Alex de Minaur disappointed but not dejected by Australian Open defeat

Alex de Minaur will attack the next phase of his career with a “completely changed” outlook towards what he can achieve, adamant his Australian Open campaign cemented renewed belief he’s just a stronger serve away from a grand slam win.

The Australian will slip to No.11 in the world after his Sunday night loss to Russian Andrey Rublev but finished the home summer with a 3-1 winning record against top-10-ranked opponents.

That run included a victory over world No.1 Novak Djokovic, a win that raised expectations for a deep push at Melbourne Park.

It took five sets for fifth seed Rublev to tame the “Demon”, who has put the rest of the world’s best players on notice that he’s coming for them.

“Maybe a couple years ago or even last year I would be sitting here, maybe even happy with the result, saying, I probably shouldn’t have won, he’s higher ranked than I am, I took him to five sets, pretty decent effort,” de Minaur said after the loss.

“But it’s completely changed because now I’m sitting here and I’m absolutely devastated because I saw it as a great opportunity and a match that I strongly believed I could have won, but it just slipped away.

“It is what it is. I mean, life goes on. I know the areas I’ve got to work on. Again, like I’ve done my whole career, I’ll get better, I’ll improve, and hopefully next time I’ll be able to take it to the next level.”

The 25-year-old Australian conceded his serve needed to “help me out a little bit more” in key match moments having at several stages on Sunday night had the opportunity to push ahead of his powerful opponent.

But de Minaur is confident he has put to bed questions about being able to take down the big hitters who dominate the top 10 and have, in the past, been his greatest hurdle to more success.

“Well, I think I dealt with it pretty good until a certain stage. Realistically, again, I think what let me down was my serve,” he said.

“ I had more break points than he did, had more chances than he did, but I just wasn’t able to execute those chances and he was, right?

“I know it’s a little bit disappointing that I’m sitting here after a loss in the fourth round. I do think I’ve made a lot of steps in the right direction.

“I think my level is quite there. Against top-10 opponents this year, I’m 3-1. It’s not the worst of things. I was very close today. I’m doing the right things.

“It is a bit disappointing. In due time I’ll take the three top-10 wins at United Cup, I’ll take it as confidence. Even this match, I’m playing some great tennis. It’s the start of the year.

“Importantly, if I can keep this level throughout the whole year, quite confident that I’ll be able to finish where I want to.”