There is no doubt that the Australian is a fine player but the brilliance of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner means a grand slam title is still a slim prospect
There are two ways to look at this. Either Alex de Minaur is not good enough to beat Carlos Alcaraz – and Jannik Sinner, for that matter – or the world’s top two players are in a class of their own. Sadly, for Australia’s top-ranked player, both things are true.
De Minaur’s 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 quarter-final defeat by Alcaraz on a hot, breezy evening at the Australian Open on Tuesday was a humbling experience. The manner of his performances in the opening four rounds suggested that he was ready to push the world No 1. But as the evening unfolded, De Minaur’s chances faded in all-too-familiar fashion.
Shortly afterwards, while Alcaraz was conducting his on-court interview with Jim Courier, all smiles, De Minaur was in the cool-down room, surrounded by his coaching team and mentor Lleyton Hewitt. His face obscured, all you could see of De Minaur was his arms, thrust out to each side, palms facing up. The sentiment was obvious. What was he supposed to do?
De Minaur has now lost all six of his matches with Alcaraz and – an even more brutal statistic – all 13 of his matches against Sinner, winning just two sets against the Italian. One of those came in Beijing last September, an indication, De Minaur felt, that he was getting closer. He pushed Alcaraz to a first-set tiebreak when they played at the ATP Finals last year, and here at Melbourne Park, he was close to forcing another in the opener. But in the final cold, cruel analysis, he fell a distance short. By the end, he looked helpless, while Alcaraz laughed and joked with his team, trying out new shots, enjoying himself.
