Alex de Minaur took on Novak Djokovic at the 2024 United Cup and actually beat him, which was the biggest win of his career.
At the time of the match, Djokovic was number one on the ATP Tour, which means that this was the first time that de Minaur actually beat a reigning world number one.
The match itself has a lot of caveats that should be mentioned, such as Djokovic dealing with a wrist injury that clearly hampered him. He only won one point on the first serve of de Minaur in the entire match and that happened in the final game of the match.
That should tell you that Djokovic was severely hampered. Even so, it was a great moment for de Minaur, and it's quite significant for Australian tennis as well. It's the first time that an Australian man bested the world number one on home soil since 1996.
That's a long time, and the country has had plenty of good players over the years, but it never quite worked out. Nick Kyrgios was the most recent one to beat a number one before de Minaur.
It happened in 2022 when Kyrgios bested Daniil Medvedev at the US Open when the Russian was number one. But that happened in the United States and not on Australian soil like Demon's win.
Before de Minaur won in Australia, Mark Philipoussis last bested a world number one on Australian soil, which happened back in 1996 when he downed Pete Sampras, no less.
It was a pretty big and important win for de Minaur, which could give him further confidence in the coming weeks. He'll certainly get the backing of the crowd in Melbourne, and with the right circumstances, he could make a deep run.
It's not impossible and wins like this one certainly prove that he can. Will he though? Time will tell.
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