Aussie tennis fave Alex de Minaur has a huge opportunity to seek revenge at the Qatar Open with a potential showdown against Carlos Alcaraz or Novak Djokovic waiting for him in the final. De Minaur bounced back from his disappointing Australian Open exit to reach the Rotterdam Open final where he faced Alcaraz.
De Minaur went down to the Spaniard in three sets, but reaching the final saw him overtake Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in the world rankings. De Minaur is the No.2 seed at the Qatar Open and the Aussie has the chance to revenge his Rotterdam final loss as he sits on the opposite side of the draw to Alcaraz and Djokovic.
The Spaniard and Serbian would meet in the semi-final if they progress in what would be a rematch of the Australian Open quarter-final. Djokovic hasn’t played tennis since retiring injured in the semi-final of the Australian Open due to a hamstring injury.
The 25-year-old Australian will face Roman Safiullin in his first match in Qatar. The World No.70 has struggled to start the season and de Minaur will fancy his chances against Safiullin. De Minaur has the opportunity to overtake Casper Ruud in the rankings and reach a career-high of No.5 if he wins the event.
The Aussie will need the momentum heading into the Dubai Tennis Championship at the end of the month as he needs to defend 500 points. This is because he opted not to defend his Acapulco title in Mexico. De Minaur may have opted to play in Dubai because of the extra prize money and the opportunity to link up with fiancee Katie Boulter.
The Mexican Open offers $2.7 million to the winner, while there’s $3.4 million up for grabs in Dubai. Regardless, de Minaur’s progress might have been made easier with Jannik Sinner banned from tennis for three months.
Jannik Sinner banned for three months
The tennis world was rocked on Saturday when it was confirmed Australian Open champion Sinner would miss three months of tennis. The 23-year-old Sinner twice tested positive for traces of banned substance clostebol in March last year but was initially cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to continue competing.
Sinner successfully argued that he was inadvertently contaminated because his physio had applied a spray containing the steroid to his own finger and then massaged Sinner without gloves on. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the decision and was set to take Sinner to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later this year, before coming to an agreement with the Italian and settling on a three-month ban that will begin immediately.
WADA were believed to be pushing for a maximum two-year ban and eyebrows were raised over the weekend when a deal was struck that means he only misses three months. Sinner could return at the Italian Open, ahead of Roland Garros, and won’t miss a grand slam.
Carlos Alcaraz eyeing Jannik Sinner’s World No.1 title
Although the Italian will lose plenty of ground in the rankings race during his time on the sideline. Sinner is more than 3,500 points ahead of Zverev in second and is more than 4,000 points ahead of Alcaraz in third. However, Sinner won’t play in tournaments such as Qatar, Dubai, and Indian Wells. This will see him lose significant ground heading into the clay court season.
Alex de Minaur’s record against the elite
De Minaur might be looking at the Qatar Open as an opportunity to silence his doubters and earn a win over a higher-ranked opponent. De Minaur has enjoyed some success against top 10 players throughout his career, but doesn’t have a stellar record against the elite.
He famously has an 0-10 head-to-head record against Sinner, and he’s 2-8 against World No.2 Alexander Zverev. It’s 0-3 against Alcaraz, 1-2 against Djokovic and 3-7 against Medvedev. De Minaur might see the Qatar Open as an opportunity to stamp his authority on the 2025 season ahead Indian Wells.
