Giant-killer Alex de Minaur has described his victory over world No.1 Novak Djokovic as the greatest win of his career, and it’s why team captain Lleyton Hewitt is confident the Aussie ace can go on to crack the top 10 and win the upcoming Australian Open.
De Minaur produced the biggest upset of 2024 so far when he shocked the 10-time Australian Open winner in straight sets to knock Serbia out of the quarter-finals in Perth and end Djokovic’s 43-match winning streak Down Under.
Speaking in Sydney where Australia will face either Greece or Germany in Saturday night’s United Cup semi-final, de Minaur reflected on how significant the win was.
“Yeah (it was the best moment of my career) so far,” he said.
“It was a pretty special moment and one that I will obviously remember for the rest of my life.
“It’s not every day that you get to beat the best player in the world, so I’m very grateful.
“It’s been a great start of the year for me. I’ve played some great tennis and it’s been amazing to be a part of this team and the whole environment.”
While his performance on the court was special, what he said after the match caught the attention of the world, with de Minaur telling Jim Courier that he’s been trying to silence the critics who keep writing him off because of his perceived lack of height and power.
The world No.12 didn’t elaborate when asked about those comments on Friday, with the speedster happy to let his incredible court coverage do the talking.
“Ultimately I’m just happy that I keep on improving at stages of my career,” he said.
“It’s all about me trying to get better year after year. It’s been a gradual improvement and I’ve been very happy with the work that I’ve put in and the position that I’m in now.”
Team captain Lleyton Hewitt has heard the criticism of Australia’s highest-ranked player and knows exactly how it feels having gone through the same thing throughout his career.
“Everyone’s got different strengths, and Alex knows his strengths,” he said.
“He keeps trying to add different dimensions to his game, and that’s why if you look at his consistent improvement with his rankings year on year, it shows he’s becoming a better player and he’s become stronger on the court as well.
“To get him to that next level, he’s trying to add some more strings to his game, and so far, so good.”
That next level could come on the back of a deep run at the Australian Open where de Minaur is trying to improve on back-to-back fourth round finishes.
Wins over top-10 players like Djokovic and Taylor Fritz are why Hewitt says his star pupil can “absolutely” go all the way at his home slam.
“Novak is as good as it gets, so for him to get that belief that he can play the conditions in Perth at night-time which isn’t too dissimilar to Rod Laver Arena at night-time, and we know how well Novak has played there for the past 15 years,” he said.
“He’s got a great opportunity to get into the top 10 over the next couple of months.
“He deserves to because he’s done all the right things and he keeps putting himself against the very top players. He trains the house down with his preparation, he leads from the front and he’s been a great example to the rest of the Davis Cup team.
“He’s been such a big part of why we’ve been able to make the last two Davis Cup finals, so all in all, things are going all right at the moment but we have to keep pushing ahead.”
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