Jannik Sinner health rumour sweeps through Australian Open ahead of Alex de Minaur blockbuster

Darren Walton

7NEWS Sport

3 Min Read

8 hours ago

Updated

6 hours ago

Alex de Minaur is due to meet world No.1 Jannik Sinner in the biggest match of his career to date. Credit: Getty

Armed with new-found belief and unrivalled consistency, Alex de Minaur has wiped the slate clean as he bids to bring down an ailing Jannik Sinner for the first time to blow the Australian Open draw wide open.

De Minaur couldn’t care less that he will enter Wednesday night’s Melbourne Park showstopper with a galling none-from-nine record against the world No.1.

But Sinner is looking vulnerable despite being an undoubted favourite to continue his dominance over the Aussie.

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Talk that Sinner was recently struck down with pneumonia is sweeping through Melbourne Park after the Italian’s body literally shook with the jitters while he suffered through a sapping four-set fourth-round win over Holger Rune on Monday.

If the top seed is remotely off his game or less than 100 per cent physically on Wednesday, de Minaur will be ready to pounce.

“The great thing about tennis is that once you step out on the court, you both start at 0-0. It’s a whole new day, a whole new match, and anything can happen,” de Minaur said.

“Sports is unpredictable. That’s exactly the mindset I’m going to have going into that match. I’m looking forward to it.

“These are the matches I want to be playing. Ultimately, if there is anything, it’s going to be my first match this whole tournament where I’m the underdog and don’t have all the pressure and expectation of having to win.

“So it’s quite exciting.”

Australia’s world No.8 hasn’t even taken a set from Sinner in more than four years, smacked in straight sets in their past seven encounters — including twice in two weeks as recently as November.

But it will be a vastly new and improved de Minaur who takes to Rod Laver Arena striving to become the first Australian man in 20 years to make the semi-finals.

The 25-year-old is the only player in the world to have reached the past four grand slam quarter-finals, a feat that not even Sinner or 10-time Open champ Novak Djokovic can match.

“I have been quite vocal about my ambitions and goals at slams. For way too long I felt like I wasn’t performing in the bigger stages in the bigger tournaments,” de Minaur said.

“Ultimately I knew that if I wanted to be a better player and if I wanted to be a top-10 player, these were the tournaments where I had to start performing a whole lot better.

“I have worked really hard on myself to give myself these opportunities and chances. It hasn’t been overnight. It’s been a long process.

“But I’m glad that I’m showing this consistency, and it’s a good feeling to have, four back-to-back quarter-finals at slams.”

A first-time victory over Sinner would vault de Minaur into a semi-final on Friday against either American world No.20 Ben Shelton or unseeded Italian Lorenzo Sonego.