Alex de Minaur moving on from 'not ideal' Katie Boulter situation at Wimbledon

When Alex de Minaur takes to Centre Court for his quarter-final showdown with Novak Djokovic on Monday, his loyal fiancee Katie Boulter will be cheering him on. The British No. 2 suffered a crushing second-round defeat to Solana Sierra last week, and De Minaur later said it was "not ideal" to see Boulter dumped out so early.

But the tennis power couple have now moved on from the tough loss, and it hasn't stopped Boulter from coming out to support her Aussie beau. After helping his fiance deal with her early exit, De Minaur will turn his attention to his toughest test yet, facing Djokovic at SW19.

Boulter had been primed for a good run at her home Grand Slam tournament after upsetting No. 9 seed Paula Badosa on Centre Court in round one.

The draw started to open up for the world No. 443, she blew a one-set lead over lucky loser Solana Sierra and was thrashed in the next two sets as the Argentine won 6-7(7) 6-2 6-1.

The next morning, De Minaur had to return to the All England Club to play his own second-round match, coming from a set down to beat qualifier Arthur Cazaux in four sets. And he later admitted it was tough to compete after seeing Boulter suffer heartbreak on the court.

"There's no real rule book that you can go on, but it's not ideal. It's not nice. I felt for Katie yesterday, and I've been in those positions myself," he explained.

"It's not easy by any means to, yeah, forget about it. It's something that kind of stays with you. On my side, you know, there's obviously the part of doing my best to comfort her and try to be there for her the same way she is there for me through the good stuff and the bad stuff.

"It definitely does have a little bit of impact on yourself, and you've got to do your best to try and have a mental reset and kind of shift your focus towards yourself and realising that you do have a match the following day that you've got to prepare for, it's not going to be an easy one, it's going to be a battle.

"So yeah, it's a lot of different aspects to deal with, which aren't easy, I think I can get better at, but that's experience."

De Minaur might feel as though he still has some learning to do when it comes to navigating Boulter's defeats. But the No. 11 seed has done just fine getting to the fourth round, where he meets Djokovic.

The pair were meant to face off in the quarter-finals here last year, but De Minaur pulled out of the tournament with a hip injury a few hours before their match. He fell on court at the very end of his previous match against Arthur Fils and sustained a cartilage tear.

Now, the Aussie is hoping to finish what he started 12 months ago when he meets seven-time champion Djokovic on his favourite court. De Minaur has a 1-2 record against the Serb.

He was thrashed at the 2023 Australian Open, then beat Djokovic at the 2024 United Cup. The world No. 6 got him a few months later in Monaco, but De Minaur knows this will be his biggest challenge yet.

"That first one we played was a whitewash. He was way too good, and I had no answers for him. Then for me in my career it was an incredible moment to be able to overcome that previous result and actually finish out on top," he explained.

"I think the last time we played, I wouldn't classify it as the best match we've played. I think it was quite scrappy from both of us. It wasn't our best level. He kind of ended up on top, but I wouldn't say that he played great or I played great. It was just kind of a little bit of a scrappy match.

"Now I'm getting to play him on one of his, if not his favourite surfaces and his favourite tournament. So it's going to be the ultimate challenge, and I'm excited for it."