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On Sunday evening, Alex de Minaur will both sail into uncharted waters or expertise a sense of déjà vu.
He’s on the cusp of creating the Australian Open quarterfinals for the primary time in his profession, an achievement that might match his finest exhibiting at a serious.
His conflict with world quantity 5 Andrey Rublev on Rod Laver Enviornment marks the third consecutive yr he has reached the fourth spherical at Melbourne Park, a stage of the event that has been a stumbling block for the younger Australian.
However it will not solely be his opponent on the opposite aspect of the web de Minaur wants to overcome if he’s to achieve the quarterfinals.
He’s the final Australian standing within the singles attracts, contributing to the general public expectation that has been rising following his excellent kind within the lead-up to the season-opening main.
De Minaur’s first win over Novak Djokovic on the United Cup earlier this month and his rise to a career-high quantity 10 on the world rankings has allowed Australian tennis followers to dare to dream.
Add the very fact de Minaur might be taking part in in entrance of a parochial centre-court crowd, with a large nationwide viewers additionally tuning in on prime-time TV, and it is easy to see why anticipation is mounting.
Hometown help could be a double-edged sword because the stress of performing whereas within the nationwide highlight has cruelled the probabilities of many an Australian participant.
That is illustrated by the very fact no native has claimed the Australian Open males’s title since 1976, regardless of main winners corresponding to Lleyton Hewitt, Pat Rafter and Pat Money having tried valiantly to etch their identify on the Norman Brookes Problem Cup.
Money, talking within the current documentary movie Australia’s Open, admits he discovered the stress that got here with taking part in in Melbourne “crippling”.
“It is not simple to win your house event,” stated Money, who was runner-up in 1987 and 1988.
“The expectations you’ve got on your self and the eye can get overwhelming. There’s completely little doubt about it and sometimes you do not carry out at your finest.
“I wanted psychological assist to truly survive in Australia and play the Australian Open.”
No less than publicly, de Minaur is taking all of it in his stride.
“Most likely the one factor that has modified is now that I’m on the rating that I’m, there’s somewhat bit extra hype round me,” de Minaur instructed the media at Melbourne Park earlier this week.
“However in saying that, I have not modified the slightest. For me, I nonetheless get pleasure from each second I am right here. It is a blessing beginning the yr in Australia, taking part in in entrance of my house followers.
“I do not actually affiliate taking part in in Australia as nerve-racking or extra stress. In actual fact, I affiliate it as simply pleasure.
“I stroll out and I’ve acquired an unbelievable crowd behind me, so I am very lucky for that.”
Rublev possesses ‘immense firepower’
On courtroom, Rublev poses as de Minaur’s best take a look at but this event and he’s an previous hand in terms of reaching the second week of a serious.
On 9 events he has made the quarterfinals, together with the Australian and US Opens, and Wimbledon final yr.
Admittedly, his kind up to now in Melbourne has been patchy.
He trailed 5-2 within the 10-point tiebreaker within the fifth set of his first-round match towards Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild, going through what would have been his earliest exit on the Australian Open since 2019.
However Rublev rebounded to win eight of the following 9 factors to seal victory, whereas his second and third-round matches had been wrapped up in straight units.
Each de Minaur and Rublev loved glorious 2023 seasons during which they confronted off twice on indoor hardcourts.
Rublev triumphed after they performed one another within the quarterfinals on the Paris Masters, however de Minaur toppled the Russian within the opening spherical in Rotterdam earlier within the yr.
Total, de Minaur leads their profession head-to-head conferences 3-2 and he’s greater than conscious of the weapons Rublev possesses on courtroom.
“He is acquired some immense firepower and his forehand is lethal,” de Minaur stated of Rublev.
“It is mainly do your finest to not enable him to hit forehands, particularly from the center of the courtroom.
“That may in all probability be the sport plan towards him.”
Nullifying Rublev’s forehand might be one factor, however blocking out the exterior stress that comes with being the lone Australian left might turn into de Minaur’s greatest problem.
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