On the face of it, what Alex de Minaur thinks makes it possible for him to win a major one day is also what makes it nearly impossible.

“Anything can happen, right?” he said pre-tournament. “It is tennis at the end of the day. If it was strictly based on rankings, it would be quite a boring sport. But anything can happen.”

The trouble is that the rankings mostly do hold true.

Overwhelmingly, the winners of major championships come from the top six. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz won all four last year as top-four players. For much of the two decades that the big three ruled, they ruled from the very top.

De Minaur is ranked eighth. Historically and mathematically, that says quarter-finalist, and that is where he has landed again, for the fourth time in a row and the first time at the Australian Open.

It’s no mean achievement in itself; when climbing Everest, base camp is a real milestone. Sometimes it takes more than one assault.

Alex de Minaur beat Alex Michelsen to advance to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the first time, where he will play Jannik Sinner.Credit: Eddie Jim

It means de Minaur is getting the absolute best out of himself every time. If only other players we could name could say as much about themselves. If only we all........

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