Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur is returning to competition at the Mubadala DC Open in Washington after a 13-day break following his marriage to British tennis player Katie Boulter.
The couple exchanged vows at a church in Woodhouse, Leicestershire, before celebrating with family and friends in Tuscany, Italy, and a brief honeymoon in Portofino.
Boulter explained that the small church wedding was arranged quickly so her grandfather, who has dementia, could attend.
Following their elimination from Wimbledon, where Boulter lost in the first round and de Minaur fell in the round of 16, the pair finalized their wedding plans.
Boulter has since changed her surname to de Minaur on X and added the initials 'KDM' to her Instagram profile.
De Minaur noted that the time off helped him recover from the disappointment of his Wimbledon exit and prepare for his upcoming campaign in the United States.
"I won't play a tournament for a while. But again, they just accumulate, right?"
he said.
He expressed the difficulty of maintaining focus amidst high expectations on the professional circuit.
"The goals, the beliefs, the dreams that you have, they kind of start fading away or they feel a little bit further away than when they once were," de Minaur said.
Despite the frustration, he emphasized his drive to keep competing at the highest level.
"I'm finding it harder. That's the reality of it.
At the end of the day, I've got no other option, right? I'm not going to say 'I've had enough, I'm hanging up the racquets'," he said.
Reflecting on his resilience, he reaffirmed his willingness to press forward.
"It's fresh now. It hurts like hell now.
But I'll get back up. I'm a competitor, through and through.
So I'll get back up, and I'll give myself another chance," de Minaur said.
He recalled the emotional toll of his loss at Wimbledon.
"It breaks me inside. That's the reality of it," he said.
De Minaur described the immense effort required to reach peak performance levels during major events.
"Many, many hours get put into my craft, and countless years, to have moments like these. To not step up to the plate is truly gut-wrenching," he said.
He calculated that he went nearly two weeks without training before returning to the court in Washington.
"We did the maths, it's probably the longest I've ever had without touching a racquet," de Minaur said.
He downplayed the media attention surrounding his post-match press conference in London.
"I don't think it was warranted, as much as - myself included - a lot of people wanted to make a big deal out of it," he said.
He added that he quickly regained his mental composure prior to arriving in the United States.
"It became a really big thing, but realistically it took me a couple of days to get over it.
It was just the same feelings and emotions that any athlete has after a tough loss. Now I'm feeling great," de Minaur said.
Defending Champion Faces Tsitsipas
Defending champion de Minaur faces Stefanos Tsitsipas in his opening match at the Mubadala DC Open in Washington, where Tsitsipas holds a 12-1 head-to-head record against the Australian.
