MELBOURNE, Australia -- Australia's top ranked tennis player Alex de Minaur's 2025 Australian Open run has come to an end, but it has left fans with an enduring sense of optimism as he seeks to level up and hunt a top-five ranking.
De Minaur lost to defending champion and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in straight sets on Wednesday, but by no means lost any admirers, after he broke through to make the quarterfinals at his home major for the first time.
His performance in Melbourne caps a strong 12 months for the Aussie; he's one of just two men who have made at least the quarterfinal mark of all of the last four majors going back to the 2024 French Open, along with Sinner. He'll now also rise to No. 7 in the rankings, closing in on that elusive top 5.
"I think how I handled everything," de Minaur when asked about the positives he can take away from the tournament. "I mean, the fact that I came in this year top 10, and a lot of expectation, a lot of pressure.
"Obviously the whole country wanted me to do well. I wanted to do well here. Yeah, I thought I handled it really well to put myself in this position. I would have loved to do more today, but this is what happens sometimes in tennis.
"I still don't think this is my ceiling. I still think I've got more in the tank. So I'll be searching for that."
To paint de Minaur's situation with a broad brush, he has become a picture of consistency. In 2024 he made at least the fourth round of every major. In all but one of the ATP 1000 tournaments he made the fourth round (his only blemish was a second-round exit in Madrid, on clay, to the king of the surface himself, Rafael Nadal).
A niggling hip injury that surfaced at Wimbledon and kept him out for a couple of months was the only reason de Minaur didn't pick up more ranking points throughout the North American stretch of year.
While you can look at his results and see improvement, you can look at his game and it's noticeable as well. Too often in the past, the criticism, or hesitation, about a de Minaur campaign at his home Slam has been his lack of offensive weapons.
Known as a gallant defender who gets to balls most players wouldn't bother trying for, the Australian has managed to gain power on his serve, hitting 217 km/h (134.9mph) to be the 15th fastest server of the tournament, while his groundstrokes have also been given an injection of pep. His ability to work angles has improved as well.
The win over Alex Michelsen in the fourth round was particularly impressive. Up until that point de Minaur had avoided the worst of the draw, facing and defeating one seed, Francisco Cerundolo (31) in an error-ridden affair from both players.
The unseeded American, however, was playing remarkable tennis and had already taken down two top seeds -- Stefanos Tsitsipas (11) and Karen Khachanov (19). He was threatening to become a giant slayer at the tournament.
But de Minaur broke his spirit early, cruising to a 6-0 lead before holding his nerve in a tense tiebreak in the second, tossing aside the serve and error issues which nearly cost him in his four-set win over Cerundolo just days earlier.
Against Sinner, however, it came undone, quickly, with the world No. 1 showing off a breadth of tennis the Australian simply can't yet match. De Minuar was never let into the contest.
"I think [Sinner is] probably my worst matchup, and you can see it in the head-to-head. In these types of conditions it's even tougher to play against him. So you go out there, you compete. You try everything. You bring every sort of different look that you can," de Minaur said after the loss.
"But in these types of conditions where it's a little bit colder and you can't really get the ball out of his strike zone, he can just unload and not miss. It's tough."
So what's left to improve for de Minaur? It's consistency on that first serve. It can become a legitimate weapon if he can find it more often. Big numbers are nice, but his first serve percentage through the first four rounds was just 53%, tied for the 120-worst in the tournament, clearly the worst of anyone who made the quarterfinal stage (Sinner was next-worse at 59%), and well below the tournament average of 63%.
And when he's under pressure, he tends to hit too central on the court, abandoning his angular play and daring cross-court forehands in favour of a safer option.
Of course, critics will remain sceptical of his ability to progress beyond this quarterfinal stage of a Slam. It's the fourth straight major he's fallen at the last eight hurdle, and while the semifinals are summit that's tough to climb, it's the next one, Grand Slam success, which still feels so far away for the 25-year-old.
As he continues to recover from his hip injury, get bigger and stronger, and sharpen up on his first serves, de Minaur should continue to get better as a tennis player.
But can he win a Grand Slam? The jury is out, but de Minaur is a very, very good tennis player. And one only has to look at Emma Raducanu and her 2021 US Open triumph, a seemingly out-of-the-box major win at which she faced just two seeded opponents (the highest of which was ranked 11th) to know that a little luck goes a long way at major tournaments.
"Tennis is so much about matchups, right? Yeah, I think right now my worst matchup on tour is probably Jannik. You know, there's a head-to-head that doesn't lie, right? If I'm in a different side of the draw, different little section, then who knows," de Minaur said.
"I genuinely think I'm going to give myself opportunities, and I don't think my peak is making quarterfinals in a slam. I see other players that have made it further, have made semis, have made finals, and I do believe that I can be amongst them. If they have been able to accomplish that, then why not me?"