“Novak Djokovic diced me up on my home Slam, it was borderline embarrassing” – Win over Serb trumps beating Rafael Nadal, says Alex de Minaur

Alex de Minaur has picked his win over Novak Djokovic at the United Cup 2024 as more momentous than the one over Rafael Nadal in the previous edition of the same tournament.

De Minaur is in contention at the Indian Wells Masters 2024, having defeated Alexander Bublik in the third round. He is now preparing for a quarterfinal clash with Alexander Zverev for a place in the quarterfinals.

The Aussie has been in prime form since the turn of the year. He has already claimed a trophy by defending his Acapulco title and has earned a runner-up finish at the Rotterdam Open.

It all began in January when he guided Australia to the semifinals of the United Cup. He notably defeated Djokovic in his side's tie against Serbia in the quarterfinals.

This was only his second success against the Big 3 following his win over Rafael Nadal at the same event in 2023, however, it remains the biggest of the two for the Aussie. During his post-match press conference at Indian Wells on Sunday, he stated the same.

"I'm going to go with the Novak [Djokovic] win. It's mainly based on the fact that I played him the year before in Australia. Again, he made me look silly on center court like I was struggling to win games," Alex de Minaur said.

Alex de Minaur had failed miserably when he played against Djokovic at the Australian Open in 2023 as the Serb broke him six times and crushed him 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 en route to a title-winning finish. During the press conference, he further said:

"Best-of-five match, and he absolutely diced me up on my home slam, center court in front of all the Aussies. Yeah, it was devastating. It was borderline kind of embarrassing.

"And to be able to kind of come back a year later, put all that behind me and break through that barrier, I think it's incredibly significant for me as a human being, as a player, and just to get that self-belief. Right? I think I'm extremely proud of my efforts being able to turn, you know, that matchup around."

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A brief account of Alex de Minaur's head-to-head record against Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer

Alex de Minaur

Alex de Minaur has played a total of seven matches against the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, also known as the Big 3 of tennis. He is currently tied with Djokovic at 1-1 in terms of the head-to-head.

Against Nadal, de Minaur finds himself trailing 1-3 in the one-on-one tally. He first met the Spaniard in the year 2018 at Wimbledon in the third round and lost in straight sets. Furthermore, he lost two more times, including the Australian Open in 2019 and the ATP Cup in 2020, before earning his first win at United Cup in 2023.

Alex de Minaur has faced Federer only once. He met the Swiss in the summit clash of the Swiss Indoors, Basel, in 2019 and lost 6-2, 6-2. With Federer already retired, the Aussie won't get a chance to even things up.