{"id":359972,"date":"2024-01-14T23:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T00:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=359972"},"modified":"2024-01-15T03:03:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T03:03:18","slug":"seven-or-eight-kilos-stark-change-behind-demons-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=359972","title":{"rendered":"'Seven or eight kilos': Stark change behind Demon's rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex de Minaur<\/a> has to neuter Milos Raonic's serve if he is to advance beyond the first round at this year's Australian Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That's according to Stan Sport's Wally Masur, who outlined the tough task ahead for the 24-year-old on the latest episode of Grand Slam Daily<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coming into this year's grand slam season opener, de Minaur rose to a career-high 10th in the ATP world rankings.<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Australian Open day two<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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That came off the back of wins against current or former No.1 players including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray in 2023.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"This has been coming, this has been building for quite a while," said Masur.<\/p>\n

"He takes on Milos Raonic. A few years ago I think this would have been a difficult prospect obviously, but Demon is one of the best returners in the game, I believe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"If he nullifies the Raonic serve \u2013 he's just on fire from the back of the court \u2013 I'm not sure Milos can stay with him."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine,<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This year marks de Minaur's eighth season of grand slam tennis. Year on year, the Sydneysider has made incremental improvements.<\/p>\n

Asked by host Chris Stubbs what de Minaur has improved on, Masur said the physical development coupled with targeted gains have been key.<\/p>\n

"Every year he just gets that little bit stronger," said Masur.<\/p>\n

\"Dokic<\/p>\n

"He has probably put on about seven or eight kilos since he got on the tour, and that's muscle so you get a little bit more pep on the serve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"He's always been quick. I think one of the big things for Demon, he kind of had an aggressive mindset but almost the body to be a great counterpuncher.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"He's married up the idea that; yes there are times you use your speed to defend and counterpunch, and then picking and choosing the right moments to be aggressive, to move forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

"He has tidied up his net game unbelievably over the years. He's a great volleyer. It's just every facet of the game he is paying attention to and improving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"And of course confidence. There's nothing like confidence. He said himself, he beat Medvedev at the back end of 2022. First time he'd beaten, I'm going to say a top five or top 10 player, and all of a sudden he believed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"You might think, 'How can someone so good need confidence?' At every level, you need to take that step."<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

That's a sentiment echoed by Nine's Jelena Dokic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wide World of Sports' Morning Serve, Dokic said de Minaur can "go far" in this year's Australian Open.<\/p>\n

"I really love what he's done now – he's more aggressive, he's coming forward\ufeff, you can see he's worked on his game," Dokic said.<\/p>\n

"I think he deserves the attention he's getting.\ufeff I think it's only a matter of time until he gets quarters, and semis, and finals at a grand slam."<\/p>\n

"He's now had these\ufeff big wins where they are so important to know that you can stay up there with the best," she added.<\/p>\n

"Not just that you can beat them and get over that line, but you can stay with them physically, you can stay with them mentally.<\/p>\n

"Now the question is can he do it over five sets at a grand slam\ufeff – I believe he can. He does have a tough draw, so a match at a time is really important."\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex de Minaur has to neuter Milos Raonic's serve if he is to advance beyond the first round at this year's Australian Open. That's according […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":359974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=359972"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359979,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359972\/revisions\/359979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/359974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=359972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=359972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=359972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}