Camus crowned top Aussie junior as Canberra International mulls wildcard

At Tennis Australia's night of nights in Melbourne on Monday, the 17 year old was named male junior athlete of the year, beating out other finalists Hayden Jones from Queensland and Pavle Marinkov from NSW for the honour.

Camus wasn't able to attend the ceremony while competing and training in Europe, but Tennis ACT are hopeful of bringing the junior tennis star home to compete as a wildcard at the Canberra International next month.

A strong showing at his home court in Lyneham will help lift his men's ATP ranking which is currently 1149th, but got as high as 1050th mid-year.

Camus is Australia's top-ranked junior boy, peaking at world No.31 this year (currently 36th). He won one singles and three doubles titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour, and was a boys' doubles semi-finalist at Roland Garros.

"He's got game, there's no question about it," Wally Masur told The Canberra Times of Camus' talent.

"He's travelling in a really good direction.

"It's important what he's doing on the court, and also how he develops his body, getting ready for the rigours of the tour - these are all the challenges for young Charlie going forward."

It was a big night for the ACT with Ros Balodis also winning the most outstanding 30-plus tennis masters award.

The 64 year old is currently the world No.1 in the ITF Masters Tour's 65-plus women's singles division, and dominated the recent Individual World Championships in Spain in October, winning the singles and mixed doubles titles.

Alex de Minaur was the toast of the evening though, winning his second Newcombe Medal as Australia's most outstanding tennis performer of the year.

De Minaur says cracking the world's top 10 is his top goal for 2024, and he finally and firmly believes he can win a grand slam, going into beast training mode to beef up physically in order to compete for Australian Open glory.

After claiming five top-10 scalps, winning his seventh ATP Tour title from four finals, and reaching his maiden Masters 1000 decider and two grand slam second weeks, de Minaur's confidence has soared.

"Look, 2023 was a big year for me, showing that I have the level to beat these top-10 guys," the world No.12 told AAP from his Spanish base.

"In the past, I kind of struggled in that department, that belief aspect.

"I wasn't truly believing that I was going to come out on top, but now I'm walking into these matches knowing I can beat anyone."

The 24 year old showed that competitive edge with victory over Rafael Nadal at the United Cup and two wins over fellow former world No.1 Daniil Medvedev.

"I'm looking forward to that stage and playing these guys over five sets," de Minaur said.

"I've definitely got the game, definitely got the level, the physicality, to be amongst the (grand slam) contenders. I've just got prove it. It's about showing what I can do."

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De Minaur's growing belief comes as much from the Davis Cup star's tight-knit team working relentlessly on muscling up the baseliner's firepower as it does from beating many of the top dogs in 2023.

"We're getting to a stage where it feels like everyone on tour is hitting the ball harder and harder, so you've got to adapt," he said.

"We're not complacent with where I am right now. We want to be amongst the top 10 players in the world and play in the second weeks of slams, and really the end of the slam.

"It's a big goal of mine to go deeper in the grand slams next year. I feel like I'll be ready to go on a run."

De Minaur will open his summer at the United Cup, spearheading Australia in the group stages in Perth against Great Britain and the US from December 29.

He hopes playing guaranteed matches against world No.10 Taylor Fritz and the 18th-ranked former Wimbledon semi-finalist Cameron Norrie will offer the perfect summer launching pad.