Australian Open 2023 - Grading the Australians at Melbourne Park

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Alex de Minaur's crushing defeat on Monday evening to 21-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic marked the end of the road for the Australian contingent at this year's Australian Open.

Editor's Picks

• Ranking the Australian Open quarterfinalists 8hBill Connelly

Once again it's time to rate the performances of the locals. For this excercise, we are only considering singles, not doubles. So, taking into account experience, expectation, opposition and of course performance, it's time to grade them.

Alexei Popyrin

Defeated by Ben Shelton in 3rd round

Grade: B+

He's becoming a real Australian Open specialist. Alexei Popyrin wowed the crowds at Melbourne Park with his run to the last 32, highlighted by the defeat of American eighth-seed Taylor Fritz. Popyrin is the only Aussie man to defeat a top 10 seed at the Australian Open in the last 18 years; and he's now done it twice! The epic match against Fritz, as well as his first-round match against Chun-Hsin Tseng, which also went five sets, may have taken it's toll, as he struggled to fire against Ben Shelton in the next round. But with Shelton now in the quarterfinals of the tournament, that result is looking very respectable for Popyrin.