante. De Minaur reached a career-high ranking of 2 on the juniors circuit and won the 2016 Australian Open boys' doubles title alongside Blake Ellis. Although Lleyton Hewitt has never officially been his coach, he continues to be a mentor.