De Minaur celebrates Top 10 breakthrough: 'It's an extremely special moment'

Alex de Minaur today cracks the Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time, climbing to a career-high World No. 10. The Australian is just the 11th player from his country to achieve the feat and the first to hold a Top 10 spot since former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in July 2006.

“I think it's an extremely special moment, and to be able to do it in Sydney on Ken Rosewall Arena in front of friends, family, it's a memory that I'll cherish forever beating another Top-10 player, a quality player, and playing an extremely high-level match,” De Minaur said. “It was very special. There was a lot to play for, but I just love every second that I have here in Sydney.”

It was fitting that De Minaur broke through in his native Sydney, where he has achieved some of his biggest feats. In 2018 as an 18-year-old ranked No. 167, he surged into the spotlight with a run to his first ATP Tour final, in which he lost to Daniil Medvedev. The following year as a 19-year-old, De Minaur claimed his maiden tour-level crown on the same court.

“Probably back then everything was a little bit easier. I wasn't thinking as much. Obviously I'm a new kid on the block and I'm just playing on adrenaline. Hey, I've got nothing to lose every time I step out on court,” De Minaur said. “Often I try to go back to those types of days where I just didn't have a care in a world. I just went out there, had fun, used the crowd, got hyped up, fired up, and played my style of tennis.

“I think I've been able to bring that at the start of the year, and it's been definitely very positive so far.”

De Minaur clinched his breakthrough by defeating German Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals of the United Cup. It was the Australian’s third consecutive Top 10 win after he took down Taylor Fritz and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Perth. Zverev was impressed with his opponent’s improvement.

“Usually he's taking his backhand super, super early. He always does that, always did that in his career. He's changing a lot of direction,” Zverev said. “But he did exactly the same with his forehand today. His forehand has always been probably the shakier shot, and today it wasn't. It was the better shot. That surprised me.

“His serve surprised me. His second serve especially surprised me. It was going 160, 165 kilometres an hour, which never used to be the case. His second serve was always kind of a weak spot. But he played amazing. He beat Novak in straight sets a few days ago. He beat me today. He's in very good form, and he's very dangerous at the moment.”

De Minaur has long maintained that Ken Rosewall Arena is his favourite court in the world. The court’s namesake, International Tennis Hall of Famer Ken Rosewall, is proud of his countryman’s accomplishments.

“He deserves it because he's worked hard and I think if he gets that high a ranking, if he doesn't get it today or tomorrow it's going to come soon enough because he is that good a player,” Rosewall said. “His gradual improvement is going to help him be one of the top players.”

De Minaur is the 182nd player to reach the Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Last year, the only player who cracked the elite group was Frances Tiafoe (10 June).