Ace tennis star Alex de Minaur said that there is nothing greater than playing for the country and is thrilled to represent Australia in the inaugural United Cup.
"For me, there is no greater honour than to represent your country. It's another chance, another opportunity to do everything I can to hopefully get a win for Australia. I'll make sure I'm ready to go and ready to give it my all," said the World No 24 as quoted by ATPtour.com.
During a practice session under the watchful eye of Tony Roche, De Minaur got an early glimpse at the conditions at Ken Rosewall Arena. Australia has been drawn in a strong Group D with Spain and the United Kingdom for the round-robin stage of the mixed-team event.
"It'll be excellent for us to really challenge ourselves and have tremendous wins before the Australian Open. It will be difficult, but we enjoy being the underdogs. Hopefully, we can push each other, have each other's backs, and play some amazing tennis that will make Australia proud," said De Minaur.
Australia excelled in team events in 2022, reaching the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup finals for the first time in nearly three decades. De Minaur believes that Australia is a United Cup frontrunner as an outcome of these results.
"(We have) shown how tough we are, how much it means to play for Australia and how much pride we have in representing the green and gold," said the 23-year-old. "We might not have people in the top 20, but we are still out there making finals in both Billie Jean King Cup and the Davis Cup.
De Minaur is especially excited that the Australian team will be participating in his hometown of Sydney.
"I'm looking forward to being back in Sydney, back on the courts I grew up on. "It'll be great to perform in front of an Australian crowd again. To get the chance to represent our country here at home in Australia is going to be great. It would obviously mean a lot if we can do some damage and take home the title, especially in front of our home crowd," remarked the 23-year-old.
De Minaur confessed to having some anxiety about playing mixed doubles.
"That would definitely be a new thing for me. I'd be potentially making my debut on the mixed doubles court," he explained. "Who knows if that will happen? We've got a lot of great options on the team, so we'll keep our opponents guessing until the last second," said the Aussie tennis star.
The inaugural United Cup brings together the best ATP Tour and Hologic WTA Tour players in an 18-country teams' event played over 11 days across three Australian cities: Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.
( With inputs from ANI )
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