The five-word response proving Demon miracle is alive, and what he still needs — AO Talking Pts

With a devilishly good performance on Friday night in Melbourne, Alex de Minaur rendered ridiculous the notion he had been delivered an Australian Open draw of death.

The Aussie Demon was at the peak of his powers in a dominant 6-3 6-4 7-5 triumph over American Frances Tiafoe, a dual US Open semifinalist purportedly in the condition of his life.

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As he seeks to be the Aussie to break the 50-year drought for local men dating back to the triumph of Mark Edmondson in 1976, he declared; “Yes, it gets stressful at times, but that is only because I want it so bad.”

Tiafoe was said to be a threat, an understandable assessment given both his talent and also the fact all four matches previous matches between the two had been tight affairs.

This was the big stage star who denied Alexei Popyrin a maiden major quarterfinal appearance in New York in 2024 just after the Aussie had ousted legend Novak Djokovic.

Instead the No.29 seed was completely outclassed by de Minaur, who produced one of his most comprehensive performances on Australian soil to reach the last 16.

“Frances is a hell of a competitor. A hell of a player. It was a hell of a battle. Huge respect to him,” de Minaur said.

“I played some of my best tennis in the tournament for two and half sets and he just lifted when he needed it. I just had to manage it. It was quite stressful at the end but I am very relieved that I got over the line.”

It is the fifth straight year that the Aussie has reached the second week in his home major, further demonstrating the consistent excellence that has made him one of the world’s best.

For all the Aussie greats who have competed at Melbourne Park since the switch from Kooyong in 1988, he is the only local to string together a second row streak like that.

But his progression to this stage is not a surprise, for de Minaur now has a perfect 20-0 record against rivals who are ranked below him when playing in Australian Opens.

De Minaur did to Tiafoe what the superstars Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have done to him by rendering him a befuddled bystander at times with a brilliant all-court display.

As American legend John McEnroe noted, the Australian’s spectacular court coverage defused the power of Tiafoe and left him confused at stages as to how to attack him.

“He has certainly fared well the longer the points have gone on,” McEnroe said on the Nine Network.

“Frances is not sure what his game plan is. He has not been able to implement it because of what de Minaur has done to him. Very few people have ever given the effort point in, point out, as this guy.

“He deserves to be talked about, the way he is moving, the way he is playing, the way he competes day in, day out, it is beautiful.”

The rivals only get harder from here as last November’s ATP Tour Finals semi-finalist in Turin comes closer to meeting some familiar and formidable names in a diminishing draw.

Major winners Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev remain alive. And so, too, do several other stars including last year’s finalist Alexander Zverev after a first week of relatively little drama.

By virtue of the lack of upsets in the first week, the second week Australian Open shapes as a cracker with Alcaraz chasing history as the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam, Sinner seeking a third straight AO title and Djokovic the 25th major of his career.

It is 50 years since Edmondson pulled off a big upset to down John Newcombe and given his record against the legends above, de Minaur probably needs a miracle as well.

But what is indisputable is that he has put himself, again, in the position to pull off the improbable and he looks to be playing as well as he ever has judged on Friday’s triumph.

De Minaur has something to chase as well and said it was a privilege, rather than a pain, to deal with the expectations of Aussie fans hoping he might pull off the extraordinary.

“I have been always one to let my tennis do the talking, and I have always found it quite tough to have that confidence if the results aren’t there,” he said in his post-match press conference.

“I know some players have the ability to not be affected by results, but for me, in terms of confidence, it was quite hard for me to really believe in myself unless I got those results.

“As the years have gone on, I have had those results. I mean, last year I had, I don’t know the exact stat, but I had a lot of wins on hard court, and I was kind of a force to be reckoned with throughout the year. Obviously if I want to take the next step, I’ve got to believe that I can do it, right?

“I’m now at a position where I know my game, I know what I want, I know that I don’t want to be one of another number in the draw. And I know that there is a lot of people that don’t think I can do it. That’s completely fine, but I’m going to keep on pushing myself with my team and trying to prove those people wrong.

“That’s just going to add some more fire to the belly, and I have not yet achieved what I want to achieve in this sport. So there is still plenty more career to get there.”

After dealing with the bold-striking Hamad Medjedovic on Wednesday night, de Minaur served a reminder that as the world’s sixth best man, he can also deliver knockout blows.

The traits that might afford him a chance should he progress to a quarterfinal against Alcaraz, who has beaten him on all five occasions including in Turin last year, were evident.

With a coaching crew including Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt urging him to remain focused and stay on top of his task, the Aussie star served extremely well, even when the match tightened late in the third set as Tiafoe raised the level of his game.

That has been an issue at times when he has tackled the big guns in grand slam quarterfinals, with de Minaur seeking a seventh appearance in the last eight this fortnight.

He opened the year with a below-par effort on serve when falling to Casper Ruud in the United Cup, but he has gotten better and better in his five wins since then.

The only time Tiafoe, 28, really threatened him last night was when teeing off.

Otherwise it was an extremely accomplished display on his serve, with the Aussie’s first serve percentage sitting at 62, a level he will need to reach or better to keep progressing.

“It is at the higher echelon in terms of de Minaur’s averages,” Aussie great Todd Woodbridge said.

“It was a sensational performance from Alex de Minaur tonight. He puts himself into some rarefied air there.”

The Australian standout held his nerve under pressure on serve early in the opening set before seizing the first break of the match in the eighth game.

The direction of his attack was instructive. Tiafoe’s forehand is hit with a flourish and can bedazzle the best when he is at his peak. But that flourish can cause failure as well.

Driven wide to his backhand when holding a break point, the safe shot would have been to return the ball back across court to buy time in the rally. Instead the Demon seized the day.

Flat, hard and to the forehand. And Tiafoe could not cope, shanking the shot instead.

If the first set was even until the Sydney-raised star made his break, he furthered his advantage in the second set, with his excellent defence frustrating his rival.

Tiafoe was able to retrieve one of the breaks late in the match, but that was more through being driven to desperation than through any tactical nous, with some haymakers landing.

When he whipped a backhand winner up the line to break Tiafoe at the start of the third set, the momentum was entirely in his favour, a run not disrupted by a lengthy delay at 2-0.

“I just love the balance between defence and offence. He has got it measured perfectly,” dual-US Open champion Jim Courier said.

“Sometimes he can play a little bit too offensively minded trying to be a little bit bigger. But not tonight.”

There was a wobble when serving for a 5-3 lead in the third set, with Tiafoe hanging tough enough to draw a couple of errors from de Minaur to square the set at 4-all.

The Aussie had the chance to break back immediately, but was unable to snaffle either of the opportunities as the match started to tighten up with the American raising the bar.

After an extended rally at 5-all, with Australia’s Davis Cup stalwart ended by clubbing a forehand winner, Tiafoe ended up on the ground and asked a ball kid to help him up.

The sapping point drained the fight the American had shown and he blundered on the next two points to give the home hero more break chances. Tiafoe saved those and the next two.

But when the American overcooked a forehand to the open court on the fifth, the break was de Minaur’s again and with it came the opportunity to serve for a spot in the fourth round.

Having secured the triumph, the de Minaur support crew was all smiles as Courier quizzed the Aussie about plans for his upcoming wedding with Katie Boulter.

The No.6 seed struck eight aces against Tiafoe. And he delivered another with a disarming response to Courier’s extended probing during an on-court interview.

“Are you doubting me, Jim?” de Minaur asked before elaborating.

“You know, this is like a 50-50 relationship, right?”

Courier’s response drew a chuckle from the Aussie.

“So you’ve not been married? You don’t know. You’re about to become a 49% shareholder of a company,” the four-time major winner said.

The Aussie scarcely took a backwards step on the court, but did opt for a backpedal as Boulter, who exited in the opening round, looked on from the grand stands with a smile.

“Honestly, the fact that we’re both tennis players and we’ve both got quite a busy schedule (helps). We are doing as much as we can together,” he said.

“And, yeah, I’ve been involved so far with some of the decisions. I’m sure when it comes to things like, the details of napkins and flowers and, you know, decoration purposes, that’s not my forte. I’ll leave that to Katie.”

YOUNG SUPERSTARS RAISE THE BAT AS MASSIVE SECOND WEEK LOOMS

Carlos Alcaraz dazzled, while Coco Gauff worked overtime against a childhood friend.

But in contrasting fashion on Friday, two of the biggest names in tennis brought up the ton.

A testament to just how precocious the prodigies have been, the American idol and Spanish superstar raised the bat when playing their 100th grand slam matches in Melbourne.

Alcaraz is in pursuit of history in Australia – he will be the youngest man ever to complete the career Grand Slam if he can break his hoodoo in Melbourne – and looks in sublime touch.

The six-time grand slam champion matched the legend Bjorn Borg’s record of 87 wins from his first 100 matches by defeating Corentin Moutet 6-2 6-4 6-1 in a brilliant match.

The score line does not suggest it, but the beauty of Moutet is that he is a player who relies on touch and craft, which enabled Alcaraz to display his artistic flair as well.

“As I said, when you don’t know what’s coming, he could do whatever he wants to do, so it’s just tricky,” he said.

“You can go a little bit farther (back) on the court, but then right away he makes a dropshot. If you go forward, he goes with topspin. So sometimes it’s just tricky. But … I’m just happy, because I just got a good focus all the time.”

That he has equalled a record held by Borg is no surprise, for the world No.1s deeds are history making. His winnings strike rate in grand slams compares favourably with the best.

The figures of the greats are not quite Bradmanesque. But they are still incredible.

Novak Djokovic has won a staggering winning percentage of 87.6 in the 459 grand slam matches he has played, which edges Alcaraz’s 87 percent at the moment.

Roger Federer won 373 of the 434 matches he played in majors at a strike rate of 85.9 percent. Rafael Nadal’s percentage sits at 87.3 from 361 matches in majors.

Borg, for context, won 142 of the 159 matches he played at a tick under 90 per cent.

Gauff’s strike rate is not quite as good, with the dual-major champion winning the 77th of her first 100 grand slam matches in a tussle over Hailey Baptiste 3-6 6-0 6-3.

Serena Williams, an idol of a star who was the highest-earning female athlete in the world last year, had a winning strike rate of 86.4 percent on the way to winning 23 major titles.

Aussie Margaret Court, who won 207 of the 230 major matches she played at a 90 percent strike rate, finished her career with 24 grand slam titles.

Other stars including Steffi Graf (89.7 percent), Chris Evert (88.7 percent) and Martina Navratilova (86.2 percent) have set the highest of bars for modern day stars.

But Gauff, who has a US Open and Roland Garros title to her name at the age of 21, is still in rarefied air, with her strike rate above that of recent Australian great Ash Barty, who won 57 of the 81 matches she played. She, of course, did win three grand slams in that period.

Having figured out a way to challenge Iga Swiatek – the American has won their past four outings – and having trumped Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open final, Gauff is a star.

It seems incredible that she is only 21, even more so that she is being quizzed as though she is a veteran about emerging stars including compatriot Iva Jovic, 18, who ousted dual-grand slam finalist Jasmine Paolini on Thursday. But she is a special talent and is looking to how she first approached the sport with a view to raising the bar even higher.

“I think a couple of your first years on tour are always the easiest just because there is no pressure, no points to defend,” she said.

“Also, scouting-wise, there are not many matches for other players to call upon. But I thought that that was a mentality I had, and then honestly this year I was like, ‘I need to get back to that.’ I think that if I had any advice to give anyone, just keep that mentality throughout your whole career, because as you get older, it should be more factual than maybe when you first started.”

The superstars aside, there is a truism in tennis that the fewer upsets there are in the first week of a grand slam, the more likely it is that the second week of the major will prove a classic.

A record breaking Australian Open is still to reach the end of the first week, with third round action to come on Saturday, but the first hour on Friday was a portent of what is to come.

All four matches on court went to tiebreakers, and the tennis played across the grounds at Melbourne Park was of the highest quality as stars strived to reach the second week.

Dual-Australian Open champion Sabalenka was pushed to the brink by Anastasia Potapova when progressing in two tiebreakers. Breakout Canadian Victoria Mboko played brilliantly to edge Clara Tauson in a match resplendent with scintillating shotmaking.

Daniil Medvedev, a three-time finalist in Melbourne, lived up to his reputation as a marathon man with a miraculous effort to turn around his match against Fabian Marozsan.

And Learner Tien, whose run to the fourth round here last year identified him as a player to watch closely, survived a tight tussle early against Nuno Borges before streaking away.

By dusk Jovic, a rising star who reached the final in Hobart last week, had delivered an upset, but her presence in the last 16 of grand slams will become a feature, not a surprise.

LATEST ON ‘LIV-STYLE’ TENNIS REVOLUTION

A billion dollar and more breakaway tour?

The world’s best benefiting from guaranteed contracts and not forced to play to the point of breaking their bodies to boost their banks.

It sounds good for the stars of the sport, but suggestions of a new “Pinnacle Tour” are not quite true, according to the Professional Tennis Players Association as the feud happening beyond the baselines simmers way

After The Telegraph in London reported on a mooted LIV-style move from the union, which has launched an antitrust suit against the major tennis bodies in the world, the PTPA issued a statement with the swiftness and feistiness of an Aryna Sabalenka fist pump.

The PTPA, for its part, denies it will constitute a breakaway of any sorts, instead stating it is trying to reform tennis from within.

“Let’s correct the record. The PTPA’s banker process is tied directly to our lawsuit and our recent settlement with Tennis Australia,” it said in a statement.

“It is a solutions oriented framework delivering immediate, tangible benefits for approximately 600 top men and women players. This is about reforming professional tennis.

“As outlined here, that includes increased compensation, financial security, equal pay, improved scheduling and recovery, revamped anti-doping rules, and independent player representation. These are real changes designed to impact players now while building a stronger future for professional tennis.

“There is no breakaway tour or rival league. This is about reforming tennis from within.”

There is a clear stipulation to make in regards to the statement.

With the pending case in the United States clearly important for tennis, at the moment it remains on the outside despite the agreement with Tennis Australia.

The letter it has sent to investment firms seeking backing for up to A$1.5 billion also makes clear it is seeking “advice on creating a new structure and valuation” for professional tennis.

Vasek Pospisil, the retired Canadian player who co-founded the organisation with Novak Djokovic, posted on social media his belief that the group is closer to achieving its goals.

“The vision for the PTPA has never changed: true player representation and a real player voice,” he wrote.

“As a player-led organisation, we are governed only by the players on our board. We exist not just to be heard, but to create meaningful change in player welfare and compensation. And the sport overall.

“We’re fighting for current and future generations, for player independence, so tennis can grow the way it should. This requires structural reform. We tried for years to do this collaboratively only to be ignored, defamed, and slandered by some in the tennis world. We were left with no choice but to pursue litigation given the system operates illegally in more ways than one.

“It’s been an exhausting fight, with real professional and personal sacrifice, but our resolve remains firm: protecting current players, future generations, and the sport as a whole.

“I’m very proud of the whole team and the tireless work they’ve all put in. We are getting closer and I’m excited to see this through.”

While Tennis Australia will open its books to the PTPA, in exemption for legal costs among other issues, the other majors and tour remain steadfast in their stance.

Djokovic, for his part, withdrew from the organisation earlier this month, citing angst at the some of the recent moves made by the body he helped set up.

The action is hotting up on the courts. And it continues to boil away behind the scenes as well.