Alex de Minaur Shares How He Plans to Challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in 2026
Alex de Minaur has never won a tour-level match against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
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Alex de Minaur, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner (via X/The Tennis Letter)
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Alex de Minaur has revealed that his goal is to challenge Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz on tour next season after winning the UTS Grand Final in London. The Australian No.1 has cemented his place in the top 10 of the ATP having featured in the season-ending tournament in two consecutive years, but he’s yet to get to the level of Alcaraz and Sinner.
Alcaraz and Sinner have dominated the tour for the past two seasons and seem not to be stopping anytime soon as other players are yet to reach their level on the court. The duo maintained their place at the top of the ATP, with Alcaraz finishing the year as World No.1, while Sinner sealed the No.2 spot.
Sinner, who is World No.6 holds over 4,000 points gap above World No.3 Alexander Zverev in the ATP rankings. That’s the level at which both players are dominating the tour and have continued to show that they are levels above other players. De Minaur has not been left out among those who have struggled against Alcaraz and Sinner.
He currently holds a 0-13 record against Sinner and failed to win a set in their last meeting in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals. Also, he has lost all five of the matches he has played against Alcaraz, and has won just two sets against the Spaniard. He faced Alcaraz thrice this season, losing all their meetings.
However, De Minaur is optimistic that things will change next season on tour. The World No.7 revealed during his interview with Tennis365 that his major goal in 2026 is to play good tennis that will be able to challenge Sinner and Alcaraz’s own. He added that he doesn’t like the fact that two top players in the men’s circuit have won all the last eight Grand Slams:
You have to play a lot of good tennis from the first point to the last. That’s my goal. They are at the top of our game; they have been dominating for the last couple of years, and the goal is to keep improving and make their life difficult. It’s by no means easy, but ultimately we don’t always want the same two guys winning all the big tournaments. As competitors, we don’t like to lose and we have to try and raise our game to compete with these guys.
Sinner and Alcaraz claimed all the last eight major titles on tour. The last player to win a Grand Slam other than them was Novak Djokovic at the 2023 US Open. The duo has evenly shared all the Grand Slam titles since the 2024 season and has also dominated the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.
Alex de Minaur claims mind-blowing prize money after winning the UTS Grand Final in London
Alex de Minaur earned one of his biggest prizes of the 2025 season after winning the UTS Grand Final in London for a successive year. The Australian star claimed the title after beating Casper Ruud in the final. De Minaur claimed a whopping $640,000 for his three days’ work at the exhibition tournament.
However, the prize money is less than what he collected after reaching the semi-finals of the ATP Finals last month ($727,500). During an interview with the aforementioned outlet, De Minaur admitted that his final clash against Ruud was a tough one, but he’s excited that he eventually claimed the title:
It’s amazing to win here again. London is a special place for me and it’s my home now, so it’s always great to play at this event and even better to win again. I’ve had some tough matches here this week and play Casper in the final was always going to be difficult so it’s amazing to come through. There is no rest for me now. I might take Monday off, but then it’s back on the court practicing for the new season.
De Minaur is expected to have a busy schedule next year as he will hope to win the Australian Open in Melbourne and then prepare for his wedding to British tennis player Katie Boulter. Perhaps, the funds needed for the wedding have now been made available after his UTS Grand Final triumph.
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