How Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter went from no to "maybe" to relationship goals

MIAMI, Fla. —Persistence pays off for Alex de Minaur, both on the tennis court and off of it.

After years of knocking on the door of the ATP Tour’s highest echelons, the Aussie finally broke through amid a red-hot start to the season that included a victory over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, a successful title defense in Acapulco, and a new career-high ranking of world No. 9.

And it was that same tenacity that De Minaur says scored him a date with WTA star Katie Boulter—even after the Brit bluntly turned down his first invite.

“Well, I guess everyone’s going to know this now… The first time I asked her out, she straight up said no,” De Minaur revealed to Tennis Channel’s Nick Monroe during a fireside chat at Taste of Tennis Miami. “I asked her out for a coffee date, and she replied with no...

“That was tough to take, but being the persistent person that I am, I asked again and she said maybe. So we went with that, and here we are.”

One of the sports favorite power couples, De Minaur and Boulter enjoyed an evening of great music, even better food and nonstop party vibes ahead of the Miami Open, as they dished out the details about their relationship, winning and losing together, and more.

“Obviously, my very first title was a special one for me, because it was in Nottingham on the grass courts in front of my family. But as disgusting as this sounds, the most fun I've had on a tennis court was mixed doubles last year at Wimbledon,” Boulter said of their 2023 run to the second round at her home Slam.

The pair have shared the ups and downs of life on their respective tennis tours since their relationship began back in 2020, which was made “Instagram official” with an anniversary post from Boulter a year later.

According to De Minaur, their relationship helped him see how much more there is to life away from the weekly grind and cycle of tennis courts, airports and hotels.

“She’s kind of given me a different perspective on how to take results,” De Minaur explained. “I used to live and die by the results, but now I’ve learned to enjoy the process and everything that comes with it. Thanks to her I’ve learned to deal with these losses a little bit better.

“Plus, I don’t want to be cranky when we’re back in the room. I’ve got to sort myself out and snap out of it. She’s been a big help with that.”

But this is tennis, and results do matter. In fact, the couple recently went viral for winning ATP and WTA tournaments on the same weekend—with De Minaur jetting from Acapulco to San Diego straight after his victory over Casper Ruud in the final to support Boulter in her own championship match against Marta Kostyuk.

It can't always be victories and trophies, though, so how do De Minaur and Boulter deal with defeats and disappointments? Turns out, it’s still a bit of a work in progress.

“We do text each other… Whether we get a reply is another thing,” Boulter said with a smile. “But we do straightaway message each other because we’re probably already watching, so we want to let each other know that we are there whenever.”

“But yeah, there aren’t many replies from you,” Boulter added to De Minaur, who grinned back, “I’m getting better!”

Hosted at the JW Marriott Miami rooftop deck, Taste of Tennis featured appearances from ATP and WTA players, from Alexander Zverev and Holger Rune to Kostyuk, Donna Vekic and Alycia Parks.

The evening, which was made possible by sponsors including VOSS Water, Maestro Dobel Tequila, Volkl, Lucky in Love, Chef Works and more, featured some of Miami’s biggest tastemakers like Michael Hernandez of Boulud Sud at the JW Marriott Marquis, Carlos Garcia of Leku Miami, Suuctugu of Artisan Beach House at Bal Harbour Ritz-Carlton, Antonio Bachour of Tablé by Antonio Bachour, Farid Lutfi (Lira Beirut Eatery) and more.

Mark your calendars for Taste of Tennis New York, which returns to Gotham Hall on August 22 ahead of the US Open.

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