"He's already done things that are incredible" - Nick Kyrgios in full praise of Alex de Minaur after making more history for Australia

Nick Kyrgios has labelled Alex de Minaur as a modern-day great of Australian tennis, with him not needing to do anything else to cement this statement.

The 26-year-old will collect his fourth Newcombe Medal at the Australian tennis's night of nights in Melbourne on Monday. Only three-time Grand Slam champion Ash Bary, who owns five, has been lauded as Australian's player of the year. 

De Minaur has been the number one Aussie on the ATP Circuit for some years, regularly reaching new milestones for his country. He was the first player to make it into the top 10 since Lleyton Hewitt, and only the third to reach the ATP Finals semi-final stage after Hewitt and John Newcombe. He completed this earlier this year in his second time at the event, winning his final match over Taylor Fritz to confirm his pathway out of the group.

As well as this, he is a six-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, former Masters 1000 finalist and has won 10 titles from 19 finals. His most recent one came in the DC Open with a tight win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios has had his time in the spotlight. Reaching a career-high 13th in the world is not at the level of de Minaur, with Kyrgios in awe of his fellow countryman, going on to say that he can challenge for the biggest events on offer in the sport.

"Demon's doing an amazing job, to be honest. He's a genuine contender, I think," Kyrgios told AAP. "Maybe not at a grand slam over best of five with the way Alcaraz and Sinner are playing right now. But if one of those guys go down early, I would say that Demon's one of the other three or four people that genuinely has a chance to do it.

"We all know how hard he works. I've been around him and his competitiveness and work ethic is literally probably second to none. But look, regardless, he may not ever win a grand slam, or he may not ever win a Masters event or whatever it is, but I like what he's doing now. It is still incredible. He's been top 10 now for years and he's already done things that are incredible. He's done amazing for Australia, regardless of what happens."

Kyrgios has seen his career go slightly off the rails due to injuries. He has spent the majority of the last three years off the court, with a brace of comebacks in 2025 both failing. From this, he gave an important message about not taking it for granted, using Holger Rune as an example.

"That's the one thing I tell athletes now, and not even just tennis, you can't really take it for granted, being right there," he said. "It just goes so quick. Like, one second you have it all figured out and then an injury can happen and your whole career flashes before your eyes. We've seen these injuries like Holger Rune snapping an achilles. These injuries can happen so acutely and it's a scary feeling."

Kyrgios will make a highly anticipated return to the court in the Battle of the Sexes against women's world number one Aryna Sabalenka, being played on December 28. For de Minaur, he is looking ahead to a 2026 filled with more progression. He begins in front of a home crowd in the United Cup, partnering new teammate Maya Joint, lasting from January 2-11. Full attention will then turn to the Australian Open, being held between 18 January - 2 February.