Alex De Minaur Needs To Unlock The True Demon
- Jasper Cormick
- Jul 24
- 3 min read
After another Round of 16 exit for Alex de Minaur at Wimbledon earlier this month, the tennis world is waiting in anticipation for ‘The Demon’ to take the leap and be a perennial Grand Slam threat.
At this stage of De Minaur’s career, the tennis world expected more, however he has just managed to conquer as far as the quarter finals in Grand Slams.
He just cannot compete with the ferocious serves, and tight knit and vicious strokes of the best players in the world such as Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic.
It leads tennis lovers to question whether he has what it takes, and if enough improvement and adaption can facilitate success for the Australian?
His career has been trademarked by slow but unequivocally steady improvement.
The exordium was the 2017 edition of the Australian Open, The Tennis world was introduced to Alex De Minaur as he secured a first-round victory at Melbourne Park.
This smaller statured but incredibly speedy young tennis phenom showed significant promise to Tennis Australia.
He adopted the nickname ‘The Demon’ coined by his coach Ben Pyne, and it has built the fabric of his reputation on the global tennis stage.
In the years following Alex has grown in both size, strength, but also confidence, as he has motored his way to nine ATP titles.
However, what has evaded De Minaur during this time is making it past the Quarter-Finals, and by proxy any real success in Grand Slams.
The Fascinating aspect is that he has had no trouble in early stages of these tournaments.
You need to look as far back as Wimbledon in 2023, 748 days ago, to see last Grand Slam he did stay alive into the second week.
It is when he matches up with the colossus' of world tennis that we see a fragment of the success that we are accustomed to.
After the 2025 Australian Open, Australian Tennis Legend John McEnroe detailed these battles as “a heavyweight fighting a middleweight.”
It just seems that Alex’s never say quit, and fight till the end attitude that serves him so well against lesser ranked opponents, does not stack up against the penultimate.
However, it cannot be ignored the dedication and consistency it takes to consistently advance to the second week of Grand slams.
This achievement is perennially overshadowed by the brilliance of Nadal, Djokovic and Federer who instilled a popular out of this worldly expectation upon Tennis’ biggest stars.
The fact of the matter is long and successful tournament runs are not the normal and are not a given for anyone across the tour.
Can Alex De Minaur take this leap into tennis stardom and win the supreme prize?
Only time will tell, but significant improvement will be pivotal for this to be the case for the hopeful Aussie.
The fact of the matter is that modern day tennis is defined by powerful serves and decisive ground strokes, all of which are not the catalyst of De Minaur’s game.
The true demon may or may not be inside him, but Australian Tennis is screaming for a perpetual superstar, and if it is him, he must adapt or be forgotten.
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