Alex de Minaur is set to be rewarded for his outstanding 2024 with a second consecutive Newcombe Medal as Australian tennis’s player of the year.
World No.9 de Minaur is the hot favourite to claim Tennis Australia’s top individual honour for a third time on Monday night ahead of fellow Sydneysider Alexei Popyrin and five other nominees.
The nimble de Minaur, a renowned workhorse on tour, took his game to another level in 2024.
He reached the second week of every slam, including quarter-finals of the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open and rose as high as world No.6.
A hip injury suffered late in his fourth-round victory at Wimbledon forced de Minaur to pull out of a blockbuster clash with Novak Djokovic and ultimately hindered the rest of his year.
But de Minaur, 25, fought out the year to become the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 to qualify for the elite eight-man ATP Finals.
He was also the first since Hewitt in 2005 to reach three major quarters in a calendar year.
Though tipped to add a third "Newk" to his 2018 and 2023 medals, de Minaur isn’t expected to attend Monday night’s function in Melbourne.
He is in the midst of pre-season but also turned out in the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) event in London on the weekend.
In any other year, world No.24 Popyrin and Olympic doubles gold medallists Matt Ebden and John Peers would have strong claims.
Big-hitting Popyrin became the first Australian since Hewitt in 2003 to capture a Masters 1000 title, when he claimed glory in Montreal before upsetting Djokovic is a seismic US Open upset in New York.
The 25-year-old’s breakout season only underlined the former junior French Open champ’s talent.
He is closing on the world’s top 20 and will be seeded at a slam for the first time at January's Australian Open.
Peers and Ebden joined the legendary "Woodies" - Mark Woodforde and Todd Woobridge - as Olympic gold medallists with a stirring comeback win in Paris over Americans Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek.
Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell are also nominees.
World No.26 Thompson's brilliant run to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows - where he was stopped in his tracks by de Minaur - before winning the doubles crown with Purcell, capped off an impressive year.
Thompson is also in line to be seeded at Melbourne Park.
Young gun Olivia Gadecki, a long-time protege of Ash Barty, reached the world's top 100 with a career-best run to the Guadalajara Open final in September, and is the only female nominee.
