Alex de Minaur is savouring every step of his journey in uncharted territory following three top-10 victories on the trot heading into Australian Open 2024.
The 24-year-old enjoyed his first hit as an official top-10 debutant on Rod Laver Arena on Monday under a closed roof with Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Having ridden a wave of confidence built on a string of firsts last season, De Minaur was determined to prove a lights-out United Cup campaign for Australia could carry him deeper at his home Grand Slam.
“That would be the dream, that's for sure,” he said. “All the work that I put in, ultimately it comes down to performing at the slams and going deep at the slams.
“That's been a goal of mine for a while now, trying to push into the second week of slams and deep into these tournaments. It's exactly where I want to be.
“I've had a great preparation and hopefully I can show the same level I have when the tournament starts.”
Before 2023, De Minaur had beaten just seven top-10 opponents in his career.
Last year alone he added six more with notable victims including Rafael Nadal at the United Cup in Sydney and Daniil Medvedev en route to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final at Toronto in August.
“I think last year was a big year of a lot of firsts – my first ATP 500 in Acapulco, making the final in Toronto,” De Minaur said.
“All these are big confidence-boosters because in the past I probably hadn't gotten those results in the bigger tournaments, and it's always a pat on the back knowing that you can achieve that.”
De Minaur has already picked up half the number of top-10 triumphs he registered last season in an ideal lead-up to his seventh campaign at Melbourne Park.
Commentators John Fitzgerald and Jim Courier deemed his domination of then-world No.10 Taylor Fritz in Perth as arguably the best they had seen from him before he broke top-ranked Novak Djokovic’s 43-match unbeaten streak on Australian soil in straight sets.
Victory from a set down before his home crowd at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena against world No.7 Alexander Zverev was not enough to carry his nation through to the final but ensured he entered top-10 territory.
“I think the big thing has been the mentality and the mindset,” De Minaur said. “Of course, I've added little improvements here and there to my game. I've gotten a little bit stronger, I'm playing a little bit more aggressively, with a bit more variety, but ultimately a lot is belief in myself, believing that I am good enough to beat these guys and proving it.”
It had been a long wait for Australian tennis fans. De Minaur became the first Aussie man in the top 10 since Lleyton Hewitt’s final stint there in July 2006.
While delighted to follow in his mentor’s footsteps, he was not one to overhype a lead-in win over the likes of Djokovic, the master of five-set tennis and a 10-time champion on Rod Laver Arena.
“That's what we've worked on – not just to do it in two-set matches, to bring it a whole four, five hours if need be,” De Minaur said. “I'm feeling in great physical condition and feeling quite refreshed mentally, so I'm putting myself in the best possible situation to perform.
“It'll be up to me once the tournament starts to show what I can do.”
De Minaur defeated world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz in a charity match on Wednesday night at Rod Laver Arena as part of his final preparations for the opening major of the season.
If he needed any added incentive to break further ground at Melbourne Park come Monday, his detractors have provided sufficient fuel.
“I love proving people wrong,” De Minaur said. “Ultimately I just want to get better each and every day. If anything it tells me all the things I need to work on so I go back to practice and put my head down and let my tennis do the talking.”