Whateley: GOAT curse a sobering reality check for Demon

If last year’s quarter final trouncing was sobering for Alex De Minaur, Tuesday night's was dispiriting.

You could see it in the helplessness that took hold on court and in the glimpse behind the scenes in the immediate aftermath, surrounded by his team looking every inch the wounded warrior.

A night of such anticipation became a collapse of hope and belief.

Hope is not a strategy and belief can’t survive cold reality.

De Minaur is willing and will always be admired as such but against the big guns he’s overmatched.

Zero and 19 against the ruling class of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannick Sinner speaks to that.

Seven quarter final appearances at the majors without advancing to the final four… six of the past eight… this, for the moment, is his lot in life.

The contest against the World No.1 last night was lopsided.

The first set was an exercise in retrieval.

De Minaur retrieving endless balls and retrieving numerous breaks of serve before ultimately a net chord ballooned wide and scuppered his chance to force a tie breaker.

The second set was a demonstration of forced power versus easy power.

The Australian recognised he needed to do more but was always playing from behind as Alcaraz absorbed and imposed.

And the third set was a monstering. The Spaniard toyed with the local and took him at will. It was a progressive beat down, a ruthless dismantling.

None of which is to be overly critical of De Minaur.

For all that De Minaur is working on and looking to add, the gulf between his game and the top two is both sobering and dispiriting.

Alcaraz played the match perfectly. In each set he took a 3-love lead. He took the energy out of the local crowd and didn’t allow De Minaur to ever draw on that force.

The 22-year-old tyro’s ability to insert power into a rally, by unleashing his forehand, repeatedly drew gasps from those in attendance.

Too good became a familiar refrain in the stands. But Alcaraz is more than blunt force. He is touch and angles and spin and hustle.

He has the desire to chase down one extra ball and make his opponent play again.

He can conjure wicked angles from unlikely positions. He’ll come to the net. And he loves a drop shot… even when perhaps he shouldn’t

And for whatever foibles might creep through every now and then, Alcaraz can simply rectify and reset with a thunderous serve.

Last night was the first time I’d seen him play live as opposed to on TV and he was spectacular.

If Alcaraz is to enjoy a decade of dominance, tennis will be in the best of hands.

He seems eminently likable and notably distinct from the three legends that have gone immediately before – he’s not a clone of Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.

Men’s tennis has moved seamlessly from one era to the next. And this is De Minaur’s curse.

Between Sampras and Agassi and before Federer and Nadal… there was the, let’s call it the David Nalbandian era.

Lleyton Hewett spent 80 weeks as World No.1… phenomenal in hindsight.

Below him were players like Gustavo Kuerten, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Marat Safin, Tim Henman and Tommy Haas.

De Minaur needed the gap between all-time greats, but that is not the reality. His recent departures at Melbourne Park have come against Nadal, Djokovic, Sinner and now Alcaraz

The 26-year-old is building a fine and worthy career but last night served as the sobering and dispiriting reality check of where the standard sits.