Alex de Minaur, the tennis player currently ranked eighth in the world and seeded eighth at the US Open, has that lanky-tendoned physique that’s so effective in racquet sports, and he’s turning more than a few heads as we walk through midtown Manhattan. Even if people aren’t placing him immediately, it’s evident that de Minaur has a kind of lissome gravitas, underscored by his lowest-key look: slouchy bleached jeans, a blue baseball cap, and a plain black tee. The only dash of anything fancy is a Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra bracelet on his right wrist, sparkling chrome in the August light.

I ask him about being recognized. “It’s happening more, but I can still go out and enjoy where I am,” he says, as we climb to a shaded gazebo in Central Park.

Now 26, de Minaur—who plays his first matc

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