Alex de Minaur admits his self-belief is fading after another Wimbledon exit
Beaten in the Wimbledon fourth round by Flavio Cobolli, Alex de Minaur gave a strikingly candid account of fading self-belief, admitting the barrier to a first Grand Slam semi-final is now in his head, not his game.
Alex de Minaur, Wimbledon 2026 | © Imago / PsNewz
We have seen this scene before. Alex de Minaur, devastated by a defeat, hard on himself, hunting for the words. And we have seen the episodes that follow, too: the hard worker, the ambitious man, picking himself up and coming back, as he always does. Was the pain ever quite as deep as it looked? Uncertain. De Minaur will need time, he said, before he is back on track — if he ever is.
For beyond the loss itself – 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-3 to Italy’s Flavio Cobolli in the Wimbledon fourth round – de Minaur submitted to a second ordeal: pouring out his mood, in front of all the assembled media.
“It breaks me inside,” he started. “I have many, many hours to put into my craft, and countless years to have moments like these – and to not step up to the fight is just really gut-wrenching.”
The world No. 6 did not hide behind the scoreline. Asked where the match had slipped away, he offered a verdict as blunt as it was bleak: “One of us went out to win the match and the other went out not to lose it.” He was, he said, “not good enough mentally.” He was the second character of the episode.
Still no Grand Slam semi-final
That self-diagnosis has become the theme of a career caught in a peculiar bind. De Minaur is the highest-ranked Australian man in decades, a fixture inside the top 10. And even if this season has been a little underwhelming for a player of his ambition – No. 6 in the world, No. 7 in the Race – he has been a winner again, having lifted the title in Rotterdam on his way to a 25-12 record.
Yet the deeper he has gone, the harder the ceiling has felt.
He has reached the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slams and, every time, been beaten there – never once breaking through to a semifinal. The loss against Felix Auger-Aliassime, at the US Open 2025, was already one of these.
The fact that I want more and I’m not able to achieve more is a battle I deal with every day.
It is that gap – between a game good enough for the last eight and a mind he feels deserts him beyond it — that now gnaws at him. “You start doubting whether you’re going to break through and take it to the next step,” he said. “The fact that I want more and I’m not able to achieve more is a battle I deal with every day. This is just another one to add to the tally.”
Most striking was how the defeats have begun to bend his sense of the future. “The dreams you have start fading away, or feel a little bit further away than they once were,” he said. “A couple of years ago I was definitely closer to that. Now it feels like I’m getting a little bit further away.”
De Minaur : “Harder to believe”
Asked directly whether he could still believe his best days lay ahead, de Minaur did not reach for the usual reassurance. “I’m finding it harder. That’s the reality of it.”
The candour extended to the people around him. Invited to consider whether a change of coaching might help, he refused to move the blame. “No, I really don’t think that’s it,” he said. “It all comes down to myself and how I’ve dealt with certain situations. It’s not down to tennis – we’ve practised many times and I’ve felt great in this matchup. The issue is playing the match like I’ve got the weight of the world on my shoulders. I’ve brought that on myself.”
For all the darkness, de Minaur stopped short of anything final. The hurt was fresh, he said, and raw — but so was the instinct that has carried him this far. “At the end of the day, I’ve got no other option,” he said. “It hurts like hell now, but I’ll get back up. I’m a competitor, through and through. I’ll get back up and give myself another chance. I just want it to keep giving me that hope, because this is a tough sport to play with no hope.”
The best thing for me is probably not to be left alone.
His way back, he suggested, would run through routine rather than solitude. “The best thing for me is probably not to be left alone, because I’d spend a lot of time by myself developing what’s just happened,” he said.
He pointed instead to something off the court to steady him, in reference to what is, by every account, his upcoming wedding: de Minaur is engaged to British No. 1 Katie Boulter, and the couple are reported to be marrying this summer, in a European ceremony expected to follow soon after Wimbledon.
“I’ve got some pretty big things happening soon, some stuff I’m very excited for. My best way forward is to channel my focus into that, into something positive, and get on with what’s next.” Not tennis, it seems. “I won’t play a tournament for a while,” de Minaur warned.
