There was a time when Australian tennis players won Grand Slam titles for fun. Aussie men ruled the sport in the 1950s and 60s, lifting 58 of the 80 major singles titles on offer and winning the Davis Cup 15 times in 20 years.
Modern tennis has not been as kind to the country, however. No Australian man has won a Grand Slam since Lleyton Hewitt hoisted the Wimbledon trophy in 2002.
The current crop of Australian players are showing signs of bringing back the glory days though. This year, six Australian men ended the season ranked in the top 100 – equal with the number of Spanish players, trailing just France and Italy for the strongest representation.
With the Australian Open just around the corner and Aussie men on the rise, we’ve taken a look at the 10 best Australian players currently on the ATP Tour.
- Alex de Minaur (No 7)
Alex de Minaur, currently ranked world No. 7, has become the poster boy for Australian tennis in recent years. Born in Sydney to a Uruguayan father and Spanish mother, the 25-year-old spent much of his childhood in Spain before returning to Australia in his early teenage years.
Known as “The Demon” for his lightning speed and incredible court coverage, de Minaur has picked up 10 ATP singles titles, including three at the ATP 500 level. His big breakout came in 2024, when he reached quarter-finals at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open all in the same season, leading to a career-high world ranking of No. 6 in July 2024.
De Minaur relies on his defence and work rate to get an edge over opponents. While his speed does help him turn tough moments into attacking chances, he lacks a world class serve and has no standout weapons per se either.
Despite this, in 2024, he became the first Australian man to qualify for the ATP Finals since Hewitt in 2004. This year, he made it back-to-back year-end appearances, bagging his first win and making the semi-finals.
Undoubtedly, he is Australia’s biggest hope right now to end the country’s barren run in Grand Slams. But, getting beyond the final eight has proved a challenge: he’s fallen at this stage six times, never progressing further. Read more about de Minaur’s racquet and gear.
- Alexei Popyrin (No 54)
Sydney-born Alexei Popyrin is Australia’s No 2 player behind De Minaur, and is one of the more mercurial players on this list.
Currently sitting outside the world’s top 50, Popyrin was ranked as high as No 19 midway through 2025. This was in large part to his first Masters 1000 trophy, which he lifted at the Canadian Open in Montreal in 2024.
He arrived in Montreal ranked a modest 62nd, but played lights-out tennis to blaze his way through the field. Popyrin beat five top-20 players en route to the title, racing past Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 in the final. In doing so, he became just the fourth Australian man to win a Masters 1000 trophy, joining Pat Rafter, Mark Philippoussis and Hewitt.
Popyrin carried that form into the 2024 US Open, where he shocked defending champion Novak Djokovic in four sets to reach the fourth round – the first Australian to beat Djokovic at a Slam since Hewitt in 2006.
Since then, it’s been tough watching, with a 17-23 win-loss record for the Aussie in 2025 including five losses on the bounce to round out his season. Still, with 13 top-10 victories to his name over the course of his career, an on-fire Popyrin is a player to watch.
- Adam Walton (No 78)
In true Aussie fashion, Adam Walton has quietly worked his way up the ranks in recent years. The 26-year-old achieved a career-high ranking of No 74 in October 2025.
Before turning professional, Walton honed his skills at the University of Tennessee, where he captured the 2021 NCAA doubles championship alongside Patrick Harper. That collegiate success laid the foundation for his professional career, which has seen him claim four singles and four doubles titles on the ATP Challenger Tour.
The 2024 season was Walton’s breakthrough year at Grand Slam level. After receiving wildcards for the Australian Open and French Open, he made his Wimbledon debut through qualifying and recorded his first major victory.
His impressive form continued in 2025 – a stunning run to the fourth round at the Miami Masters was the Brisbaner’s highlight of the year.
Walton’s fearless approach was further evident when he reached his maiden ATP Tour semifinal at the Los Cabos Open in July 2025. With a game built on aggressive baseline play and a very adept skillset at the net, Walton is one to watch. Learn more about Adam Walton’s career and racquet.
- Aleksandar Vukic (No 82)
Aleksandar Vukic has been a mainstay in the world’s top 100 for the past two seasons, having grafted his way up the ranks relatively late in his career.
Vukic reached a career-high singles ranking of world No 48 in August 2023, the same year he made his first ATP Tour final at the Atlanta Open. But the 29-year-old was no stranger to tennis before cracking the upper echelon, earning a three-time All-American honor during his time at the University of Illinois before turning professional.
His impressive results continued throughout 2024, including a surprise win against world No 8 Casper Ruud at the 2024 Shanghai Masters, his first ever top-10 win. He’s been especially good on grass and put together an impressive record in Wimbledon.
The Aussie has a well-rounded game with a strong first serve and groundstrokes that suit different surfaces. Despite no aspects of his game being truly elite, Vukic is a dangerous opponent capable of upsetting higher-ranked players on his day.
- James Duckworth (No 87)
James Duckworth recently made a 19-step leap in the rankings to make it into this list. The 33-year-old from Sydney reached a personal best of world No 46 in January 2022. After slipping outside the top 100, he forced himself back into the conversation of the best Australian tennis players with some solid results.
Duckworth’s career has had plenty of setbacks. A torn elbow tendon and broken wrist in 2016 kept him out for four months, while foot surgery the next year ruled him out for the entire season. By 2018, he was ranked outside the top 900. Yet each time, he battled back.
He played in his first ATP final in Astana and reached the quarter-finals at the Paris Masters in 2021, taking down several top-20 opponents. He also had the honor of representing Australia at the Tokyo Olympics that year.
A product of Sydney Church of England Grammar School and the Australian Institute of Sport, Duckworth has claimed 23 Challenger titles. That total makes him the most successful Australian singles player in Challenger Tour history.
Duckworth’s achievements at this level, plus his general tenacity, have made him a respected figure on Tour even though he never won an ATP title.
- Tristan Schoolkate (No 100)
Tristan Schoolkate, a rising star in the Australian tennis scene, reached his career high just a few months ago, cracking the top 100 as world No 95 in September 2025. The 24-year-old from Perth started playing tennis at just four, coached by his father at Claremont Lawn Tennis Club. He learned his craft mostly on grass courts there.
Schoolkate made a name for himself at the 2024 US Open, winning his first Grand Slam match against Taro Daniel in five sets. He did it again at the 2025 Australian Open but fell to world No 1 Jannik Sinner in four hard-fought sets, becoming one of only four players to win a set against Sinner that event.
The right-hander has taken three Challenger titles and reached his first ATP Tour quarter-final at the 2025 Los Cabos Open. In Toronto, he earned his first win over a top-50 player by defeating Joao Fonseca, proving that he can take advantage of faster courts with his aggressive playing style.
- Jordan Thompson (No 108)
Jordan Thompson has been Australia’s most consistent member of the top 100 the past decade, entering in 2016 and being a regular ever since despite a rough end to 2025.
Born in Sydney on 20 April 1994, the 30-year-old has reached career-high rankings of world No 26 in singles and No 3 in doubles. Despite being around for years, Thompson really announced himself on the big stage in 2024, lifting his first ATP singles trophy at the Los Cabos Open with a commanding straight-sets win over Ruud. That same week, he also bagged the doubles trophy with Max Purcell.
The pair went on to their biggest success at the 2024 US Open, defeating Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz to give Australia its first all-Aussie men’s US Open doubles title since 1996.
The versatile Australian has proven himself across both disciplines. In singles, he reached the fourth round at both the 2020 and 2024 US Opens, recording victories over top players including Andy Murray, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev. His doubles success includes a Madrid Masters 1000 title with Sebastian Korda and a Wimbledon final appearance with Purcell.
Thompson has represented Australia in Davis Cup competition since 2017, helping the team reach back-to-back finals in 2022 and 2023. With a reputation for fighting spirit and consistent baseline play, he follows the motto he’s made his own: “hard work always pays off”. More about Jordan Thompson’s racquet.
- Christopher O’Connell (No 114)
From the same generation as Thompson, Christopher O’Connell has had to battle through multiple setbacks to keep his tennis career alive. After a major knee injury in 2018 dropped his ranking to 1185, he had to rebuild his career from the ground up.
O’Connell showed great resilience and worked his way back through the ITF and Challenger circuits, winning six Challenger titles along the way. His hard work paid off as O’Connell finally broke into the top 120 for the first time in 2019 with two more titles.
He reached a career-high ranking of world No 53 in September 2023. That year was his best at Grand Slams, making the third round at Wimbledon. He followed that with another third-round run at the 2024 US Open as well as a career-best fourth round at the Miami Masters.
While his form has dropped off since then, the 31-year-old veteran is still a threat.
- Rinky Hijikata (No 125)
Though Rinky Hijikata has become a real force in doubles, the 24-year-old hasn’t lost sight of his bigger dream: cracking it in singles. His father is a tennis coach, so Hijikata had an early introduction to the game, picking up the racket when he was only three years old.
Hijikata’s standout moment arrived at the 2023 Australian Open, where he and Jason Kubler sensationally claimed the men’s doubles title. The wildcard duo even toppled the world’s top-ranked pair en route to the trophy.
It capped off a remarkable year for Hijikata, who also reached the US Open fourth round in singles and made into the top 100 for the first time.
Hijikata’s rise continued in 2024 as he moved up to a career-high No 62 in singles. Grass remains his most natural surface – proof of that came with his first ATP semi-final at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2023. At Wimbledon 2025, he teamed up with David Pel for a memorable run to the doubles final, which included a statement win over the top seeds before settling for the runner-up spot.
- Bernard Tomic (No 183)
Bernard Tomic still stands as one of the most divisive characters in Australian tennis. Born in Germany to Croatian parents, he moved to the Gold Coast as a toddler and was soon marked out as a prodigy.
Tomic’s early career glittered with potential. Back-to-back junior Slam triumphs at the Australian Open in 2008 and the US Open in 2009 announced him as a future star.
In 2011 he delivered on that early hype, qualifying for Wimbledon and then storming all the way to the quarter-finals. His victory over fifth seed Robin Söderling made him the youngest man to reach that round since Boris Becker.
Tomic hit the high point of his career in 2016, rising to world No 17. He ended up with four ATP trophies to his name, including wins in Sydney in 2013 and Chengdu in 2018. While the 2011 Wimbledon remains his most memorable Grand Slam campaign, he also made the Australian Open fourth round on three occasions.
Tomic is 33 years old now. Unless something extraordinary happens, it’s safe to say that his best days are beyond him. Tomic currently ranks 183rd in the ATP Tour, making him the 10th best Australian tennis player at the moment.
Honorable mentions
While the above are Australia’s top 10 players according to rank, there are a few other prospects that warrant mentioning.
First, the trio of teenagers on the rise. Pavle Marinkov (No 588), Cruz Hewitt (No 722) and Hayden Jones (No 935) are all inside the world’s top 1000 already and primed to have strong careers. Hewitt in particular, who is 16 years old and is already following in the footsteps of his father, Lleyton.
Second, the injured threats. Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis are currently well down in the rankings at the moment, and at the tail end of their careers, but have a knack for delivering on home soil in front of the raucous John Cain Arena. Don’t count either of them out if they’re able to get themselves on court.
With a strong cohort of regular top-100 players, plus a few wildcard threats, expect Australia to be well represented in the latter stages of the 2026 Australian Open in January.