MELBOURNE, Australia — After tracking down a ball he had absolutely no right getting his racket on and flicking a backhand cross-court winner past the outstretched left arm of Francisco Cerundolo to secure a crucial break of serve in his third-round Australian Open match, a steely-faced Alex de Minaur began slapping his thighs in wild celebration. It was his own version of LeBron James’ iconic “Silencer” move.
“The legs, they’re back,” de Minaur later declared in his on-court interview moments later, after serving it out against the Argentine. “It’s been a long six months, but geez it feels good.”
It was a reference to last year’s most untimely injury. De Minaur had sustained a hip strain on match point of his fourth-round Wimbledon clash against Frenchman Arthur Fils. He would win the match but ultimately be forced to painfully withdraw from his quarterfinal against 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic two days later. It was a crushing blow.
This year’s Australian Open is proof all of that heartbreak has been left in 2024. On Monday evening, de Minaur continued his winning ways at Melbourne Park, breaking through what had previously been a fourth-round ceiling at his home Grand Slam with a dominant straight set win over American Alex Michelsen, the man who had been responsible for sending both Stefanos Tsitsipas and Karen Khachanov packing in the first week. It was a match in which the Australian proved two things. First, his legs are most definitely back. Second, this version of de Minaur is capable of making noise at a major.
For many, de Minaur at the Australian Open has been something of a repetitive tale. You know, arrive Down Under in early January to a frenzy of hype and expectation, navigate through the opening rounds to bolster said expectation, then crash out of the tournament just when things had begun heating up. The result? A nation left wondering if a deep run for the likeable, down-to-earth local will ever materialize.
In each of the last three years, de Minaur had been knocked out of the tournament at the fourth-round stage. In 2022, he fell to then 11th seed, now world No. 1, Jannik Sinner in straight sets. In 2023, it was another brutal straight set defeat, this time to Djokovic. Last year, he scrapped and clawed for over four hours only to come up agonizingly short against fifth-seed Andrey Rublev.
De Minaur’s win over Michelsen on Monday evening has seen him move into unchartered waters. He is the first Australian man to feature in an Australian Open quarterfinal since Nick Kyrgios in 2015, and in many ways he will be playing with house money when he faces Sinner for a spot in the last four. As the eighth seed, he has already met the pre-tournament expectation, and the overwhelming pressure he had been experiencing in the earlier rounds will now be dialed down, particularly given he’s facing the world’s best player whom he hasn’t managed to beat in nine attempts. But perhaps that’s the recipe for causing the upset.
“It is tennis at the end of the day. If it was strictly based on rankings, it would be quite a boring sport. We’ve seen opportunities arise … lots of doors opening up — anything can happen at this stage,” a bullish yet measured de Minaur told reporters before the Australian Open got underway. “There is always going to be a lot of outside noise, [but] we’ve got kind of this tunnel vision going into these types of tournaments. Focus on our own little bubble.”
Overcoming Sinner, the reigning champion at Melbourne Park, might just be the tallest of orders in tennis these days, but there’s plenty of reasons for de Minaur optimism.
The version of de Minaur we’re witnessing in 2025 is far superior to the ones that had repeatedly faltered in the Round of 16. This version of de Minaur has got more weapons and appears to have the passion to match, wearing his heart on his sleeve in a manner that would make long-time mentor Lleyton Hewitt beam with pride.
After his Australian Open heartbreak 12 months ago, de Minaur claimed titles in Acapulco and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, reached quarterfinals in the final three majors of the year, and, as a result, broke into the ATP’s top eight. It was his most successful campaign, despite dealing with that hip injury post-Wimbledon and missing out on the Olympic Games in Paris.
“Over the last couple of years, I feel like I’ve become a better version of myself,” said de Minaur. “Every time I come here to the Australian Open, I feel like I’m a better version of what I was the year before. I’ve learnt so much. I’m playing with a lot more confidence. I’m doing all the right things.
“I’ve been in this position for a while now. It hasn’t really changed what I need to do as a tennis player, right? My job is to walk on court and do my best to win tennis matches, essentially. As Australian tennis players, we spend the majority of the year overseas. To get the chance and opportunity to start the year here at home in the summer, it just means the world.”
Already this tournament, de Minaur has crushed Dutchman Botic Van De Zandschulp — the man who famously upset world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz at last year’s US Open — in his opening match. He then brushed aside American Tristan Boyer in straight sets, before overcoming the serving “yips” against Cerundolo to win in four sets. And then, of course, his wire-to-wire triumph over Michelsen.
“Terrific improvement,” said 10-time Australian Open champion Djokovic, when asked to describe de Minaur’s growth. “We all know how good he is defending, but his offense has improved a lot. His court positioning has improved. You know, it’s not a surprise that he ended up top 10 last season in his best season yet. I have watched him play a few matches, and the level is great. He’s got the crowd behind him. I think we’re going to see still great things from Alex in this tournament.”
If de Minaur can find a way past Sinner, who struggled immensely with heat stroke and an apparent sickness in his four-set fourth-round win over 13th seed Holger Rune, then a very winnable Friday semifinal looms. The victor of de Minaur and Sinner will face the winner of Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego and America’s Ben Shelton, neither of which have ever reached a Grand Slam final. It’s the sort of golden opportunity that might not come around again for de Minaur.
“There’s nothing I want to do more than play well here in Australia,” said de Minaur during his on-court interview after overcoming Michelsen. “I’m glad I finally made it to a quarterfinal here, but let’s go for bigger and better things. C’mon!”
