Alex De Minaur has been a standard name on the tour for four-plus years. From 2019 onwards, his seasons haven’t differed all that much.
- Over 40 wins and three 250 titles in 2019.
- A Grand Slam quarterfinal in an otherwise quiet 2020.
- Two 250 titles in 2021.
- Over 40 wins and a 250 title in 2022.
Meanwhile, his ranking floated around the No. 20 – No. 30 mark, and his win rate against the top 5 was a mere 1-18.
The scrappy Aussie has been your ATP average Joe for a while, but I’m here to argue 2023 was the start of something promising. Roll the season review!
Alex De Minaur 2023 Season Review
First 500 Title
The writing was on the wall from the early season. At the United Cup, De Minaur beat Rafa in a very tight contest, and he bested Rublev in Rotterdam, doubling his top 5 career wins in the span of a month.
This paved the way for a fantastic run to the title in Acapulco. He swept his first three opponents (Pacheco Mendez, J. Berrettini, Daniel) while dropping just eight games before defeating Holger Rune in the semis and Tommy Paul in the final. This was the first 500-level title of De Minaur’s career.
First Masters Final
The clay court swing went by in a flash (it was never his best surface), but De Minaur showed he was within touching distance of the best in the world over the course of the grass season and the American hard court swing.
His run in Queen’s was strong, defeating Rune, Mannarino, Murray, and Schwartzman, before losing to an inspired Alcaraz in the final. The 250 in Los Cabos was De Minaur’s next highlight, where he lost in the final to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Then, all of a sudden, De Minaur was into the first Master’s final of his career in Canada. It had been a stellar week. The Aussie took down Norrie, Diallo, Fritz, Medvedev, and Davidovich Fokina, dropping just one set along the way.
His match-up in the final against Jannik Sinner wasn’t kind, but reaching the final was a huge feat in and of itself.
Underrated End of Season
From Canada onwards, De Minaur’s end-of-season looks pretty average on paper. Look a little closer, though.
- Fourth round at the US Open: De Minaur defeated stiff competition in Skatov, Wu, and Jarry to get there and gave Medvedev a run for his money before the Russian was able to recover.
- Paris Masters quarterfinal: Considering De Minaur had made zero Masters quarterfinals previous to Canada, this is a nice achievement (even if Sinner gave him a walkover in the Round of 16).
- Comebacks galore: At a point in the season where most had checked out, De Minaur came back from match points down against Murray twice, led Australia to the Davis Cup final after Lehecka served for the match in their first round against Czechia, and defeated Draper after he served for the match in Tokyo.
De Minaur showed so much fight at an exhaustive point in the season. He ranked fifth on the ATP’s return stats for 2023 for a reason—the Aussie has a lot in the tank.
Overall
There’s no reason De Minaur can’t start to become a real threat at the biggest tournaments in the world. He went 6-9 against top 10 players this year, reached a career-high of No. 11 in the world, and achieved a lot of firsts (even if he would have liked to have gone a little further).
De Minaur’s only 24 years old, and he’s only going in the right direction. It’s going to be an exciting 2024 for the Aussie.
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey – USA TODAY Sports
