Is ‘the Demon’ the man to exorcise Australia’s Open ghosts?

There is a parallel in the AFL in St Kilda, 59 years removed from their one and only premiership. That drought has become a byword in footy. The Saints of ’66 often say that, much as they cherish their status, they wish they could pass on the baton. Edmondson surely would.

De Minaur doesn’t shy away from the Holy Grail mission he has been set. He could not avoid it anyway; it’s staring at him as he walks down the corridor of honour onto Rod Laver Arena, now augmented with commentary voiceover as in a museum installation. They were there again as he made his way back to the change rooms, and at the end of the line, almost in sepia tones, is Edmondson.

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As a round-one opponent, van de Zandschulp typifies what is challenging about majors. At 29, with no tour titles to his name, he could be called a journeyman.

But he has been inside the top 20 in the world, and last year notched wins over a fading Rafael Nadal in the Davis Cup, then most astonishingly, a rising Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open. He also has been to a major quarter-final. He has all the shots, which might sound lame, but means on his day he can have a very good day.

But de Minaur also has a deep and growing armory to augment his second-to-none court coverage, and adds to it a now formidable serve. It’s not just that he gets many balls back – he fires them back. From junior days, he wasn’t an obvious major champion in the making, but he is now a valid candidate. He’s no less equipped for it than Hewitt in his day.

This was a complete performance, not to be confused with dominant. The first set was all on de Minaur’s terms and took only 26 minutes. When he led by a break in the second, van de Zandschulp changed up his game and posed de Minaur a whole new range of questions and the match took on a new complexion. De Minaur had to save two set points before fashioning one of his own, and it was enough. It had taken more than an hour.

The third set took almost a further hour and de Minaur had to save further break points before at last making a breakthrough of his own. As Stefan Edberg used to intone repeatedly in his deadpan monotone, tennis is all about what happens on the big points.

Van De Zandschulp at least will go home with one souvenir. Caught out by a de Minaur lob, he chased it into a corner and over the baseline and hit a cross-court tweener for a clean winner into the diagonal corner. De Minaur was at one with the crowd; he could only laugh. Whoever wins, there will not be a better shot played in the Australian Open this year.

We’re so accustomed to great tennis players as prodigies – emerging in their teens and early 20s as the holy trinity did, as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are now – that we sometimes overlook those who make steady, methodical, incremental progress. De Minaur is one. His game is getting bigger every season, and with it his confidence, and he still only 25.

Which is great, but Mark Edmondson is starting to get on.

Watch all the Australian Open action live on Nine, 9Now and Stan.

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