MELBOURNE, Australia — Alex de Minaur’s quarterfinal loss to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner brought the curtain down on the local contingent at this year’s Australian Open.
Some Australians impressed and others didn’t quite manage to live up to expectations. Once again, it’s time to rate their performances.
For this exercise, we are only considering singles, not doubles. So, taking into account experience, opposition, performance, and that expectation, let’s grade the Australian notables.
Alex de Minaur
Defeated by Jannik Sinner in quarterfinals
Grade: A-
Having reached the quarterfinals at the last three majors to climb to No. 8 in the world, there was an enormous amount of pressure and expectation on de Minaur at his home Grand Slam. The Sydneysider met the expectation with four gutsy wins to reach the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park for the first time in his career. However, it was a disappointing end to the campaign, winning just six games against the world’s best player.
Aleksandar Vukic
Defeated by Jack Draper in third round
Grade: B+
Vukic will wonder what could have been had it been him that won the dramatic fifth-set tiebreak instead of Draper, but nevertheless it was an inspired week of tennis from the world No. 68. Vukic enjoyed the best Australian Open of his career, prevailing over Damir Dzumhur and 22nd-seed Sebastian Korda, both in five set marathons. In the end, he fell agonisingly short of a spot in the Round of 16, but it still well and truly exceeded all expectation.
Tristan Schoolkate
Defeated by Jannik Sinner in second round
Grade: B
For two hours at Rod Laver Arena, little known Schoolkate looked as if he was up for causing one of the biggest boilovers in Grand Slam history. The 23-year-old from Western Australia took the first set against Sinner, and if not for one poor service game in the second, could very easily have established a two-sets-to-love lead. He would lose the match in four sets, but his performance, along with his first round win against Taro Daniel, was mighty impressive.
Destanee Aiava
Defeated by Danielle Collins in second round
Grade: B-
After winning three matches in qualifying, Aiava earned her place in the Australian Open main draw and made the most of her opportunity. The 24-year-old came from a set down to defeat Belgium’s Greet Minnen in the first round before pushing 2022 Melbourne Park finalist Collins all the way in one of the more controversial matches of the tournament.
READ: ‘They’re paying my bills’ – Collins taunts Aussie Open crowd
James Duckworth
Defeated by Roberto Carballes Baena in second round
Grade: C+
The Australian veteran progressed to the second round of the tournament for the first time since 2021 and just the second time in a decade with a comfortable, straight set defeat of Switzerland’s Dominic Stephan Stricker. Duckworth would fall in his second match, but put up a decent fight against his younger Spanish opponent.
Emerson Jones
Defeated by Elena Rybakina in first round
Grade: C
You cannot solely focus on the score line in this one, rather take positives in the exposure and experience Jones received in her major debut. Nerves would have been aplenty in her first main draw Grand Slam match, but Jones showed flashes as to why she is the No. 1-ranked junior in the world, and against a top-10 player to boot. The future is bright!
James McCabe
Defeated by Alex Michelsen in second round
Grade: C
A dominant straight set win over Spain’s Martin Landaluce to launch his Australian Open campaign had McCabe emerge as a name to keep an eye on at the tournament. It was a pity McCabe would have to play Michelsen in the second round, the man who sent Stefanos Tsitsipas packing on Day 2. The Australian fell in straight sets, but the match was far tighter than that score would appear.
Thanasi Kokkinakis
Defeated by Jack Draper in second round
Grade: C
It was a bit of a mixed bag for Kokkinakis at this year’s Open. He impressed with a gutsy four-set win over Roman Safiullin in his first-round match, but, like Vukic, fell to Great Britain’s Draper in a five-set marathon that went into the early hours of the morning. It’s now the fourth year out of the last five Kokkinakis has departed his home major at the second round stage. He is yet to progress past this point at Melbourne Park in his career.
Ajla Tomljanovic
Defeated by Diana Shnaider in second round
Grade: C
It would be fair to say the unseeded Tomljanovic broke even this year at Melbourne Park. The 31-year-old veteran of the WTA circuit put in a positive showing to win her first match against American Ashlyn Krueger in three sets, but she just didn’t have the firepower, or defence, to trouble 12th seed, Shnaider in the next round.
Nick Kyrgios
Defeated by Jacob Fearnley in first round
Grade: D+
The Kyrgios return to Grand Slam tennis was one of the biggest stories of this year’s tournament. Unfortunately for Australia, it lasted only two hours. The polarising former world No. 13 was clearly still battling an abdominal injury, sustained at last month’s Brisbane International, unable to generate power on his serve or move freely around the court. For that reason, it’s tough to fail him for his first round loss. In fact, fair play for fighting through the pain and giving it a crack.
READ: ‘It’s not enjoyable for me’ – How Kyrgios’ comeback turned into his farewell
Kim Birrell
Defeated by Eva Lys in first round
Grade: D
An opportunity opened up for Birrell when 13th seed Anna Kalinskaya, whom the Australian was scheduled to play in the first round, withdrew from the tournament through injury. In her place, German lucky loser Lys, who didn’t know she would be stepping on court until 10 minutes before the match began. Birrell won just four games against the 23-year-old, bowing out after her first Australian Open match for the second time in as many years.
Jordan Thompson
Defeated by Nuno Borges in second round
Grade: D
Seeded at Melbourne Park for the first time after arguably a career-best campaign in 2024, plenty was expected of Thompson at this year’s Open. The 30-year-old battled through his first-round match against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer, but was undone by Portugal’s Borges in a totally one-sided second-round encounter in which he managed to win just nine games.
Alexei Popyrin
Defeated by Corentin Moutet in first round
Grade: F
Much like Thompson, Popyrin enjoyed his maiden seeding at the Australian Open in 2025. And much like Thompson, he failed to deliver. Popyrin won the first Masters 1000 title of his career last year with a straight sets defeat of Andrey Rublev in the Canadian Open final and arrived Down Under with expectation he could reach the second week of his home Grand Slam. However, the 25-year-old failed to fire a shot, ousted in four sets in his opener by the world No. 69.
