Nick Kyrgios set to make New York comeback as Alex de Minaur gives his verdict

Alex de Minaur believes there is space in the crowded tennis calendar for additional events, as he urged the sport’s decision-makers to make space for tournaments like the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS).

De Minaur is preparing to play in the New York edition of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, where Aussie maverick Nick Kyrgios is scheduled to make his return to the game.

Kyrgios has hinted he will play some doubles matches as he looks to recover from long-standing injury issues and he appeared to be edging closer to a comeback when he was a regular hitting partner with Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon earlier this month.

Now Kyrgios will be hoping to prove he can get back into top gear with an appearance in UTS New York between August 22 and 23, with the event taking place just before the US Open at the historic Forest Hills venue.

A stellar line-up in New York will also include Andrey “Rublo” Rublev and Casper “The Ice Man” Ruud already, while legendary French showman Gael “La Monf” Monfils and Australia’s Alex “The Demon” de Minaur also confirmed to be taking part.

Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) is the world’s newest, most exciting, innovative tennis league, playing an entirely reinvented game format.

This new and brash version of tennis has been conceived by respected coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who wants to spread the game to a younger audience.

With each player receiving just one serve per point and the action is broken up into four timed quarters, this is tennis as we have never seen before, with the big crowds in attendance and bumper prize money making UTS one of the big success stories of tennis in recent years.

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Tennis365 spoke to De Minaur in an exclusive interview on the Wimbledon broadcast balcony and he told us the tennis world needs to find ways to bring a younger audience into the sport, which is the primary goal of UTS creator Mouratoglou.

“UTS is exciting and something different,” De Minaur told us. “It gives you a different view of how to play points. I’ve played a couple of these now it’s definitely exciting for the players and the fans.

“It’s a good way to break up the season and have a different kind of experience for the fans.

“UTS is still competitive tennis and the prize money makes sure that will always be the case, but you can also have a lot of fun.

“If there are aspects of your game you are working on, this is a great chance to try things our and the big change here is clearly that we only get one serve.

“Like everything in life, you can take something out of a UTS tournament and try and take it into your next match.

“Look, we all want that big pay cheque and we all want to win, so that’s what gets the best out of the players at UTS.”

Crowds are expected to be quiet during traditional tennis events, but UTS encourages raucous behaviour from fans and De Minaur enjoys the madness.

“I find it a little easier to deal with when I know it’s going to happen,” he added.

“If you get a totally silent stadium and someone shouts at a key moment, that can be a problem, but UTS is noisy with the music playing and the crowd shouting an it’s a very different vibe.

“It also shows that you can play in that environment, which maybe I didn’t think before.

“The crowd are going nuts and screaming while you are playing, but somehow it seems fine when you are playing in UTS.”

Before his appearance at UTS in New York, De Minaur will play for Australia at the Olympic Games in Paris and he is relishing the prospect of going for gold.

“I have always wanted to be an Olympian and I am just so excited to represent the green and gold in Paris,” he told the Tennis Australian website.

“Obviously last time round I got a little bit unlucky not to be able to play in Tokyo, but I’ve had my eyes set on Paris and I am super excited to now be officially part of this Team.”

“Representing Australia is always a pride and an honour and the Olympic Games is probably one of the highest accolades you can achieve. It is so special and of course you want to do your best because you’re not just playing for yourself, you’re playing for your team and your country.”

“I am really looking forward to just immersing myself in what it means to be an Olympian, I am excited see all the other sports, meet some of my fellow athletes and teammates and make some new Aussie friends.”