World number eight Alex de Minaur has vowed to “make life difficult” for Belgium as he looks to help Australia secure a fourth consecutive Davis Cup finals appearance.
The 25-year-old will open Australia’s second-round qualifier in Sydney on Saturday against world number 91 Raphael Collignon, who arrives with momentum after a breakthrough run to the third round of the US Open, including a career-best win over world number 12 Casper Ruud.
“He’s going to come after me and my job is to make his life difficult, basically,” said De Minaur, a quarter-finalist at Flushing Meadows himself. “We’re playing at home, we’re playing at a court that I love, and hopefully I can come out tomorrow, put some good tennis on the board and get us off to a good start.”
In the second singles rubber, Jordan Thompson will face Belgian number one Zizou Bergs, ranked 46 in the world and 31 places above Thompson. The tie concludes with reverse singles and doubles on Sunday.
Belgium face a daunting challenge, having not beaten Australia in the Davis Cup for eight years. The last victory came in the 2017 semi-finals, when current captain Steve Darcis played a key role before the team fell to France in the final.
Darcis acknowledged the task ahead but backed his players to rise to the occasion.
“Zizou has a lot of energy, sometimes we need to calm him down a little bit, but he loves Davis Cup, he loves the big crowd, he loves to play for his country,” he said. “So for us, it’s nice to have him in the team. For Raf, he’s a little bit new. So, I’m going to try and help him.”
Australia, 28-time champions and finalists in 2022 and 2023, are aiming to return to the final eight after falling in the semi-finals last year.
The Davis Cup finals will be hosted by defending champions Italy in November. The seven winners from this weekend’s qualifiers will join them in the final stage.
