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One of the biggest matches of Alex de Minaur’s career was already falling from his grasp when his opponent, Carlos Alcaraz, compounded his misery with a selfish stroke of genius. Midway through the third set, the result all but a formality, De Minaur pounded an aggressive forehand down the line and flitted forward to the net.
Against nearly any other player in the world, the Australian would have won that point. Against Alcaraz, the world No 1, De Minaur watched on helplessly as the Spaniard chased down the ball and slid to his right, whipping a forehand down-the-line pass that did not come back. De Minaur could not hide his rueful smile.
Over the past 10 days, The sixth seed has played some of the best tennis of his already incredibly successful career. He reached his second career Australian Open quarter-final by dismantling the former top 10 player Frances Tiafoe and the newest top 10 player Alexander Bublik in back-to back straight-sets wins. He had been clinical, rolling through his section of the draw with just one set lost in five prior matches.
De Minaur’s progress in this tournament was a continuation of his upward momentum. Yet the fact remains that the No 6 and No 1 in the ATP rankings at times appear to be competing in different sports. At no point in his 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 win over the Australian did Alcaraz even appear to look uncomfortable.
It did take the 22-year-old some time to settle down in the first set. Although he started well, the winner of six majors was eventually punished for not serving precisely enough and as De Minaur tried to target his opponent’s backhand, the Spaniard was unimpressive. He hit 10 backhand unforced errors compared to just one winner in the first set. Alcaraz led by a break on two occasions in the first set, yet cheaply handed the initiative back to De Minaur.
However, Alcaraz simply has so many more options, weapons and ways to win a point, meaning it was only a matter of time before he took control. Whenever they were deadlocked in extended rallies, the younger man – he is 22 – broke out of the exchanges with devastating injections of pace or a drop shot. He used his peerless skills to move quickly from defence to attack. Once the first set was secured, Alcaraz rolled through the match.
For so long, the narrative surrounding Alcaraz was his tendency to lose focus in matches. One of the most memorable examples came when he inexplicably found himself in a fifth set with the 38-year-old Fabio Fognini, who was ranked No 138 and on the verge of retirement, in the first round of Wimbledon. Things have changed quickly. Like in New York in September, Alcaraz has navigated his path to the semi-finals in Melbourne without dropping a set.
He has not always played his best tennis, but despite being pushed to 7-5 and 7-6 sets five times during this tournament, he has found a way through each match in straight sets. “I’ve been working on this, on the concentration, the focus,” Alcaraz said. “Not having ups and downs in the matches has been one of my best or one of the main goals for me, which I’m just trying to put into work really every practice.
“If I have a practice of two hours, two hours and a half, playing sets or playing against another player, I’m just trying to play the same level and having the same concentration, you know, point after point after point. I think the work pay off and I just have a great mindset and a great concentration during the whole tournament, which I’m just really proud about seeing all the hard work pay off.”
The level he displayed in the final two sets against the 26-year-old De Minaur was of particular importance to the Spaniard due to his lack of match practice. He opted not to compete in the two weeks before the Australian Openand began the tournament searching for rhythm as a result. “My team told me, like, be patient. Your level, the level you want to play, is going to come, for sure. You got to just keep trying, keep pushing yourself, and you will get where you want to be.”
Two wins away from securing the career grand slam, Alcaraz has begun to find the level he had been seeking. Now he must maintain it.
