Being one of the top candidates tipped to snap the dominance of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in men’s tennis, Alex de Minaur would have had high expectations for himself heading into 2026.
The Australian enjoyed arguably his best season ever on the tour in 2025, reaching two Grand Slam quarterfinals, the semifinals of the ATP Finals, while also capturing his 10th title in Washington.
Aged 27, De Minaur is entering what tends to be the prime years of a professional tennis player, during which many achieve the biggest feats of their career.
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But his ‘prime’ has not started well at all, with the world number eight currently enduring an incredibly difficult run of form.
Though he has been able to add to his title tally, 2026 has been a fairly disappointing year for De Minaur so far, and his latest loss is perhaps the most concerning of the current campaign to date.
Alex de Minaur’s loss to Rafael Jodar at the Madrid Open
De Minaur came into the ongoing Madrid Open aiming to really kick-start what has been a fairly indifferent clay season so far.
He did finally win two matches in a row at the Monte-Carlo Masters after failing to do so in his three previous tournament appearances, but ultimately fell to Valentin Vacherot in the quarterfinals.
At the Barcelona Open, De Minaur barely got past world number 83 Sebastian Ofner before losing 6-3, 6-4 to Hamad Medjedovic.
In Madrid, though, things appear to have gone from bad to worse for De Minaur, who has just been handed his heaviest defeat of the season.
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De Minaur lost to Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar in his opening match at the Madrid Open, falling in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.
Jodar, aged 19, earned the first top ten win of his career with the triumph, and set up a clash with Joao Fonseca in round three.
While it was a huge milestone for the home hope, De Minaur looked completely dejected after the bout, and it’s hard to blame him considering the string of results he has put together outside of his title-winning run in Rotterdam.
- Australian Open: Quarterfinals
- Rotterdam: Champion
- Acapulco: First round
- Indian Wells: Third round
- Miami: Second round
- Monte-Carlo: Quarterfinals
- Barcelona: Second round
- Madrid: Second round
Many of De Minaur’s losses this year have come against some good opponents, against whom he managed to put up a decent fight.
But to bow out in Madrid by clinching just four games against a teenager shows the problems De Minaur is facing may extend further than just a poor run of form.
Despite the early exit in Madrid, De Minaur has managed to hold on to his position inside the world’s top ten, and may have the chance to climb higher as the clay swing continues.
Alex de Minaur’s points to defend for the rest of the clay season
The next big tournament De Minaur can turn things around at comes in the form of the Italian Open in Rome.
Having been knocked out in the fourth round last year, De Minaur will only be defending 100 ATP points in the Eternal City.
And he’ll be protecting even fewer points at the second Grand Slam of the year, Roland Garros, where he suffered a second-round exit in 2025.
De Minaur was knocked out by Alexander Bublik in a lengthy five-set clash at last year’s French Open, and picked up just 50 ATP points.
A deep campaign in Paris could see him rewarded with plenty of points, and potentially a rise up the rankings to his career-high placement of 6th in the world.
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