'WELCOME TO THE BIG TIME'

Alex De Minaur was a 'National Hero' back in January as he swept all before him on his way to the semis in Brisbane and the final in Sydney. To top those results off he was also 'lucky' enough to hit regularly in Australia with his new 'mentor', Lleyton Hewitt.
The paparazzi couldn't get enough of it, Alex was the 'new Lleyton' of Australian tennis and we as a tennis loving Nation were finally saved after all the drama with Bernie and Nick. Life was going to be good again in Australian tennis, no doubt about it.
Personally I was a little skeptical about the whole new partnership thing, for two reasons.
Firstly I was under the impression that Alex was in fact a Spanish tennis product as he had been coached on the clay in Spain by a Spanish tennis coach for the last ten or so years plus I wondered what on earth Lleyton had to do with it all apart from his ego.
Anyhow Alex was well and truly over played in those two lead up tournaments to the Oz Open in January and he was physically gone by the time he played Berdych in the first round in Melbourne. Blind Freddy could have seen that after the work load in Brisbane Alex simply required a week of practice and relaxation as opposed to a week of physical torment in a hard court tournament just prior to the first Slam of the year.
( Apparently his team knew better ). 
Anyhow Alex came back after a break and played Davis Cup against Germany, great performance against Zverev, just falling short of a huge victory, 6-7 in the fifth.
The 'Aussie/ Spaniard' has been playing spasmodically since as he searches for a way to win against the big boys of the tour.
Here's an update for you.
Alex won a round in Miami against Struff of Germany before losing 2 and 1 to Del Potro in the second round.
This week however was a real eye opener to just how tough not only the World Tour is but just how tough it is going to be for Alex to make an impression until he becomes both physically and mentally stronger.
At the Grand Prix Hassan in Morocco this week De Minaur scraped past a guy in the first round of qualifying by the name of Geoffrey Blancaneaux of France who is ranked 267 and has won just over $8,000 this year in prize money. No that is not a misprint, Geoffrey has won EIGHT GRAND. 
Alex won when Geoffrey retired in the third set. For the record, the first two sets were split at 6-7, 7-5.
In round two of qualifying Alex lost to a guy by the name of Alexey Vatutin of Russia, ranked 160 who has won $28,000 this year. Not a household name Alexey yet he typifies Mens World Tennis, flash name, owns a ranking to be respected, knows one thing, relies on one thing, the ability to hit a tennis ball. 
That's the problem in World Tennis when a kid comes onto the scene, they are up against men who are physically and mentally years ahead of them. Only the strongest of kids will be able to take the losses and use them as an educational tool for future growth, many pack it in and get a real job.
So Alexey won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 against Alex , nothing in it, yet that's tennis for you, there's never much in it, only the best will sneak through the tough ones on a regular basis. 
It's one thing to win at home in front of a parochial Aussie crowd, it's another to win over the other side of the World against Geoffrey and Alexey in front of a modest Moroccan crowd who couldn't care less who won.
Tough gig tennis, welcome to the big time Alex........