Alex de Minaur of Australia on Wednesday continued his purple patch with a win over Carlos Alcaraz in a charity match ahead of the 2024 Australian Open. He is now only two away from having at least one victory over every player in the current ATP top 10 rankings.
With his incredible run in the 2024 United Cup, de Minaur rose to World No.10, a career-high rank. He displaced Taylor Fritz, also defeating him in the team tournament. He followed it up by beating Alcaraz in the Australian Open’s Opening Week.
With that triumph, de Minaur has secured a minimum of one win over seven of ATP’s top 10. While he himself is No.10, he has yet to open his account against Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Alcaraz was the latest to join the list, even though it was an exhibition event. The World No.2 was De Minaur’s fourth top 10 scalp since 2024 began, 10 days ago.
The Australian displayed impeccable form in the United Cup. He first beat Fritz in a group clash between his country and the USA. The hosts advanced to face Serbia in the quarter-finals, pitting De Minaur against Novak Djokovic. de Minaur stunned the World No.1 in straight sets to put Australia in the final.
Up against Germany, de Minaur beat World No.6 Alexander Zverev to keep the tie alive. He already has victories against Daniil Medvedev (#3), Andrey Rublev (#5), Holger Rune (#8), and Hubert Hurkacz (#9).
De Minaur needs to beat World No.4 Sinner and No.7 Tsitsipas to check each of the top 10 off. The 2024 Australian Open is a golden opportunity for him to bag wins over at least one, if not both, of them. While Sinner is riding a wave of form and is one of the favorites for the title, beating Tsitsipas could be a more realistic target in Melbourne. The Greek star is coming off an injury and played only two matches in the United Cup, winning once.
Alex De Minaur ‘surprised’ with praise from girlfriend
Alex de Minaur has hit the best form of his career at the perfect time. He will draw confidence from these big wins before heading into the 2024 Australian Open. His best result in his home Grand Slam is reaching the fourth round in 2022 and 2023. With this momentum, and backed on by local crowds, he will look to better it.
De Minaur’s girlfriend, Katie Boulter, is also a professional tennis player. She congratulated her boyfriend on her social media accounts for breaking into the top 10. The British No.1 said he truly deserved it and this is just the beginning.
After his win against Carlos Alcaraz, de Minaur was surprised to hear Boulter praise him on the internet (via Express). He joked that whenever she interacts with him publicly on social media, she usually pulls his leg.
“Look, I’m actually surprised she said something nice about me. Normally every time she goes on social media to reply to my posts or whatever, it’s always having a dig at me. So it’s nice every now and again to get a compliment.”
Brimming with confidence from beating the top names, de Minaur will back himself to lift the Australian Open on home soil.
