The bleak Demon reality Aussies must accept

Before his disappointing second round exit from Roland-Garros, Alex de Minaur was knocked out in the quarter-finals at each of the previous four grand slams.

At the 2024 French Open, it was Alex Zverev who knocked him out in straight sets. Injury kept him from battling Novak Djokovic next up at Wimbledon, before further straight sets losses to Jack Draper at the US Open and then Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open.

It begs the question – is he still Australia's next slam winner? Or is this as good as it gets for the Demon?

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It might sound harsh, and perhaps it is. But it's not meant in a negative way. There would be no shame in making it to his retirement without a slam win. A vast majority of professional players never will. In fact, since 1877, only 153 men and 130 women have won a grand slam title.

The fact he's made the quarters in all four slams is proof de Minaur is a solid all-rounder capable of brilliant tennis on all surfaces.

But it's also an indication he's still not quite up there and able to regularly mix it with the Jannik Sinners and the Carlos Alcaraz' of the world.

"When he loses ... he's losing to the best players in the world," Aussie tennis legend Wally Masur told Wide World of Sports ahead of Wimbledon.

"Alcaraz and Sinner have sort of set themselves a little bit apart from the tour. I'm sure they're beatable, but they're sharing these major finals between them so they sort of stand alone to a degree. Then there's a a pack behind them, and Demon is certainly in that pack."

On his strongest surface, de Minaur will begin his Wimbledon campaign against Spaniard Robert Carballes Baena on Tuesday night (AEST).

'He's not afraid of hard work'

Masur knows better than most what de Minaur is capable of. He's known him and followed his career since he was 12.

He has watched him break through glass ceiling after glass ceiling – each at one point looked impenetrable. But can he break through this one, on top of which are perched a gangly red-headed Italian and a Spaniard with bulging biceps? Is it even possible?

That's not to suggest he'd be a disappointment or his career would be lacking should he not lift a slam trophy. Demon will no doubt be remembered as one of the best Australia has ever produced, and someone who personifies the Aussie fighting spirit.

But Sinner and Alcaraz are on another level. He's never beaten either of them, and barely come close. He's 0-10 against Sinner and 0-4 against Alcaraz. While he pinched a set off the Spaniard in the Rotterdam final in February, he hasn't won one against the Italian since 2022.

Masur said it's difficult to say whether or not de Minaur is capable of winning a slam, but in admitting he'd been guilty of writing off Federer and Agassi too early only for them to come back and win another slam, he might have suggested he's not expecting de Minaur to find himself in that position.

"Crystal balling ... I've known Demon since he was about 12 years of age. I've seen the progression and he just keeps improving. He keeps getting better," he said.

"I don't want to put a level on him. He's willing and he's not afraid of hard work so anything is possible.

"We had the big four in men's tennis – Novak is still around of course – and there's no question that Sinner and Alcaraz have taken the attributes of all the great champions of the past, and they're adding a little (extra). Each new champion brings something to the game.

"It is a challenge to match Sinner and Alcaraz, particularly over five sets, but I think that's a challenge that Demon's willing to accept.

"Make no mistake – making the top 10 is a huge effort in a very international sport. But to make the top five ... you actually have to be getting to grand slam finals."

'That's the struggle for him'

Masur explained the concept of 'easy power'. It's something both Sinner and Alcaraz both possess, as do the likes of Novak Djokovic, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Lorenzo Musetti.

De Minaur does not, and he's lost to all of those names in the last 12 months.

"Some players just have easy power, and it's very tough to play against," Masur said.

"So even when they're not playing particularly well, they might have a massive serve or the ability to generate heaps of pace off the forehand, whatever that might be.

"Demon ... competes hard, he concentrates well. He's got great endurance. He doesn't miss much. He takes the ball on the rise. He can volley, he can drop shot. There's this array of skills that he puts together to kind of diffuse his opponents.

"But the Alcaraz forehand, Sinner off the ground, Novak at full stretch, Ben Shelton serve, Musetti's just a bigger, stronger guy.

"There's players out there with easy power. I think that's the struggle for him at times.

"He's beaten top-five players – he's beaten (Daniil) Medvedev a couple of times – so he can do it, but the challenge, of course, is to do it consistently and that's a massive ask."

De Minaur arrives at Wimbledon fresh from a break. He's barely played since the French Open. There's barely any down time in modern tennis. He said he needed the break to "give (himself) the chance to miss the sport again".

"I felt like I had been going on for a while," he told Stan Sport.

"It was definitely much, much needed. I just had a little bit of a normal life – I played a lot of golf, I enjoyed my time here in London and I had a very good prep.

"Going into this Wimbledon, I wanted to make sure the body was fit and I was mentally ready to go. So here we are now and I'm very excited to get started."

De Minaur was forced to withdraw from his quarter final against Novak Djokovic with a hip injury, which would eventually keep him out of the Paris Olympics too. Despite the disappointing end, he was still able to come away from the tournament with a renewed confidence on grass.

"I can definitely play well here at Wimbledon. I've played well over the last couple of years. It's a surface that suits me, so I draw a lot of confidence from that," he said.

"Going into this year, I'd just like to take things slow and just be ready for the first round. I'm excited to to get going and hopefully the tennis can play along and I can be here for a while."

The grass courts of the All-England Club have traditionally been a happy hunting ground for the Demon. In his first main draw appearance there in 2018, he made it to the third round.

Grass also plays to his strengths. Masur explained his serve, which skids on, is one of the reasons it's his strongest surface.

"He doesn't hit with a lot of top spin like the other players do," he said.

"He's pretty linear. He likes to meet the ball early. He likes to take it on the rise. It's a bit harder to do that on clay, but it's easy to do that on hard court and grass.

"He's such a great mover, and to move well on grass is huge, and he certainly can. And his serve, if you think of some players, they've got a really heavy serve ... they hit it with a lot of spin, it hits the court, it kicks up, bounces high. Demon's is a bit more direct. He's got quite a bit of a dart for a serve. It's quite direct, quite penetrating.

"When he's serving well, he says very close to the lines and that serve doesn't get up, it stays low. So that provides some problems for the returners, particularly on grass."

De Minaur is leading the 17-strong Australian contingent at Wimbledon, the biggest Aussie charge since 1995.

He could meet Novak Djokovic in the fourth round.