Lleyton Hewitt has no regrets about resting Alex de Minaur in decisive mixed doubles match at United Cup | ATP tour | Tennis

United Cup

Hewitt has no regrets about De Minaur sitting out the decisive mixed doubles match in the United Cup

The Australian captain said he and De Minaur are keeping the bigger picture in mind
January 9, 2026

Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt had no regrets about resting Alex de Minaur in the decisive mixed doubles match against Poland in the United Cup quarter-finals in Sydney on Friday evening.

After his two-hour, 18-minute win over Hubert Hurkacz, which sent the tie to a decisive mixed doubles match, De Minaur was not front and center for a mix with Storm Hunter, as he did when Australia needed the mixed point to beat the Czech Republic on Tuesday to advance. the group stage.

Hunter teamed up with John-Patrick Smith in a 6-4, 6-0 loss to Jan Zielinski and Katarzyna Kawa.

“Alex felt a few adjustments over the last few days,” Hewitt said. “He has been training a lot this offseason to prepare for five-set matches. We decided it was best for his body not to raise his hand to play mixed tonight.”

“And when you get to that second game, you have to immediately turn around and switch on. You just don’t want to risk getting injured at certain times, especially with the amount of moves he had to make tonight against a bloody quality player.”

De Minaur produced a heroic performance in singles, saving nine break points in his first four service games before going on a winning run of 21 consecutive points on serve until the late stages of the second set.

He won 82 percent of first serves for the match, a vast improvement from 55 percent and eight double faults in a sloppy opening loss to Casper Ruud earlier in the tournament.

“I think what was a bit strange for me was the number of double faults,” De Minaur said. “That’s something I don’t normally hit. That definitely felt like an anomaly. We went back to the practice court and worked on a few things, a few different feelings.”

“I’m really happy with my serve performance in the next two matches, which kind of shows how much work I’ve put in. If I can land the first serve and play with a lot of first serves, it makes my life a lot easier. It definitely makes me a more dangerous opponent.”