Aus Open: Why Lleyton Hewitt’s heir apparent Alex de Minaur is ready to fire at Melbourne Park

From the moment a young Alex de Minaur hit the scene he was compared to Lleyton Hewitt. Now, the top Aussie hope has his best chance to match his mentor’s 2005 efforts in Melbourne.

Twenty years on from Lleyton Hewitt’s storeyed run to the Australian Open final, his heir apparent Alex de Minaur is charting his own course towards the Promised Land at Melbourne Park.

The road on which he is about to embark is uncannily similar.

From the moment a young de Minaur hit the scene he was compared to Hewitt – and for good reason.

Like Hewitt, the devil has always been in the detail for the man who was quickly coined “Demon”.

Among the hardest workers on tour, the 25-year-old has steadily built his game in recent years and much of it in the Hewitt mould. Having the man himself as a quiet confidante has certainly helped.

Alex de Minaur has himself in position to attack the Australian Open. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

Hewitt’s former coach Roger Rasheed believes the Aussie No. 1 is purpose-built for the big stage, just like his former pupil.

“Lleyton enjoyed playing at home, he enjoyed big Davis Cup matches at home,” Rasheed said. “He wanted to be in the moment, he wanted to be in the big matches.

“He never feared the moment, he always loved the competition. If you weren’t wanting those moments, wanting those stages, you’re not the right person for the job.

“I love watching Alex and the way he goes about it. He very much feels like a Lleyton version but he’s done it his way as well, we have to remember.

“He was already doing a lot of the high-quality things himself.

“The fact he gets to be around Lleyton and has been able to bounce things off him over the last few years has been great but he is his own man and is creating the way he wants to go about it.”

Last year was a coming-of-age campaign for de Minaur, who beat Novak Djokovic in the United Cup and became the first Australian male since Hewitt to crack the ATP top 10.

It was the first time since 2018 that Djokovic had lost a match in Australia.

After surrendering a two-sets-to-one lead against Andrey Rublev to fall in the fourth round at Melbourne Park for a third straight year, de Minaur reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows – all career-best benchmarks.

In November, he became the first Australian male since Hewitt in 2004 to be invited to the ATP Finals.

He finished 2024 as the No. 1-ranked returner in the world – a title Hewitt held multiple times.

In fact, de Minaur’s 2024 stats are almost identical to Hewitt’s in his breakthrough 2001 season when he won the US Open.

Now de Minaur has returned home to Australia with a point to prove.

For the first time in months, he has no pain in his hip. Not since the US Open have we seen him move with such freedom.

Lleyton Hewitt watches Alex de Minaur. Picture: Michael Klein

His two straight-sets wins in the United Cup were clinical but he has much bigger fish to fry this month.

Hewitt said de Minaur could “absolutely” win the Australian Open this month. In that moment, with that backing, the weight of expectation on de Minaur’s shoulders grew exponentially.

Rasheed believes Hewitt picked his words carefully because he knows de Minaur has the temperament to handle it.

“I think Alex does a great job because he keeps it simple,” Rasheed said. “He works hard, he trains hard and he loves to compete hard.

“And it’s rinse and repeat for him. He does social media on his level and he deals with it how he wants to deal with it.

“You can either control social media and the media yourself, and which lane you’re going to be in, or you can be influenced by it.

“I think Alex does a great job of staying true to himself, staying in his lane.”

The dangerous Byron van de Zandschlup awaits in Monday’s first round. Pass that test, and his road to the final is eerily similar to that of Hewitt’s 20 years earlier.

Two Argentinians, a rising European superstar and the American No. 1 stand between de Minaur and booking a January 26 berth on Rod Laver Arena.

He has never gone beyond the fourth round at Melbourne Park but neither had Hewitt, until 2005.

Destiny awaits. It’s time for the Demon to dream big.

Originally published as Aus Open: Why Lleyton Hewitt’s heir apparent Alex de Minaur is ready to fire at Melbourne Park