"I was kind of hoping he wouldn't come" - Katie Boulter jokes about boyfriend Alex de Minaur's overnight trip to support her in San Diego final
It was a big week for tennis power couple Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur as they lifted 500-level titles in San Diego and Acapulco respectively.
Besides the brilliant tennis, De Minaur making an overnight trip to San Diego hours after his own final to support Boulter has seen him win a fair few new fans.
Boulter, reflecting on the week in a video for the Lawn Tennis Association, said she played her best tennis in the final. She also joked that she was hoping that De Minaur not show up only to quickly retract by saying that she was obviously happy to have him there.
"Somehow I ended up in the final playing some of the best tennis I've played in a very long time and I don't know how but I managed to get over the line and it was a little bit of a fairy tale for me," Katie Boulter said.
"I was kind of hoping he wouldn't come but he insisted on it," she joked, before adding, "Obviously, I was very happy that he was there."
Boulter said she and boyfriend winning big titles in the same week was special, especially given that she is always looking to one-up De Minaur.
"Yes, I won my first WTA 500 and [Alex de Minaur] backed it up and won another 500," Katie Boulter said. "So we had a good week."
"It was actually quite a nice way that it worked that he was always one-upping me and I wanted to match him so it kind of felt like a nice little role going on to the rest of the week, but it just made me want slightly even more because he won," she added.
"This is not a competitive relationship" - Alex De Minaur jokes about relationship with girlfriend Katie Boulter
Alex de Minaur also joked about the competitive nature of his relationship with girlfriend Katie Boulter in the same interview.
The Australian also recalled the trip to San Diego, noting that he took a flight to Tijuana within three hours of completing his media duties in Acapulco.
"This is not a competitive relationship," Alex de Minaur joked. "My final was Saturday 9 pm in Acapulco against Casper Rudd. I finished final finish media at around 1am had transport to go to the airport at 4.15 am.
"So decided to kind of stay awake and pack and and do all that because sleeping was overrated and 6.25 am to from Acapulco to Tijuana across the border and made it to San Diego around 10.30 am."
De Minaur revealed that he had never watched Boulter play live, adding that his girlfriend “smashed” it in the summit clash.
"I hadn't watched our live match of hers up to that day, Katie just went out there and smashed it and made it, uh, an unbelievable weekend," Alex de Minaur said. "We started the year, well, hopefully, we can keep it going. It was a perfect weekend."