Alex de Minaur will head into the Australian Open as a dual Newcombe Medal winner after being rewarded for his most consistent season yet with Australian tennis’s highest individual honour.
De Minaur claimed the award outright for the first time on Monday night, after previously sharing the 2018 award with Ash Barty and he joins some of the biggest names in Australian tennis as a multiple winner.
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.
The world No.12 joins five-time Newcombe Medallist Barty, three-time recipient Samantha Stosur and wheelchair wizard Dylan Alcott among those to have won the award at least twice.
‘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,’ de Minaur said in a video message from his training base in Spain.
Alicia Molik and Tim Sullivan were all smiles with the former women’s world No.8 awarded the Spirit of Tennis accolade
Alex de Minaur was unable to attend the gala night, which featured most of the big names in Aussie tennis including Luke Saville and Daria Gavrilova
Samantha Stosur and partner Liz Astling arrive at the Newcombe Medal at Crown Palladium
Kaylah McPhee, Jamiee Fourliss, Madison Inglis, Kimberly Birrell and Lizette Cabrera all cut glamorous figures on the red carpet
‘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’s recognition comes off the back of soaring to the cusp of the world’s top 10 in 2023.
Alex de Minaur’s rise to the fringe of the world top 10 helped to earn him the Newcombe Medal. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)
The 24-year-old reached a career-high No.11 in October, collected his seventh ATP Tour title in Acapulco, made four finals and helped Australia to a second straight Davis Cup decider in Spain.
That included a brilliant fightback in the quarter-final win over the Czech Republic.
John Newcombe (centre) is pictured with his daughter Gigi and wife Angelika Newcombe
CEO of Tennis Australia Craig Tiley and chair and president of Tennis Australia Jayne Hrdlicka
The glittering night featured a who’s who of Aussie tennis ahead of the Australian Open
In his most consistent season, de Minaur also 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.
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.
Nick Kyrgios was a no-show for the awards after a big week for the Aussie, withdrawing from the Australian Open because of a wrist injury, launching his OnlyFans account and debating with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce on US television over LeBron James standings in the greatest of all time argument.
Bernard Tomic was also absent after he was denied a wildcard to the Australian Open by Tennis Australia boss Craig Tilley despite surging almost 500 places up the rankings this year.
Ajla Tomljanović was also a notable absentee as she prepares to return from another injury layoff to compete in the Australian Open. Tomljanović has a protected ranking of 33 and recently won the biggest singles title of her career, taking out a WTA 125 tournament in Brazil.
