A buoyant Alex de Minaur has been left undeterred by his Queen's Club final defeat and believes he's in the frame of mind to beat anyone at Wimbledon.
Not moping over his 6-4 6-4 loss to the incoming world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday's final, Australia's top men's player has been left delighted by the calm mindset that transported him to the championship match in one of the sport's most revered tournaments.
"Overall, a great week, feeling confident, now on to Wimby," said de Minaur, who's booked a top-16 seeding for the grass-court slam with his excellent week's work.
"The positive for the week for me has been my mentality, my mindset, how calm I have been on the court and how I have backed myself at every stage. When I'm in that kind of mindset and attitude, I can beat anyone.
"Even if things don't go my way, I'm content because I know I left it all out there and I try to play the way that I want to play. That's a big positive for me coming into Wimbledon.
"Any time I step out on a grass court, I'm very confident. It's a part of the year I really enjoy. I think it suits my game really well. I can find a lot of my opponents' weaknesses and exploit them."
But de Minaur, who looks much more comfortable on grass courts than many of his contemporaries after first playing on the surface as a nine year-old in Sydney, is not sure how much of an advantage his top-16 seeding, which in theory should make his passage to Wimbledon's second week smoother, will prove.
"In theory, you might get a little bit more protected with your seeding, but you can play anyone first round and it's no secret," said de Minaur, who was 15th seed in 2021 but still got beaten in the first round after being drawn with the unseeded Sebastian Korda.
"There's a lot of very dangerous players that are unseeded, and that can be very tricky," said de Minaur.
"But a top-16 seeding is a good spot to be in. Hopefully, I can have a good Wimbledon, and reach a career high, but I'm taking it very, very slowly."
Currently 16 in the world rankings, a trip to the second week could lift de Minaur beyond his career-best high of No.15 in the world, which he reached after winning the Eastbourne International in the build-up to the 2021 Wimbledon.
He's decided to pull out of this week's Eastbourne event, but will travel to the south-coast seaside venue for pre-Wimbledon practice while managing to spend some time with his girlfriend, British No.1 Katie Boulter.
"I'll be taking a couple of days off, for starters, and then probably start hitting back on maybe Wednesday. It's time to kind of rest the mind, enjoy myself, maybe play a little bit of golf and get ready for hopefully a good run at Wimbledon."
