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Alex de Minaur emulates epic Ash Barty feat at John Newcombe Medal night

The Aussie will be heading into the Australian Open after a huge boost.

riley morgan
Sports Reporter
·3-min read
Alex de Minaur hugs Lleyton Hewitt Ash Barty accepts the John Newcombe award.
Tennis ace Alex de Minaur (pictured left) has joined Ash Barty (pictured right) in having won numerous John Newcombe Medals after winning the award on Monday night. (Getty Images)

Alex de Minaur has joined Aussie tennis royalty Ash Barty, Sam Stosur and Dylan Alcott in having won numerous Newcombe Medals after taking out the top achievement on Monday night. De Minaur has enjoyed a stellar tennis season on the tour having won his first Masters 1000 event at Acapulco in March.

De Minaur achieved a career-high ranking of World No.11, the highest a male has been ranked since Lleyton Hewitt. And most recently, de Minaur helped Australia's charge into back-to-back Davis Cup finals but was unfortunate to lose to Italy.

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De Minaur had previously never won the award solo having shared it with Aussie tennis icon Barty back in 2018. The 24-year-old won the award, named after tennis great John Newcombe, ahead of Storm Hunter, Rinky Hijikata, Alexei Popyrin, Matt Ebden and Max Purcell.

He has now joined Barty, tennis great Sam Stosur and wheelchair tennis icon Dylan Alcott having won the award multiple times. Nick Kygios, Sam Groth and Hewitt have all won it once. Barty has won the award a record five times. De Minaur did not attend the awards, but sent a message from his training base in Spain.

"I'm very sad that I wasn't able to attend the Newcombe Medal this year and I'm extremely grateful for this amazing award," he said in a video message. "It's been a great year, not only for myself, but for all of Australian tennis and I think we should (all be) very proud indeed.

"(I) would also like to thank Newk. Wish I could shake your hand right now and be there, but I appreciate everything you do for Australian tennis." De Minaur was heavy favourite to win the award and was rightfully lauded amongst the tennis community for his achievement.

Alex de Minaur's top 2023 tennis season

One of de Minaur's greatest achievements in 2023 was his consistency throughout the season. De Minaur became the first Australian since his idol and Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 to progress to 11 tournament quarter-finals.

He made the second week at two of the four grand slams, in Melbourne and New York. De Minaur is Australia's biggest hope at Melbourne Park in January, when he will attempt to better his fourth-round appearances in 2022 and 2023.

Alex de Minaur speaks via a screen.
Alex de Minaur (pictured on the screen) was named the Newcombe Medallist. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images for Tennis Australia)

Earlier in the evening, Alicia Molik was awarded the Spirit of Tennis award. During her career, Molik rose to world No.8 in singles and No.6 in doubles and she was also a Fed Cup representative from 1999. After her playing career, Molik, 42, went on to lead Australia to the Billie Jean King Cup final as captain in 2019 at Perth and in 2022 at Glasgow.

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