During the era of the ‘big four,’ the top tier belonged to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and to a lesser extent Andy Murray. They were simply in a class of their own.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomáš Berdych, Grigor Dimitrov, and Kei Nishikori are a handful of examples in relation to possessing an array of talent, but simply born in the wrong generation where they struggled to breakthrough and stay consistent.
The same situation eludes Australia’s Alex de Minaur, who for a while now has been widely tipped to achieve ‘big things’ and potentially win a Grand Slam down the line.
However, now 25, these upcoming few years are likely his window of opportunity to replicate the heights of his mentor, Lleyton Hewitt, and more recently, Ash Barty, by etching his name in history attached with major silverware.
With four Grand Slam titles between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at a combined age of 43 – they have officially announced themselves on the world stage, capable of cementing themselves as the face of the sport for the next two decades.
For de Minaur, will it prove to be a case of being born in the wrong era? Or is there still something left in the tank to excel to another level?
Criticism in the past has often been aimed at the Aussie’s lack of muscle and strength to generate natural power off the ground, clearly hampering his service games and withstand the biggest hitters on tour.
In the past six to 12 months, de Minaur has improved that area of his game, enhancing his physical strength to make it easier for himself on the body, putting away matches more comfortably.
His recent French Open campaign suggested positive improvements, making a historic quarter-final run on a surface deemed de Minaur’s least preferable, even going toe-to-toe with eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev for the majority of their tussle, despite the straight sets scoreline suggesting otherwise.
Bursting into the top 10 was a goal ticked off early in 2024 for the Sydneysider, taking out the likes of Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, and Zverev in January’s United Cup to add an extra layer of confidence and belief.
Now, Wimbledon awaits for the world No.9, coming off a title in Holland as the grass courts place him in much greater stead to relax and perform in a more free-flowing manner.
Embed from Getty ImagesPlaced in the bottom half of the draw, de Minaur avoids the two most in-form players, Sinner and Alcaraz, and is instead plotted in a section where he should certainly fancy his chances.
Daniil Medvedev and Zverev are still yet to prove their credentials on grass, while seven-time Wimbledon champion Djokovic was seen wearing a knee brace on the practice courts at SW19 after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus suffered in Paris last month – added with the Serb’s rather underwhelming calendar year.
There are a couple other challengers in de Minaur’s section such as Hubert Hurkacz and Fritz, but if de Minaur is serious about progressing his career to a new magnitude, this is the tournament you feel can kickstart it.
In saying that, he would want to get to a point where pundits and neutrals aren’t pinpointing easy halves of the draw or players out of form for him to have a chance. Instead, the topic of conversation needs to be embedded around de Minaur competing with the elite on a regular basis.
Sinner leads their head-to-head 7-0, signalling how much work is left to do for de Minaur to eventually close the gap and become a genuine threat to the throne.
Over the next fortnight at Wimbledon, the tennis world will understand a clearer picture of what exactly is de Minaur’s ceiling – and if that ceiling has already been reached.
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