De Minaur full of praise for ‘mate’ Kyrgios: watch video

Australian Alex de Minaur has praise his good mate Nick Kyrgios during an interview from hotel quarantine on Australian breakfast TV.

“Nick’s one of the nicest guys out there,” de Minaur said.

“He’s that person that’s always going to have your back, no matter what.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be in Davis Cup ties with him and get to know him better and play side by side with him and he’s one of those guys that has always had a lot of confidence in me and has always, from basically a junior, telling me to believe in myself and to go out there and take it.

“He’s very misunderstood but he’s one of the nicest guys out there and he’ll always have your back.

“We’re almost brothers – pretty close.”

De Minaur revealed that during lockdown in Spain last summer, he learnt to cook, with Chilli con Carne and chicken fajitas his new dishes of choice.

The Australian No. 1 said Tennis Australia had been working with the ATP and the WTA to try and help players in hard lockdown to find more match practise once they emerge from quarantine.

“It’s been tough and it’s good news they have found some solutions to help them,” he said.

“A lot of these players will not have hit a ball for 14 days, so it will take probably a couple of days to get used to it, maybe a week.

“Under the circumstances they (ATP, Tennis Australia, WTA) have done the best they can.”