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Alex De Minaur has grown fond of Britain through his relationship with girlfriend Katie Boulter but is gunning to lead Australia to victory in Davis Cup on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The likely match-up between world number 12 De Minaur and British number one Cameron Norrie at Manchester\u2019s AO Arena could well be crucial in determining who gets off to the perfect start in this week\u2019s group stage.<\/p>\n
Born in Sydney, De Minaur has also spent a lot of his life in his mother\u2019s home country of Spain, but his passion for Australia burns brightly, particularly when Britain are the opponents.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s years and years of history of rivalry between the two nations,\u201d he told the PA news agency.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWith Katie, I\u2019ve got to spend a little bit more time here in the UK and I\u2019ve been able to get to know a couple of the Brits a little bit better.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always give each other a little bit of crap if our nation wins. It\u2019s always a great competitive spirit between us.<\/p>\n
\u201cKatie\u2019s shown me around. I\u2019ve found a lot of spots that I quite enjoy so it\u2019s been great, especially when the weather\u2019s good. There\u2019s a lot of similarities with Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big thing for me is coffee. They love their coffee here as well, the breakfast places are kind of the same vibe. And one thing that I didn\u2019t have growing up in Australia or Spain is the countryside. I\u2019ve grown really fond of the greenery.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Minaur is Australia\u2019s ace in the pack and arrives in Manchester in the best form of his career having reached his first ATP Masters final in Canada before making the fourth round of the US Open to climb to the brink of the top 10.<\/p>\n
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Among the 24-year-old\u2019s victims in Toronto was Norrie, extending his run of victories against British players to eight from the last nine matches.<\/p>\n
De Minaur played down the significance of that result, saying: \u201cI think Davis Cup is completely different. Every time we play it\u2019s been a battle, even when we practise it goes one way or the other.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always going to be a toss up but I\u2019m looking forward to the challenge and hopefully I can lift my level and play some good tennis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played some great tennis over the last couple of months and I\u2019m really happy with where my level is at. It\u2019s going to be a very good test this group stage, a lot of very good players. Hopefully I can bring it all together and perform.\u201d<\/p>\n
De Minaur is the highest-ranked player in Manchester but there are decisions to be made for both British captain Leon Smith and Australia\u2019s Lleyton Hewitt over who joins him in the tie.<\/p>\n
Norrie has struggled for the past few months and has a patchy Davis Cup record but it would be a surprise if he does not play, with Dan Evans, Andy Murray and 21-year-old Jack Draper also in contention.<\/p>\n
Evans is favourite to partner Neal Skupski in doubles, where Australia have former Wimbledon champions in Matt Ebden and Max Purcell.<\/p>\n
Purcell could well get the nod to play singles after shooting up the rankings this season from outside the top 200 to 43, while Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis are Hewitt\u2019s other options in the absence of the injured Nick Kyrgios.<\/p>\n
In Britain\u2019s favour will be the home crowd. The event has been well-promoted and around 8,000 people are expected for Wednesday\u2019s tie and Friday\u2019s meeting with Switzerland, while Sunday\u2019s clash against France has sold out and will be played in a front of more than 13,000 fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great, ultimately that\u2019s what Davis Cup is about,\u201d said De Minaur. \u201cWe\u2019re going to play the Brits in front of their home crowd so rightfully they\u2019ll have amazing crowd support and it should be a great environment. I\u2019ll be very happy to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Australia certainly have reason to feel they are the favourites given the form of their players and their run last year, when they made it all the way to the final before losing to Canada.<\/p>\n
Asked if they can go one further this time, De Minaur said: \u201cThat\u2019s the dream. Last year gave us a lot of hunger and fire and desire to really be able to accomplish this as a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we showed what a team can do when they have each other\u2019s back because on ranking we weren\u2019t supposed to be a contender. We came together and we showed what it meant to play for Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll do everything we can to do that but it starts here, we\u2019ve got a very tough group and we\u2019ve got to try and get out of here alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The top two teams from the group will move on to the finals week in Malaga in November.<\/p>\n
Stan Wawrinka criticised the sparse crowd for Switzerland\u2019s opening defeat against France on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The weakness of the change of format away from home-and-away ties is the lack of atmosphere for matches not involving the host nation and only a handful of spectators were there to see the start of play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you @3gerardpique @ITFTennis! @DavisCup France vs Switzerland in Manchester lol,\u201d wrote three-time grand slam champion Wawrinka on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n
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Former Barcelona star Gerard Pique instigated the change to the format following the ill-fated takeover by his Kosmos group in 2018, which collapsed earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Adrian Mannarino came from a set down to defeat Dominic Stricker 3-6 6-1 6-3 before Wawrinka\u2019s 6-4 6-4 loss to Ugo Humbert sealed victory for France.<\/p>\n