MELBOURNE, Australia — On the island that was once the center of the world of men’s tennis — the land of Laver and Rosewall, Emerson and Newcomb and other tennis gods — the strangest dynamic has emerged.
The rest of the world is obsessed with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Here, it’s all about their own tennis yin and yang.
One of them is a top-10 player who will do whatever it takes to avoid controversy while dedicating every ounce of his energy to the sport. The other is an unranked unicorn who is best at the middle ring of a three-ring circus. One man has risen to the fringes of the sport’s elite. According to just about every other player and some of the big names of the past including Goran Ivanisevic and Andy Roddick, another man has more innate talent coursing through his veins than anyone else on the planet. Tennis talent.
The 2025 Australian Open is abuzz with the pair’s latest moves.
World number eight Alex De Minaur and Nick Kyrgios, who returns after two years battling knee and wrist injuries, are the headliners for the national team at Melbourne Park. Kyrgios hosted the night match at the John Cain Arena on Monday night, while De Minaur headlined Australia’s tennis pantheon, Rod Laver Arena, on Tuesday night.
They were both celebrities at the time; they were so similar.
Kyrgios has returned to the center of the tennis world in a way that only he can, swinging it with the confidence of a machete at anyone he meets, whether they want a duel or not. He’s not even ranked after being sidelined for so long due to injury.
However, despite finishing last among his compatriots in terms of numbers, there is no doubt who will fill the stadium. He has spent much of the past few months trolling world number one Sinner’s doping case, posting lurid accusations of conspiracy on social media and filling comment sections with pin-up emoticons symbol. That included posting them in the comments of fellow Aussie and Lleyton Hewitt’s son Cruz, who posted a photo of him and Sinner that may represent the best moment of his tennis career.
Sinner was not too happy about this, albeit indirectly. “I don’t think I have to answer that question,” he fumed when Kyrgios’ jab was brought up during Friday’s press conference.
For his part, Kyrgios has been brilliant but always ambivalent about his tennis career and always willing to turn a match into a spectacle, barking at referees, officials and those sitting in his dugout, and snarling at his opponents. Taunting – business as usual.
He seeks more nuance in other areas of life. In early 2023, Kyrgios admitted to assaulting his then-girlfriend Chiara Passari in 2021, but was not convicted. He has been open about living with depression and said his mental health condition affected his behavior.
“We watch sports because we want personality,” Kyrgios said on Friday. “Every time I step on the court, I don’t know if I’m going to be super controversial, good or bad. Throughout my career, it hasn’t always been good, but it adds a lot of excitement to the game. Sense. I think this is important.
“There are a lot of good players on the tour right now. I don’t think there are that many opposite personalities.
How big of a star is Kyrgios here? On Monday night, he lost in straight sets to Britain’s Jacob Fearnley (along with Scot Andy Murray) in his first-round singles match. He was injured throughout, making much of this game provisional – likely a warm-up for him coming back from an 18-month injury.
He hopes to fill the stadium for the doubles match, where he will play alongside his close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis. The duo known as the “Special Ks” won the title here in 2022, in a match played in front of a rowdy, drunken crowd that turned the tag team competition into a national event.
In the post-match press conference after his defeat by Fearnley, Kyrgios even more firmly admitted: “I don’t think I will play singles here again.”
Nick Kyrgios captivates the crowd at Melbourne Park (Graham Denholm/Getty Images)
The contrast between him and de Minaur could not be more stark. Standing 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm), Kyrgios is a master of finesse and creativity and one of the best serves in the world. De Minaur was half a foot shorter and, given his slender frame, performed smaller than that.
De Minaur has always been enviable for his unparalleled pace and spent the first few years after the pandemic lurking in the world’s top 20. · Djokovic’s fourth round match. He defeated his favorite tennis son 6-2, 6-1, 6-2.
Then, last May, De Minaur’s career began to rise.
He is half-Spanish and spent much of his childhood there, but he has never competed in clay-court tennis. He can run like a deer; he can change direction like a crawling puppy; and he has a huge engine. He was well-suited to the physicality and intensity required of the ground game, and he never relied on big serves that might be offset on clay to succeed.
He defeated the clay-hating Daniil Medvedev in rainy weather to reach the quarterfinals of the 2024 French Open and screamed to his friends and coaches: “I love clay. I love it. Here. I am not enough.
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He gets a lot of “I told you so”s from those coaches. He subsequently reached the quarter-finals at both Wimbledon and the US Open, but was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon at the end of the fourth round due to an unfortunate injury. Stubborn hip and all, he fought his way to the year-end finals, joining the elite company of the top eight.
He is already a superstar in Australia. Outside his home country, he is best known as a celebrity boyfriend who took the next flight out of Acapulco, Mexico, to see him after he won an ATP event there last March. The finals of her own competition were held the next night in San Diego, California, with partner Katie Boulter, a top 30 British WTA player. The effort set the standard for all things boyfriend, sports and beyond, and crossed over from sports coverage to television morning shows. He proposed to Bolt during the offseason. She said yes.
Walking in the corridors below the Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros last May at Roland Garros, he explained that he wanted to evolve from a grinder to someone with an extra charisma, who occasionally Can hit the ball on the field. Maybe even get some easy points on serve. He was too easily manipulated.
“I would be exposed and bullied a little bit,” he said.
Alex de Minaur has broken into the top eight in the world over the past 12 months (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Six years ago, when De Minaur competed on the ATP Tour, he weighed just over 150 pounds (68 kilograms) and was soaked to the skin. After some gym work, he now weighs around 167 pounds, having reached critical mass and strength over the past year. Finally, he could bring the best players in the world back up with his newfound power and higher spin on the ball.
“I’ve always been about getting stronger and putting on a little weight,” he said. “I also have a little more weight on the ball and ultimately that’s what I need to compete with the top players in the world.”
He failed to win a game in the year-end finals. Still, he believed he had arrived.
“I have crossed a huge hurdle in my career and now it’s time to take advantage of my position,” De Minaur said.
Kyrgios didn’t object. At a press conference on Friday, he recalled his first match with de Minaur, who was then a teenager competing in a Davis Cup tie as a training partner. Later one day, Kyrgios decided to play some ball with him. He came to court with a beer, thinking it wouldn’t be too serious.
“I was like, ‘I’m going to go out there and teach this kid a lesson.’ (But) it was a very close game. I’m in my prime. He’s only 17,” he said. “Look at how well he’s taken on the responsibility of being our number one player over the last three or four years – he’s grown.
“I was there. I didn’t always handle it in the best way.
No, he didn’t. Can he do it now? Can he become a Wimbledon finalist again?
Kyrgios will never approach a game with humility. He has said that his sport requires a certain level of fantasy.
“If I play my style of tennis, my unpredictability, I have a chance against anyone. That’s the mentality you need to have,” he said on Friday. “If I were on the court for the first time against Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and being realistic, I probably wouldn’t win. A kid from Canberra going out there and beating them… you can’t be realistic. You Gotta think, “I’m the best tennis player in the world. “Is that realistic? Probably not. But when I was there, that’s what I thought.
This is perhaps the only similarity between the two, although the emotions expressed by De Minaur are different. He has said that with each Australian Open he has become a better version of himself. He learned a lot. Victory breeds confidence.
“It would be a pretty boring sport if it was strictly about rankings, but at this stage anything can happen,” he said. “We see opportunities emerging and many doors opening.
“There’s always a chance. Every time you go out and compete, you always have to think there’s a chance.
(Photo above: Getty Images; Design: Will Tullos)
