But in a sport where having a larger than life personality is often valued over performance, de Minaur is not getting the cut-through that Nick Kyrgios enjoys even though his ranking is 667 spots higher than his controversial compatriate.<\/p>\n
Kyrgios, labelled as a tennis influencer by Andy Roddick more than an actual player these days, has made plenty of headlines recently for playing in a Battle of the Sexes exhibition match with Aryna Sabalenka and then teasing the public that this could be the year where he actually does something at the Australian Open before pulling out of the tournament because he doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s ready for a grand slam in his latest comeback from injury and indifference. <\/p>\n
Does de Minaur have to start breaking racquets or chucking tantrums at the chair umpire to get more recognition?<\/p>\n
Of course he won\u2019t because that is not in his nature.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old world No.6 has been on the ATP Tour for more than a decade now and the narrative around his career is that he\u2019s been good, then very good without ever getting to great.<\/p>\n
Early on it was a case of the Big Four in Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray hogging all the grand slam titles so there wasn\u2019t much hope for de Minaur or any of the next generation to get a look-in.<\/p>\n
Djokovic is still in the mix at 38, as evidenced by his four straight semi-final appearances at last year\u2019s majors, but Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz now have a firm grip on the trophies to the point where they are building a rivalry much like the Big Four but it\u2019s nearly becoming a fait accompli that they will meet in the grand slam finals.<\/p>\n
After Alex Zverez lost to Sinner in last year\u2019s Australian Open, the German world No.2 and top-ranked Alcaraz met in the other three slam finals.<\/p>\n
De Minaur has kept plugging away without ever breaking through.<\/p>\n
He made the quarters at Melbourne Park and the US Open last year, the fourth round at Wimbledon with a second-round exit in Paris his only early exit.<\/p>\n
In 2024, he made it to the quarters three times and the fourth round on the other occasion.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s consistent but not contending.<\/p>\n
![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/United_Arab_Emirates_Tennis_Battle_of_the_Sexes_25362626489865-1-755x515.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka interact at the net during their Battle of the Sexes match in Dubai. (Christopher Pike\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/p>\n
That\u2019s also part of the reason why the hype surrounding him has been rather subdued.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not an Aussie battler like a Wayne Arthurs or a Peter Doohan from generations previous who\u2019s not expected to compete with the stars of the tour at a grand slam.<\/p>\n
And he was never considered a prodigy like Kyrgios or Bernard Tomic as a teenager with the potential to become a grand slam champion.<\/p>\n
His closest comparison to previous Australian stars is Lleyton Hewitt for his ability to cover the court at world-class levels to make up for a lack of an imposing stature or serve.<\/p>\n
But he doesn\u2019t possess Hewitt\u2019s ebullient nature which was both popular and polarising during his lengthy career.<\/p>\n
Even though Hewitt still holds the record for being the world\u2019s youngest No.1 at 20 and he won the US Open and Wimbledon before he had turned 22, he was able to sustain the reputation for being an underdog who never said die, particularly when the more athletically gifted Federer, then Nadal and co took over. <\/p>\n
De Minaur doesn\u2019t need to go all the way at the Australian Open over the next fortnight to get his name up in lights.<\/p>\n
But he has to show that he can conquer the hurdle of getting past the quarter-finals at what would be his eighth attempt in a grand slam.<\/p>\n
![\"Lleyton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lleyton-Hewitt-755x515.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Lleyton Hewitt. (Photo by Jon Buckle \u2013 PA Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Seeded sixth, the draw has been kind to him with Italian former world No.6 Matteo Berretini withdrawing on the eve of the tournament due to illness with lucky loser Mackenzie McDonald getting a reprieve after falling short in qualifying.<\/p>\n
Assuming de Minaur accounts for the American journeyman first up, he will play the winner of the first-round clash between Argentina\u2019s Mariano Navone and Hamad Medjedovic, both ranked outside the top 50.<\/p>\n
A potential third-round showdown with Frances Tiafoe will not be easy but he does hold a 3-1 career record against the American world No.31.<\/p>\n
Kazakhstan\u2019s 10th seed Alexander Bublik looms in the fourth round with Alcaraz likely to be waiting in the quarters.<\/p>\n
While he may not command the wall-to-wall coverage that other Aussies have enjoyed over the years, de Minaur still has to carry the burden of expectation that he could be the first home-grown men\u2019s singles champion since Mark Edmondson way back in 1976.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is something that I\u2019ve got to manage,\u201d de Minaur told reporters on Sunday.<\/p>\n
![\"MELBOURNE,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2193881262-1-755x515.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Alex de Minaur at last year\u2019s Australian Open. (Photo by Jason Heidrich\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cManage my energy levels of giving my time out to everyone else, but also reminding myself that I need to be selfish at times and think about myself and what\u2019s going to help me come out and perform.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause ultimately I\u2019m here as a competitor to hopefully go deep at the Australian Open. That\u2019s my priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good to hear and hopefully de Minaur translates the talk into results.<\/p>\n
He deserves his moment in the spotlight and he still has many years left to prove that he can make the jump from nearly man to champion.<\/p>\n
And he doesn\u2019t have to become a typical tennis brat to do so. If he stays true to himself and his hard-working ethic, a chance will come but he\u2019s got to be ready to take it like Pat Rafter \u2013 twice \u2013 and Sam Stosur when they became US Open champions against the odds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Set small text size A Set the default text size A Set large text size Alex de…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[18278,64,63,6571,952,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-421882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-alex-de-minaur","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-open","12":"tag-featured","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}