After his crushing Wimbledon defeat to Flavio Cobolli, life has picked up for Alex de Minaur, who was in despair after last week’s fourth-round loss.
On Monday morning AEST, while Jannik Sinner was beating Alexander Zverev in the men’s final, he married British number two Katie Boulter near the English midlands village in which she grew up, and on Tuesday he reached a career-best fifth in the world rankings.
He is the first Australian man to make the top five in 17 years and the seventh in total following Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, Pat Cash, Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt. The current Davis Cup captain, who had previously reached number one, was last in the top five in January 2009.
Confirmation came on Monday with the release of the ATP’s ranking list, in which Wimbledon champ Sinner remained clear at the peak, Zverev overtook injured Carlos Alcaraz in second, and quarterfinalist Felix Auger-Aliassime stayed fourth.
Then came de Minaur, who had moved above Ben Shelton.
Shelton’s first-round Wimbledon exit did not just open up a clear path to the semifinal for de Minaur, which made his defeat so painful, it also hit the American’s ranking. Having been a quarterfinalist in 2025, he had 400 points to defend (points last for a year). He earned 10.
De Minaur, having also lost in the fourth round last year, to Novak Djokovic, broke even, winning as many points as he gave up.
Djokovic could have climbed above de Minaur had he reached the final, but he lost in the semis to Sinner so stayed seventh.
Novak Djokovic remains in seventh on the men’s rankings after a Wimbledon semifinal exit. (Getty Images: Adam Davy/PA Images)
Last year, de Minaur began and ended Wimbledon 11th so this represented a year of real progress even if it did not always feel like it, given he also reached quarterfinals in Melbourne and New York and the third round in Paris.
That, however, is a minor improvement on the previous 12 months in grand slams (two quarterfinals and a second-round Paris exit in 2025) and he also reached four Masters quarterfinals, won ATP 500 events in Washington and Rotterdam and made the last four at the ATP Finals.
So there is plenty to celebrate as de Minaur and Boulter enjoy some time together before the North American hardcourt swing begins for the duo.
It is, however, a long way down the rankings to find Australia’s number two, James Duckworth, up five places to 74th, having also lost to Cobolli at Wimbledon.
Adam Walton (up six to 79th) and Rinky Hijikata (down 15 to 97th) are the other Australians in the top 100.
In the WTA rankings, leading Australian Talia Gibson remains at 58. Also in the top 100 are Daria Kasatkina (up two to 63), Kim Birrell (up seven to 65), Maya Joint (up 10 to 77) and Ajla Tomljanovic (up two to 92).
Boulter, incidentally, is 67th.
The big mover in either chart is Briton Arthur Fery, the Wimbledon wildcard whose run to the semifinal thrilled the home audience. He has vaulted 78 places to 36, by far his career high.
AAP
