Ready? Plate! Alex de Minaur and Mate Pavic talk Mediterranean flavors

FLASHBACK: Alex de Minaur defeats Andy Murray in the 2023 Monte Carlo first round

With the Mutua Madrid Open kicking off its two-week stint on Wednesday, players like Alex de Minaur and Mate Pavic are looking forward to sampling Spain’s delicious food.

For world No. 20 De Minaur, an Aussie player with Spanish heritage, being back in the country is also a chance to get a taste of home. The 24-year-old loves a good Spanish omelet, and he’ll have plenty of opportunities to chow down as he contests singles as the No. 16 seed and doubles with Grigor Dimitrov. And as for doubles world No. 7 Pavic? He’s just looking for some Balkan eats to fuel him to his 34th career title in Madrid, partnering Nikola Mektic.

We caught up with De Minaur and Pavic at the Citi Taste of Tennis in Miami to share food stories, childhood memories and more:

Q: Tell me about a dish that tastes like your childhood?

DE MINAUR: Something from my childhood? Oh, it has to be spaghetti bolognese. That was my favorite growing up and I always got it before a big match day… made by mom and dad, both of them had a great spaghetti bolognese.

PAVIC: I’m not sure, but it has to be some kind of pasta. Where I’m from on the coast of Croatia, we’ve got a lot of Mediterranean food and a lot of influence from Italy. So we grew up on some good pasta.

Q: What is a dish that tastes like home to you now?

DE MINAUR: You know what? I’m going to go with tortilla de patata (Spanish omelete). That one is from my Spanish side, and my family now is in Spain. That’s a dish that always brings me back home.

PAVIC: Honestly? That would be a kind of meat that we always like to eat, it’s called cevapi (grilled sausages). This is a traditional Balkan food, a bit heavier stuff.

It’s something that we always try to find in every place that we go around the world. There’s a lot of restaurants that are Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, whatever, so we always try to find and eat some cevapi when we are traveling.

Q: How about a dish that tastes like victory?

DE MINAUR: Pizza! Always pizza for the win.

PAVIC: Some kind of chocolate! (laughing)

Mark your calendars and clear your plates: Citi Taste of Tennis will be back during the Citi Open in Washington D.C. on July 30 and in New York City ahead of the US Open on August 24.