Alex De Minaur on recent win over Carlos Alcaraz: ‘I’m stepping out of my comfort zone’ | ATP Tour

match response

De Minaur on recent Alcaraz defeat: ‘I’m stepping out of my comfort zone’

Australia loses to Alcaraz in straight sets

January 27, 2026

Where does Alex De Minaur go from here, feeling dejected and deflated after yet another humiliating defeat at the hands of Carlos Alcaraz?

The sixth seed took to the court to face the world number one in the Australian Open quarter-finals having dropped just one set in two weeks. De Minaur looked confident in his straight-sets wins over Francis Tiafoe and Alexander Bublik, and some corners of the tennis world are quietly convinced that the Australian may finally be able to trouble Alcaraz and improve on his 0-5 Lexus ATP head-to-head record against the Spaniard.

For a brief period, this belief felt justified. De Minaur matched Alcaraz’s intensity early and stayed competitive with a quality first set that energized the crowd inside Rod Laver Arena. But once the top seeds took the lead, the game quickly began to tilt in familiar fashion. Alcaraz sealed the victory 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 in 2 hours and 15 minutes, once again exposing that De Minaur was still trying to close the gap with the best players.

The result left Australia No. 1 with more questions than answers, not about effort or intent, but about execution at the highest level.

“As far as mentality or the way I was hitting the ball today, that’s what I set out to do. I just couldn’t really execute it. I didn’t really execute it the whole match,” De Minaur said of his performance. “There were some good parts there, but overall I was playing outside of my comfort zone and sometimes outside of my nature.

“Certainly, for me to take the next step, I have to be able to play that way throughout the game and that’s what it takes to take it to the next level, especially against these types of players.”

De Minaur has now exited seven Grand Slam quarter-finals, losing six of them and withdrawing once due to injury. While the 26-year-old believes he is approaching his peak level, maintaining that form against the best throughout the game remains a challenge.

“You just keep practicing, keep working hard, keep getting into the commitment phase and get to this level more often,” De Minaur said of how he achieved his next breakthrough. “Then making some adjustments here and there that will allow me to increase my ball speed because my natural way of hitting the ball is pretty flat right now, which is pretty difficult for me.

“There’s a lot of risk for me in playing the ball at a very high speed, and I feel like someone like Janik or Carlos, who have a lot of spin on their ball, not only are they able to play it at a higher speed, but they also have stability because they’re able to get spin and help the ball drop and create different angles.”

Australia is proud, @alexdeminaur 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/8i3B4pHoWp

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2026

De Minaur has made significant progress in recent years. The 10-time tour-level champion is currently ranked at a career-high in the PIF ATP Rankings and has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals in each of the past two seasons. However, he failed to impress against either Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner, losing all 19 games between the two, which became increasingly frustrating.

“You try to do the right things, you try to keep improving, but of course you get very frustrated when the results don’t come or the scores don’t reflect those improvements,” De Minaur said.

Alcaraz, who is aiming to complete a career Grand Slam in two weeks, has yet to drop a set in Melbourne and is in his first semi-final. De Minaur further acknowledged the challenges posed by the six-time major champion.

“I probably hit it bigger than I’ve ever hit it before in these types of games, but I still couldn’t get through him,” De Minaur said. “Then he obviously has the ability to generate offense on command. If you miss one ball, the point is over. So he’s definitely playing at a very high level. I’m interested to see how the rest of the tournament goes.

“I do think he plays at a very high level. Ultimately, he’s No. 1 in the world for a reason.”