Wednesday, January 15, 2025
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Alex de Minaur’s show of ‘incredible sportsmanship’ during clinical opening round victory

Alex de Minaur is through to the second round of the Australian Open, but it didn't come easy with his rival Botic van de Zandschulp producing the "shot of the year".

De Minaur was dominant on Rod Laver Arena, winning 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to set up his next match against American Tristan Boyer on Thursday.

During the third set though, there was a moment where the Australian could only sit back and applaud.

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With the score at 1-1, the Dutchman served at deuce before de Minaur lobbed the ball over him three shots later.

Van de Zandschulp had to retreat quickly before he produced a winning tweener that de Minaur applauded with his racquet.

Alex de Minaur had to overcome Botic van de Zandschulp's shot of the year. Nine/Getty

"Oh my goodness," John Millman said on Nine.

"Shot of the year. The crowd are up on their feet. What have I just seen?

"We see tweeners but that thing was an absolute rocket ship. Elon Musk would've been proud."

De Minaur also had his own notable moment throughout the match, praised for his sportsmanship during the second set.

At 6-5 on serve, the Aussie found a new ball in his set, which would've given him the opportunity to fire off a faster serve.

But he approached the umpire and van de Zandschulp to alert them to a potential advantage.

"Alex showing some incredible sportsmanship there, he didn't really have to tell Botic there was a brand new ball in there," Todd Woodbridge explained on Nine.

"If he takes that and serves, it's going to come off faster."

Despite being free to use the new ball to his advantage that game as he served for the set, he opted not to.

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The 25-year-old was rarely troubled throughout the match and admitted afterwards that his body is close to the best it's been in his career.

"The body feels great, it's been a long time since it felt this good and I'm more than anything just relieved. I'm happy to move, slide around the court, burn my shoes, it's a good feeling that one," he told Nine.

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