Alex de Minaur has added a new coach and is turning to technology in his quest for a breakthrough major title at next week's Australian Open.
The 23-year-old Australian continued his strong start to the year by beating former US Open champion Dominic Thiem 6-3 6-4 at their exhibition match at the Kooyong Classic on Tuesday.
De Minaur also posted a rousing victory over reigning Open champion and world No.2 Rafael Nadal in the United Cup last week.
It continued a recent run of winning results against grand slam champions, with De Minaur also beating Marin Cilic, Daniil Medvedev and Andy Murray in the past three months.
Ranked No.24, De Minaur has brought former Australian Davis Cup player Peter Luczak in to his coaching staff, joining Adolfo Gutierrez who has coached him since he was nine.
Luczak also coaches fellow Australians Jordan Thompson and John Millman and will be with de Minaur on a part-time basis.
"Peter Luczak is going to be a great addition to the team," de Minaur told reporters at Kooyong.
"He's one of the most positive guys out there and he's done a lot of years on tour as well so it'll be a great little partnership to kind of split weeks between my basically childhood coach Adolfo and now Peter.
"It's going to be great to just switch to a couple of weeks here, a couple of weeks there and I think it's going to bring a different set of eyes, which is always great."
De Minaur wore a sports tracker during his match against Thiem, desperate to find an edge to help him better last year's fourth round Open showing, his finest result in Melbourne.
"This is something new, something we've been trying recently," he said.
"This was a good chance to get as close as I possibly can to getting the data that I would in a match, so it will be great to see a little bit more data - see bits and pieces where I can improve and get better. Ultimately that is what I have been trying to do my whole career."
A finalist at Melbourne Park in 2020, Thiem received a wildcard into this year's major after a serious wrist injury which led to his ranking plummeting from a career-high of three to outside the top 300 last year.
He has worked his way back up to No. 99, gained a start at Kooyong through the injury-enforced withdrawal of world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz, and says he is ready to tackle the Open.
"It was a decent match - I was happy that I get the chance to play here you know instead of Carlos Alcaraz," the 29-year-old Austrian said.
"I was really happy about it to get two good matches today and tomorrow and was was really decent.
"Little bit different conditions to Melbourne Park but still a good opportunity and good experience those two sets and will help me for next week."
