Katie Boulter & Alex de Minaur face ‘unique situation’ after announcing engagement

Pictured: Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur announcing their engagement.
Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur are engaged.

Tennis power couple Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur have announced their engagement – but will soon find themselves on the opposite side of the court.

British WTA No 1 Boulter, 28, confirmed on Instagram that she and ATP world No 9 de Minaur, 25, were engaged with a post captioned “We’ve been keeping a small secret…” on Monday.

The pair started dating in 2020 and first went public with their relationship in early 2021, and have become one of the most popular couples on the tennis circuit.

However, just over a week after confirming their engagement, the pair will have to put their relationship aside when Great Britain takes on Australia at the United Cup in Perth on New Year’s Day.

The clash between the two nations is set to be the final tie in Group F and could be crucial in determining who progresses to the knockout stages.

It will be the second straight year that Britain and Australia meet in the competition, having also met 12 months ago.

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“I wouldn’t say I was thrilled at the idea of playing him all over again,” said Boulter to Sky Sports.

“Obviously, he’s a top-10 player and he knows how to play tennis. So, there’s one side of it, and there’s a personal side of it as well which is difficult – but also great for bragging rights.

“I am looking forward to the match, of course. I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere, playing Australia is always going to be fun. It’s another opportunity, we’re definitely the underdogs – so let’s put pressure on them.

“I don’t think he’s going to be out there cheering for me. Obviously, I’m always supporting him, I support what he does.

“In that match, it’s a very unique situation and something that I’m not that used to. We’ll just try to handle it the best we possibly can, and I’ll be supporting him every single time from the box for the rest of the year.”

Boulter played a starring for Britain in their round-robin win at the 2024 United Cup, beating Ajla Tomljanovic while compatriot Cameron Norrie battled past de Minaur in three sets.

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However, thanks to a mixed doubles win for Storm Sanders and Matthew Ebden against Boulter and Neal Skupski, it was Australia who progressed after also defeating the United States.

Boulter is currently projected to face Olivia Gadecki in the women’s singles tie while de Minaur is projected for a men’s singles clash versus Billy Harris.

The two could well find themselves against each other in the mixed doubles, though the pairings for that are not confirmed until the day of the rubber.

“I don’t know how to explain it, it’s almost surreal. It’s just a whole year later, and here we are again”, added de Minaur.

“It’s going to be interesting once again. Last year that was the case and hopefully we can play some good tennis.”

Busy season for tennis engagements

De Minaur and Boulter are by no means not the only tennis couple to announce their engagement this off-season.

In fact, the Australian is one of five high-profile ATP Tour stars who have got engaged in recent months.

World No 6 Casper Ruud confirmed his engagement to long-term partner Maria Galligani, while Felix Auger-Aliassime proposed to girlfriend Nina Ghaibi.

Reigning Canadian Open champion Alexei Popyrin is set to marry partner Amy Pederick, while Marton Fucsovics got engaged to girlfriend Nini Molnar.

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