Alex de Minaur on his grand slam dream: ‘Some things might happen, some things might not’

IIt is difficult to think of anyone in the tennis world who works harder than Alex de Minaur, the Australian who will once again hold a nation’s hopes next month as he tries to become the first home winner of the Australian Open men’s title in 50 years. No one is faster on the field, no one is more diligent on it than the 26-year-old. It is a work ethic that has helped him to ten titles in his career so far and he ends 2025 as number 7 in the world, his highest year-end ranking and having won the prestigious Newcombe Medal for the fourth time.

But in a sport where success at the highest level is ultimately judged by performance at grand slams, De Minaur has so far fallen short. He has reached the quarter-finals of a major six times – including five of the past eight – but with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner having shared the last eight majors, opportunities are few and far between.

The pressure at home to win a major is enormous, but with age comes some clarity. Andy Murray lost his first four grand slam finals, the fourth a particularly painful one, to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2012. It was only then, when Murray accepted that he might never win a slam, that he found the freedom to play his best tennis. Just four weeks later he won the Olympics, beginning a golden period in which he won three slams, another Olympic gold medal, the Davis Cup and became world No. 1.

De Minaur may not be quite at Murray’s level, but the thinking is the same. “That’s the story, it’s never good enough, right?” says De Minaur. “For me it is mainly using it as motivation to achieve that [a slam title]which is obviously a big goal of mine, but at the same time I have to accept that some things can happen and others don’t. Ultimately, I want to be happy with what I do in my career, and that has to do with what I can control. I have no control over whether I win slams or not. I can determine whether I am improving and I put in the right attitude and effort. And at the same time, give myself a pat on the back every now and then. It’s the small victories. I have to be a little kinder to myself.”

The eureka moment for De Minaur came last month in Turin, at the ATP Finals. After losing from match point to Lorenzo Musetti, De Minaur admitted it “was destroying him mentally” to continually lose tight matches against the best players. But two days later he played one of his best matches of the year by beating Taylor Fritz and qualifying for the semi-finals. After being defeated by Sinner in the semi-finals, he nevertheless emerged from the event a changed man.

“You live and die by results, but ultimately the best way to perform is to not care so much about results and you can play more freely,” he says. “It’s something I’ve been working towards for a while, to not put so much expectation and pressure on myself, because I know if I don’t, that’s when my best tennis will come. Instead of focusing on those results, just trying to embrace the process a little bit more and the way I want to play, because that’s one of the biggest things.” [about] all the shifts in mentality I had in Turin. I would be fine if the outcome didn’t go my way, but at the end of the day I just wanted to stick to my game plan and play my way, and I know that would make me feel a lot better than if I didn’t.

That means playing a little more aggressively, like Murray did, in the hope that it will pay off against the top players in the biggest games. “It’s something that’s in the works, in the pipeline, and hopefully I can show it off more often than not,” he says.

After the “luxury” of a week and a half off, De Minaur is already well into his preparation and on Sunday he took home a whopping $964,000 for winning the UTS exhibition event in London for the second year in a row. For the first time in almost a decade, he will celebrate Christmas in Spain with his family before flying to Australia on Boxing Day.

“Now it’s about building for Australia, making sure I get there ready to go, but I have to be careful not to get too burned out,” he says. “I don’t think I want to play too much more, ideally less, but that also all depends on the results. So hopefully the results can help me, and then I’ll enjoy playing.” [fewer] to soften. That means I’m doing well.”