Alex De Minaur has been a standard name on the tour for four-plus years. From 2019 onwards, his seasons haven\u2019t differed all that much.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, his ranking floated around the No. 20 – No. 30 mark, and his win rate against the top 5 was a mere 1-18.<\/p>\n
The scrappy Aussie has been your ATP average Joe for a while, but I\u2019m here to argue 2023 was the start of something promising. Roll the season review!<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
His run in Queen\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Then, all of a sudden, De Minaur was into the first Master\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
His match-up in the final against Jannik Sinner wasn\u2019t kind, but reaching the final was a huge feat in and of itself.<\/p>\n