“It was amazing. I appreciate this kid, the fact that he’s spent 10 hours at the court today in the freezing cold pumping me up. I was happy that I was able to get a win together with him.”
De Minaur and his entourage became determined to track down the young fan, turning to social media to help identify and find him. They were successful, and Paul was courtside again for the match against Medvedev.
“Paul, he’s a legend, right?” de Minaur said with a trademark smile after victory over Medvedev, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.
De Minaur confirmed that his devoted new friend would fill the role of “lucky charm” as the Australian tries to reach a grand slam semi for the first time and potentially even make a charge from the clouds for the claycourt major.
The last Australian man to reach the final eight in Paris was Lleyton Hewitt in 2004. To exceed that feat, de Minaur will have to beat German Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals.
Sydney-born de Minaur will again be relying on passionate support from Paul.
Alex de Minaur pictured as a youngster with his coach Adolfo Gutierrez (left) and (right) this week with his young fan Paul at Roland Garros.
“The beautiful world of social media helped us track him down [and] we got in touch with him, made sure there himself and his and his gang [would be there for my match],” de Minaur told Stan Sport.
“His friends and his coaches were able to come to the match and obviously it was great to meet him after the match and give him a hat and made sure, you know, he’s going be around [my] practice tomorrow.
“He’s going to spend the day with us. So, you know, and he’ll be there for the next one. Obviously, he’s been my lucky charm.”
Loading
“Superfan” Paul said his new relationship with de Minaur was “very cool”.
“I love Alex,” he said in English after spending time with the Australian.
“Go, Alex. Go, Alex.”
He is locked in as key part of team de Minaur. “This is so very cool,” said the French teen after their meeting.
Loading
“He [de Minaur] said ‘you are legend, go see my next match’.”
De Minaur, also a US Open quarter-finalist in 2020, is hell-bent too on further progression after his career-best result in Paris.
“Who would have thought? Who would have thought? At the start of the week I definitely didn’t [expect to be in the final eight],” he said.
“It’s a surreal experience. I played my heart out and in a way showed everyone that I can play well on the clay.
“We’re not done yet. Hopefully we can keep pushing forward.”
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.