Alex de Minaur has capped a superb season by continuing his dominance of the prestigious Newcombe Medal just hours after he secured another whopping payday at a popular exhibition event in London.
A semi-finalist at the elite ATP Tour Finals in Turin last month, which followed quarterfinal runs at the Australian and US Opens and a title in Washington D.C, the leading Australian was lauded as the Newcombe Medallist in Melbourne on Monday.
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The 26-year-old has either shared or won outright the past three Newcombe Medals and now sits just one behind five-time winner Ash Barty in an honour first awarded back in 2010.
While the medal has been shared on occasion – de Minaur was a joint winner with Barty back in 2018 and Matt Ebden last year, while Barty and Dylan Alcott were recognised in 2021 – his deeds eclipsed all-comers across Australia this year.
Australia’s top-ranked woman Maya Joint enjoyed a breakthrough season when clinching titles in Rabat and at Eastbourne and is on track to be seeded in a major for the first time in Melbourne next month, and was the logical challenger.
Kim Birrell, Priscilla Hon, Adam Walton and Tristan Schoolkate were the other nominees, with all enjoying breakthrough moments on the tour in 2025, but the consistent excellence of de Minaur made him the standout choice for the award.
The world No.7s ability to retain a spot in the Top 10 for the second straight year is impressive, with de Minaur taking another step forward in his career by becoming the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt to reach the last four in the ATP Tour Finals.
The challenge remains to take the next step at major level, with the Aussie falling narrowly short when beaten by top Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime in a US Open quarterfinal, which followed a heartbreaker against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
The Aussie star was back on court in London over the weekend, where he successfully defended his Ultimate Tennis Showdown crown to secure a lucrative payday of $963,000 when beating three-time major finalist Casper Ruud in the decider.
Ruud, who is currently ranked No.12, said the de Minaur was in impressive form leading into the Australian summer.
“He played better. Much better. He just creates a lot of problems for me in my game,” Ruud said.
“He plays so flat, so low, so deep. Amazing. It’s not the first time he is winning this tournament for a reason.”
While the prize money for the exhibition, which is played in quarters of eight minutes and restricts players to one serve, does not count in his official tally, it is worth noting de Minaur recently overtook Hewitt to become the highest-earning Aussie man.
The right-hander has won almost $32 million in prize money and sits at 31st on the all-time list, one slot in front of Hewitt. Djokovic heads all-comers with prize money earnings of nearly $290 million.
Barty is the highest earning Australian of all-time, having earned almost $36 million in. a career which saw her win three grand slam singles titles and top the world’s rankings.
The Hewitt name was honoured at the function at Melbourne’s Palladium Ballroom, with the former world No.1’s son Cruz Hewitt named the junior male athlete of the year, an award de Minaur clinched back in 2016.
Hewitt, who has shown promise in lower-tier professional tournaments this year and has served as a hitting partner for de Minaur at grand slams, joins Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic among former winners of the junior player award.
Emerson Jones was named the junior female athlete of the year, an honour she shared with Joint last year, after a strong season in girls and senior events.
In other awards, Joint’s coach Chris Mahony won the Coaching Excellence Award and veteran coach Des Tyson was recognised for his work with developing players, while Hunter Thompson and Jiri Woodman shared the Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability honour.
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