‘Never be satisfied’: The ethos driving Aussie drought-breaker de Minaur to the top

Residing in Australia for the entirety of 2024 for the first time in many years, Davis Cup stalwart John Millman has been pleasantly surprised by how often his ears have been pricked in retirement by chatter about tennis.

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Be it the watercooler discussions at the University of Queensland, where Millman is completing an MBA, or broadcast news updates, Alex de Minaur has become a hot topic of discussion in Australia, according to Millman.

The 25-year-old, who will become the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt to play singles in the ATP Tour Finals when he plays Jannik Sinner in Turin tonight, is enjoying his best season. And Millman senses the deeds of “the Demon” are breaking through in Australia.

“Part of the reason why I hold him in such high esteem is that while Alex has been our number one Australian player for a long time, I think he’s finally starting to be heard here in Australia outside of the Australian Open — normally I’m away and bearing witness to it — but I am now starting to see here in Australia that he is starting to get the recognition he deserves,” Millman told foxsports.com.au.

“Often tennis is at the forefront of everyone’s mind in January, but then it kind of goes away and it takes a one-off match or, you know, some loud behaviour to grab the headlines for Australian tennis players.

“But I’ve really noticed this year that more and more people have started to notice and recognise just how good Alex De Minaur is, which has been the highlight of the year.”

Australia has had only two season ending champions this century, with Hewitt going back-to-back in 2001 and 2002, while Ash Barty won the WTA Finals in Shenzhen in 2019.

Pat Rafter and Sam Stosur are the only two other Australians to compete in the prestigious eight player events that cap the men’s and women’s seasons, such is the difficulty associated with qualifying for the Tour Finals.

Adding lustre to de Minaur’s performance in 2024 is that the Sydneysider, who qualified in seventh position, was unable to play the points-rich Toronto, Cincinnati or Shanghai Masters due to the hip he injured at Wimbledon.

The Davis Cup star has won 47 of the 63 matches he has played leading into Turin, where he will face world No. 1 Sinner, Russian star Daniil Medvedev and top American Taylor Fritz in the round-robin stages.

Along with winning titles in Mexico and the Netherlands, which has taken his career tally to nine, de Minaur became the first Australian since Hewitt to reach the last eight in three consecutive majors when a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and in New York.

He has spent almost the entirety of the season inside the top 10, peaking at six after Wimbledon, and is currently ranked No.8.

Barring the hip injury which forced him out of a Wimbledon quarterfinal against Novak Djokovic and compromised his chances at the US Open against Jack Draper, his peak ranking could have been higher.

The Australian, who was twice a finalist in the ATP Tour Next Gen Finals in the early stages of his career, is delighted to feature among the world’s best players outside of Djokovic, who is recovering from extra medical work on the knee he injured at Roland Garros.

“It has been a long year. It has been a tough year. But I am just super proud to be here playing with the best players in the world,” de Minaur told the ATP Tour website.

“It is exactly where I have wanted to be all of these years and I am glad I have finally made it. I am beyond ready. I have been waiting for this moment for a while. I am going to be looking forward to going out and competing and doing my best, as I always do.”

Before maturing physically, tactically and emotionally, de Minaur struggled to snare wins over the world’s best players regularly.

But a win over Medvedev in the Paris Masters at the end of 2022 signalled he had arrived as a player capable of competing with and beating the Top 10 rivals from week to week.

In the 11 matches he played against fellow competitors in the elite bracket this year, de Minaur won five, notching triumphs over fellow ATP Tour finals competitors Fritz, Alexander Zverev, Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, along with a victory over Djokovic in the ATP Cup.

Millman, who retired in January, credited his former teammate’s progression to a growing belief that he belongs among the very best.

“The consistency Alex De Minaur has been showing this year in breaking into the top 10, I know that’s been a goal of his for a long time, and I think the one thing that was potentially holding Alex back was that the last little bit of belief in himself and in his game, that he belongs at that top, top level,” he said.

“Obviously that sounds a bit silly, because he’s hovered around that 10 to 20 mark for a long time. But (he has) taken that next step … now by making the back to back to back quarterfinals at Grand Slams.

“And (he is) starting to knock off players like Daniil Medvedev. In years gone by, those were the types of matches where he almost had kind of hit his ceiling. But I think he’s really kind of extended that now and with that has come that belief, and you see that the way he plays. Really, I think the only thing that kind of halted his momentum this year is that groin injury.”

The results are self-evident, but de Minaur has made a sustained campaign to increase the speed on his serve in recent years. Zverev noted in January his second serve, in particular, was now far harder to attack.

The added strength has also enabled him to dictate terms from the baseline and inside the court against rivals, rather than getting pushed backwards, a point former Top 10-ranked Gilles Simon noted after de Minaur defeated his charge Medvedev at Roland Garros.

“He’s the kind of player where you can’t see the improvement, the big change, because he’s already a very solid player,” Simon told Fox Sports in Paris.

“But it’s more that everything is a bit better, especially on the serve. So he has more free points on his serve. And it helps, also, when you have his game from the baseline with this huge intensity that he has on the game, when he has some free points on serve. So the whole balance of the game is harder to beat.

“It’s not a massive change that we can see from the outside, because the game and the structure of the game is not changing drastically, but it is just that everything is five percent better.

“And then, when you are already 15 in the world and you do five percent better, then you can really be among the top players.”

The gains have been marginal each season, but de Minaur said that his team has been extremely good in helping him focus on what is important as he strives for the top.

“(The key has been) constantly looking at myself in the mirror and finding ways to try to get better. That has just been what I have done every single year, to continuously try to improve and find ways to get better. And never, and I mean never, be satisfied,” he said.

“Things just click. You tweak a couple of things here and there until you hit the right spot and the confidence works and it is a great thing when you are playing some good tennis and are high on confidence.”

De Minaur’s Davis Cup teammates US Open champions Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell, along with Olympic gold medallist Matt Ebden and his Australian Open winning doubles partner Rohan Bopanna, feature in the doubles championship in Turin as well.

Alex de Minaur assesses the strengths of the Top 10 rivals he will face in Turin

Jannik Sinner, 23

Ranking: 1

Best Results: Australian and US Open champion, 2024

H2H Sinner: 7-0

The positive news is that de Minaur has qualified for the ATP Tour Finals. The negative is that his first match is against the world No.1 , a man he has never beaten in seven attempts, in front of his home fans in Turin.

It is now five years since the pair first met in the decider of the ATP Next Gen Finals in Milan, with Sinner a straight sets winner.

They have met in three finals since then — the Montreal Masters in 2023, last year’s Davis Cup decider and in the Rotterdam Open in February — and Sinner has proven too strong.

As superb as de Minaur’s season has been, his 23-year-old rival has confirmed himself the world’s best hard court player with grand slam triumphs in the Australian and US Opens this year.

As de Minaur said ahead of Sunday night’s clash; “It is probably not rocket science — you have to be ready from the word go and it doesn’t get any harder than starting off against Jannik.”

“Jannik’s career is still very young and he has accomplished so much,” de Minaur told the tour website.

“He is obviously the best player in the world this year and he is playing some incredible tennis. He is consistent and he has the best winning percentage on tour. It is for a reason. He is doing all the right things and he is a tough customer to play against.”

Daniil Medvedev, 28

Ranking: 4

Best Result: US Open champion, 2021

H2H: Medvedev 6-3

If clinching a maiden win over Daniil Medvedev in the Paris Masters two years ago bolstered de Minaur’s belief, his triumph at Roland Garros earlier this year was another breakthrough.

It saw the Australian, who lost his first four matches against the Russian, progress to his first quarterfinal at a grand slam since the US Open in 2020 on surface he once believed he could not play on.

There is a significant difference in height but this pair share similar traits on court, with their matches akin to watching tennis’s version of a chess match unfold.

“Medvedev himself is an interesting character. We have played a lot of matches,” de Minaur said.

“We have had a lot of battles and I always look forward to those types of matches, because I think we are both very much tacticians out there when we play against each other. We try to put balls in certain areas where our opponents don’t like. We always have battles and it is always a great match up.”

Taylor Fritz, 27

Ranking: 6

Best Results: US Open finalist, 2024, Indian Wells champion, 2023

H2H: De Minaur 5-3

Taylor Fritz has long demonstrated traits that identified him as the American most likely to end a grand slam drought dating back to Andy Roddick’s US Open win in 2003.

He performed superbly at the US Open this year, with only Sinner getting the better of him in the final, and possesses an outstanding all-court game.

But the Australian has won their past two outings at the Montreal Masters in 2023 and in the United Cup in January to gain the edge in their rivalry.

“Taylor Fritz is powerful and cool under pressure,” de Minaur said.

“He has got a great serve, so he has a lot of firepower and he has shown what he is capable of this year. Making the final of a grand slam is by no means an easy feat, so he is here and he is ready to play.”