Australia's 2025 Grand Slam hopes: Popyrin joins the party

For several years Alex de Minaur has been Australia's only realistic hope of Grand Slam glory, but maybe, just maybe, 2024 has seen the emergence of another player who could challenge for major titles in the future.

De Minaur certainly made progress this year as he reached three Grand Slam quarter-finals, but it was the showing of Alexei Popyrin at the US Open which really caught the attention.

The 25-year-old Sydney native took down 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in four sets in the third round, inflicting the earliest exit for the Serb at a major since the 2017 Australian Open.

The challenge for Popyrin is to try and take that momentum into 2025 and try to match the levels of fellow Aussie De Minaur.

Last Australian men's champion

Tournament	Year	Winner
Australian Open	1976	Mark Edmondson
French Open	1969	Rod Laver
Wimbledon	2002	Lleyton Hewitt
US Open	2001	Lleyton Hewitt

De Minaur - 51.00 to win the 2025 Australian Open - had only reached one Grand Slam quarter-final before this year, but he did so at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2024.

Unfortunately, injury forced him to scratch from his SW19 last-eight clash with Djokovic, while he was hampered severely as he lost to Jack Draper in the Flushing Meadows quarters.

While both of those blows will have no doubt hit very hard, De Minaur is sure to be motivated to try and build on his progress and take inspiration from Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz - who shared all four Grand Slam titles between them in 2024.

De Minaur is priced at 34.00 to lift the Wimbledon trophy in 2025, with two-time defending champion Alcaraz 2.20 and Australian and US Open champion Sinner 3.00.

While it was De Minaur who went deepest at the US Open for Australia, it was compatriot Popyrin who hit the headlines, taking Djokovic down 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4 in round three, before being ousted by Frances Tiafoe.

He had headed into the final Grand Slam of the year on the back of a superb run to the title at the Canadian Open, with a first Masters 1000 crown a real statement of intent.

Popyrin remains out at 151.00 to win the 2025 Australian Open, but he should be full of confidence after proving that he can go toe-to-toe with the very best in the game and come out on top.

Honourable mentions also have to go to Jordan Thompson and Matthew Ebden.

Thompson reached four of the singles at the US Open, before taking the men's doubles crown with fellow Aussie Max Purcell, while that pairing also reached the Wimbledon men's doubles final.

Meanwhile, Ebden was crowned men's doubles champion alongside Rohan Bopanna at the Australian Open, before teaming up with John Peers to claim a gold medal for Australia at the Olympics in Paris.

Last Australian women's champion

Tournament	Year	Winner
Australian Open	2022	Ash Barty
French Open	1973	Margaret Court
Wimbledon	2021	Ash Barty
US Open	2011	Sam Stosur

While Australian men's tennis now has an extra player in the mix for potential Grand Slam success, the cupboard in the women's game remains uncomfortably bare.

Storm Hunter defied expectations to reach the third round of the Australian Open at the start of the year, though no Aussie lady won a singles match at the French Open.

Daria Saville made round two at Wimbledon, a feat emulated by Alja Tomljanovic and qualifier Maya Joint at the US Open.

However, it was a disappointing year at the Slams for Tomljanovic, who reached two quarter-finals in 2022 before being struck down by a serious knee injury.

She won just two matches at a Grand Slam in 2024 and will hope for better fortunes next year, as will Australia women's tennis as a whole, with no player ranked inside the world's top 100 at the time of writing.