Alex de Minaur Keeps His Grand Slam Dream Alive in the Alcaraz-Sinner Era

Alex de Minaur has never beaten Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner on tour in his career.

Alex de Minaur Keeps His Grand Slam Dream Alive in the Alcaraz-Sinner Era

Alex de Minaur, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner (via X/The Tennis Letter)

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Next month, Alex de Minaur will carry the hopes of a nation as he will try to become the first home winner of the men’s singles title at the Australian Open for 50 years. But the hopes of achieving that feat look hard as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are currently the best players on tour, having won the last eight Grand Slams.

Sinner and Alcaraz have dominated the Grand Slam tournaments in the past two years and are seen as the best players on tour. They have evenly shared the last eight major titles among themselves, with each winning at least two Slams every season since 2024. The last player to win a Grand Slam outside Sinner and Alcaraz was Novak Djokovic at the 2023 US Open.

However, De Minaur has been one of the hardest-working players on tour in the past few years. In fact, he has cemented his place in the top 10 in the last two seasons, having finished 2025 as World No.7, his highest year-end ranking. He also claimed the prestigious Newcombe medal for a fourth time.

But he’s yet to leave his mark on Grand Slam tournaments, and is yet to reach the final of a major tournament. Nonetheless, his utmost concern is how he will beat Alcaraz or Sinner on tour. He has never beaten Sinner in 13 meetings and has lost to Alcaraz in all five of their encounters on the court, winning just two sets.

De Minaur is one of the fastest players on the court, with a good work ethic and diligent mindset. He revealed during an interview with The Guardian that he still holds the dream of winning a Grand Slam in Melbourne next year. He added that he’s however happy with what he has achieved on tour:

For me, more than anything, it’s using that as motivation towards achieving that [a slam title], which is obviously a big goal of mine, but at the same time, accepting that some things may happen, some things may not. Ultimately, I want to be happy with what I do in my career, and that goes down to what I can control. I can’t control if I win slams or not. I can control if I get better and I put in the right attitude and effort.

Sinner and Alcaraz are the favorites to win the Australian Open next year. The former is the defending champion, while the latter will be hoping to win the tournament for the first time and complete his Career Grand Slam.

Alex de Minaur reflects on his run at the ATP Finals in Turin

Alex de Minaur lost his opening match against Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP Finals in Turin last month. In his second round robin match, he lost to Lorenzo Musetti from match point up and admitted that he felt mentally frustrated after the defeat. But two days later, he played one of the best matches of his career by beating Taylor Fritz to qualify for the semi-finals.

Alex de Minaur and Novak Djokovic
Alex de Minaur (via Punto de Break)

He lost to Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals, but that was his best run at the tournament. During the aforementioned interview, he reflected on the decision to continue working hard despite losing his first two matches:

You live and die by the results, but ultimately, the best way to perform is to not give results that much importance, and you can play more free. It’s something that I’ve been working towards for a while now, to not put so much expectation and pressure on myself, because I know that when I don’t, that’s when my best tennis comes.

Minaur finished the year with a good 56-24 record on tour. His only title came at the Washington Open, where he defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in three sets. He reached the semi-finals of the China Open and the Monte Carlo Masters.

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