Our long distance Aussie. Does Alex de Minaur grab your heartstrings?

Having spent all of 2025 on tour around the world attending 23 tournaments with the Aussie tennis players, always my starting point at each destination, I have seen more of Australia's number one-ranked tennis player (18/23 tournaments) up close than any other year i have covered tennis, so that experience alone also has further shaped my thoughts.

In effect, like all professional tennis players out there, Alex is largely representing himself, except for team competitions when he comes under the Australian banner.

The son of a Spanish mother and Uruguayan father who met in Sydney and married and started a family in Australia's largest city, Alex has lived small periods of his 26 years in Australia (through his youth) but considers Spain his home, with Australia having a special place in his heart.

It hit home again to me at last Monday's Newcombe Medal (Australian tennis awards at Melbourne's Crown Casino), which he won for a fourth time as the best-performing Australian player for 2025.

Not for the first time, he wasn't there in person to receive the award. Demon doesn't return to Australia after a big tennis season on the road, because Australia is not his home and it won't ever be again.

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There is the infrequent Davis Cup ties on Australian soil nowadays (vs. Belgium back in September), where Aussie tennis fans got a close-up seat to Alex, and then of course, there is January, where he pops in and out of Australia for our summer of tennis.

He has (AUS) next to his name, but he is in our long-distance relationship set-up. Tennis Australia have supported him over the years for Europe to be his base, our junior tour in Australia is named the Alex de Minaur Junior Tour and just recently has featured on the iconic Weet Bix box, inspiring the search for Australia's future tennis stars as examples of connecting him to Australian tennis.

Let me put on the record again, which I have written previously this year, and spoken about on 'The First Serve Live', Australian tennis is so fortunate to have Alex de Minaur, and it is hard not to be a fan of a young man who is so dedicated to his craft and goes out and competes with a fierce desire that has seen him rise to the top ten of a tough global sport.

The First Serve Live returns Monday 2nd February 2026 with Brett Phillips at 8pm AEDT on SEN around Australia, Sport Nation around NZ and worldwide on the SEN App

Be it individual or team sports, Aussies in many cases have been and are the underdog in sport around the world and in the current climate of men's tennis, Alex has been more often that as he attempts to try and dismantle the big names ahead/around him more often - Alcaraz (0-5 H2H), Sinner (0-13 H2H), Zverev (3-8 H2H), Djokovic (1-3 H2H), Auger-Aliassime (1-3 H2H), Fritz (6-5 H2H) and Musetti (1-4 H2H), Shelton (0-1 H2H) Draper (4-1 H2H) as the top 10 sits.

I sat courtside at all of Demon's matches this year, and no surprise that, because of the way he competes, he has a global following. Of course, he is not the only player to have that, but some players it's next level. I would listen to the banter and feel the vibe at his matches, and he is up there for fan popularity and value for money.

This is not easy to articulate, but while he possesses many Aussie traits, he is so European in nature, which is no surprise. Stating the obvious, with our geographical position in the tennis world, he is not the only Aussie tennis player who is remote the majority of the year, but Alex is in a different category due to his roots and status.

He has been our number one for sometime now, is likely to be for sometime to come, but I have often walked away from his matches this year, whilst admiring his performance and thankful we have an 'Australian' in the top echelon of tennis, thinking how good would it be if we again could have a genuine rising star from the suburbs of Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane etc reach the top 10.

As a tennis fan in Australia, are you following him all round? Are you invested? Does he shift the Aussie needle for you like others competing in various sports around the globe? Do you feel patriotic about Alex?

At 26, he has still got some quality years on tour in him. He has been our only top ten male since Lleyton Hewitt, a stat that could stand for a long time to come unless we can somehow produce some local-based talent.

He has allowed us to move on from the disappointment of Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic who despite their talent have had careers overshadowed by embarrassing controversies, and made it very hard for true sports fans to embrace them, but does it stir up the same emotions for you as it does for me that while it is great to have Alex, we bloody need some local based stars to emerge in the years to come in the world of tennis.

The Kooyong Classic returns to the spiritual home of Australian tennis from January 13-15, 2026.

Each year, the Kooyong Classic features the world’s best players in their final preparation for the Australian Open. 

The 2026 event will feature Lorenzo Musetti, Alexander Bublik, Nick Kyrgios, Karen Khachanov, Flavio Cobolli, Frances Tiafoe, Learner Tien, Matteo Berrettini, Hubert Hurkacz, Marin Čilić and Zhang Zhizhen, alongside Donna Vekić and a special guest appearance Daniela Hantuchová. More to be announced in coming weeks.

Tickets on sale now through Ticketek/www.kooyongclassic.com.au

Hospitality packages can be viewed on the Kooyong Classic website and purchased by contacting info@kooyongclassic.com.au.