Alex de Minaur risks upsetting Katie Boulter with comment after £3.86m surprise

Alex de Minaur has described qualifying for the ATP Finals as the best news he has received in a long, long time. However, that comment may not go down well with his fiancée, Katie Boulter, as it is less than a year since they got engaged.

De Minaur guaranteed his place at the season finale in Turin after reaching the Paris Masters quarter-finals on Thursday. The Australian number one beat 10th seed Karen Khachanov in straight sets to advance to the last eight, where he will playAlexander Bublik, who defeated Taylor Fritz in the round of 16.

Speaking to the Tennis Channel, whose presenter, Prakash Amritraj, acknowledged, "the wedding budget is looking good with the wins you're putting up on the board," De Minaur addressed qualifying for the ATP Finals. "I had no idea," he said. "I mean, it was the best news I've got in a long, long time. No, I had no idea.

"Of course, there's so much chatter the last three, four weeks of the year - that's what everyone's talking about. So there's a lot of stress, and I did my best not to pay attention as much as I could,

"But yeah, I had no idea that securing that win was enough. So yeah, it was a lot of relief, and I'm very, very happy with that."

This year's ATP Finals offer the richest payout in the event's history, with an undefeated champion, as Jannik Sinner was 12 months ago, in line to earn £3.86million. Participation alone guarantees £252,000, with an additional £302,000 for every win during the round robin stage.

De Minaur was part of the Ilie Nastase group last year, alongside Daniil Medvedev, Fritz, and Sinner. However, he lost all three matches, winning just one set and only 40% of his games.

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Fritz and Sinner were the two finalists, though, so it was far from a straightforward group. This year's tournament will feature those two again, along with Alexander Zverev, Ben Shelton, Carlos Alcaraz, De Minaur, and Novak Djokovic, plus either Felix Auger-Aliassime or Lorenzo Musetti.