Thunder and lightning – Demon’s improvement is frightening
Alex de Minaur has cracked the top 10 by beating three blokes already in it and has his Australian Open rivals worried.
All the hullabaloo surrounds Alex de Minaur. So it should. He’s killing it. Giant-killing it.
Spare a thought, however, for Ajla Tomljanovic. She played with de Minaur at the United Cup. Played her heart, sweat, rust, lactic acid and two-handed backhands out. Together they competed but divided they fell when a nerve-shredding, high-calibre, ultimately heartbreaking semi-final against Germany ended at 2.19am on Sunday.
Australia’s leading singles protagonists are in completely different headspaces ahead of the Open. One’s oozing confidence. The other’s grappling for it.
Let’s start with de Minaur. He’s about to become Australia’s first top 10-ranked player since Lleyton Hewitt in 2006 after his rousing win over Germany’s Alex Zverev. It was like a game of tip inside Ken Rosewall Arena that finished 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in favour of the bloke who shares a nickname with Fred Spofforth.
Catch de Minaur if you can. The little devil ran across the baselines, sprinted to the net, bolted down the sidelines, hid behind pot plants and under his courtside bench. Zverev couldn’t quite get hold of him and when the ATP Tour’s laptop spits out its rankings on Monday morning, London time, de Minaur will have achieved the mighty accomplishment and lifelong ambition of a slot in the top 10.
“It’s very special and it’s a moment I’ll cherish forever,” he said.
All credit and kudos to Australia’s best bantamweight since Lionel Rose. He’s in the top 10 because deserves to be. He earned it by knocking over three blokes already there.
The United Cup victories over world No. 10 Taylor Fritz (to be replaced by de Minaur), world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and world No. 6 Zverev have been the ultimate in confidence-building, match-hardening, full-steam-ahead preparations for Melbourne Park.
Hewitt was in his corner throughout the Cup like Mickey the trainer in the Rocky Balboa movies. One minute Mickey – sorry, Hewitt – was telling de Minaur, “You’re gonna eat lightning and you’re gonna crap thunder!” The next minute Mickey – sorry, Hewitt – looked like he wanted to say, “I’ll never leave you.” What a great servant to the sport Hewitt has become.
And what an ally for de Minaur when the 24-year-old attempts one of the few feats to elude Hewitt. Becoming Australia’s first men’s Open champion since Mark Edmondson ambushed Newk in 1976.
“It’s great getting these matches before the Australian Open,” de Minaur said. “I see all the reasons why I’m not going to be a good player. Why I’m not going to make it or why I’m not going to improve. I store it in the back of my head and I use it as motivation. Ultimately, it’s my drive that has put me in this position and I want to get the absolute most out of myself.”
Which is why Hewitt adores him, will never leave him. Hewitt wanted to get the absolute most out of himself. And did. He won Wimbledon. Won Davis Cups. Beat Pete Sampras in a US Open final. Became world No.1. All because he fought, scrapped, competed, hustled, bustled and rustled up enough supreme competitiveness, motivation, elusiveness and skill to succeed. Catch Hewitt if you could. Few did.
De Minaur lost his first set to Zverev without hitting a single ace or winner. You can’t win matches like that. He won anyway. The Sydney crowd was going ballistic. Bring on Melbourne. He’ll whip up an electrifying atmosphere. Zverev was shocked by the little devil’s improvement after losing to the scampering, ducking-and-weaving, counterpunching bantamweight for just the second time in their eight bouts.
“I feel like that’s the best Alex has played against me,” Zverev said. “He’s in unbelievable form. His forehand has always been probably the shakier shot, but it wasn’t. His second serve especially surprised me. He was going at 160kmh to 165kmh, which never used to be the case. His second serve was always a weak spot but he played amazingly. He beat Novak in straight sets and he beat me today. He’s in very good form and he’s very dangerous at the moment.”
Thunder and lightning. De Minaur’s improvement, pending Open results, is frightening. “This last week has helped my record against top-ten opponents significantly,” he said. “I’ve shown I’ve been able to do it and back it up in two different cities. I’m very happy with how 2024 is going and hopefully I can keep it going.“
Australia lost the mesmerising, marathon United Cup semi-final 2-1 after Tomljanovic’s demoralising 4-6 6-2 7-6 (9-7) loss to Angelique Kerber and a deciding mixed-doubles victory to Zverev, pulling a double shift that closed past the witching hour, and Laura Siegemund, having a blinder, over Matt Ebden and Storm Hunter. There was a fingernail in it. The Germans prevailed 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (2-7), 15-13 to reach Sunday’s final against the powerhouse Polish team of World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and World No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz.
Tomljanovic had two match points. Lost ‘em. Had the match on her racquet. Lost it. Grappling The problem with having a reputation for lacking self-belief is that everyone keeps trying to pump you up with self-belief. Which just reminds you of the self-belief you don’t always have. Hewitt constantly encouraged her – “Here we go, Ajla! Back yourself!” – and she went agonisingly close to a tremendous win. But these sorts of losses take a while to recover from. If de Minaur is full-steam-ahead towards the Open, land ho, Tomljanovic needs a few morale-boosting victories at this week’s Adelaide International to put the wind in her sails.
As commentator Casey Dellacqua said in the first game of the Kerber/Tomljanovic clash: “For me this match is so much about belief for Ajla Tomljanovic. It’s about coming out and believing that she can win this match even in tough moments. She’s had trouble in different times throughout her career – she’s played herself into some real winning positions at times and I just feel like that belief factor really has to play a part tonight.”
Tomljanovic played some tremendous stuff. It was a high-calibre match. And taxing. She built up so much lactic acid her lips turned white. She smoked a clean crosscourt backhand winner to lead the deciding tie-breaker 7-6, playing herself into a real winning position, as Dellacqua might say, then shanked a forehand return and dunked two consecutive unforced errors into an unforgiving, immovable net. Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. Tomljanovic walked away like she couldn’t believe it.
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