De Minaur’s Determination: Australia Sets Sights on Belgium in Davis Cup 2025

World number eight, Alex de Minaur, expressed his determination on Friday to “make life difficult” for Belgium as he aims to secure Australia’s spot in the Davis Cup finals for the fourth consecutive year. However, de Minaur will first face a challenging match against 91st-ranked Raphael Collignon in the opening singles round of their second-round qualifier in Sydney on Saturday. Collignon recently made waves at the US Open, achieving a notable victory over world number 12 and former finalist Casper Ruud on his way to reaching the third round.

“He’s going to come after me, and my job is to make his life difficult, basically,” said De Minaur, who advanced to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows. “We’re playing at home on a court that I love, and hopefully, I can come out strong tomorrow, deliver some solid tennis, and get us off to a good start.”

In addition to de Minaur’s match, Jordan Thompson will compete in another singles showdown against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, who is ranked 46th, 31 places ahead of Thompson. The competition continues with reverse singles and doubles matches scheduled for Sunday.

Belgium, seeking to overcome an eight-year dry spell against Australia, aims to reach the final eight for the first time since 2018. The Belgian team is led by Steve Darcis, who played in the 2017 World Group semifinal victory over Australia but acknowledged the difficulty of defeating the 28-time champion. Australia finished as runner-up in 2022 and 2023 and was a semifinalist last year.

Despite the challenge, Darcis remains optimistic about his team’s prospects. “Zizou has a lot of energy. Sometimes we need to calm him down a bit, but he thrives in the Davis Cup environment, loves the big crowd, and is passionate about playing for his country. It’s great to have him on the team,” he commented. “For Raf, it’s a bit of new territory, so I’m going to provide as much guidance as I can.”

The Davis Cup finals will take place in November, hosted by the defending champions, Italy, with seven teams winning this weekend’s qualifiers joining them in the tournament.