Aleksandar Vukic has been a late bloomer into professional tennis but the Sydney-born talent looks set to keep rising up the rankings.
After popping into the top 50 and reaching his first ATP final, Vukic will be keen to win this first title in 2024.
The Sporting News analyses the career of the 27-year-old, who looms as one of Australia's best hopes to go deep at the Australian Open.
Aleksandar Vukic age, rank, career titles
Vukic has had an unorthodox path for an Australian into professional tennis, going through the US college system at the University of Illinois from 2015 to 2018 - where he was named All-American on three occasions.
Just shy of 22 years old, Vukic made his ATP singles debut after qualifying for the 2018 Sydney International, where he was two points from defeating then-world no.36 Feliciano Lopez.
After some deep runs on the ATP Challenger Tour, Vukic made his Grand Slam debut in 2020 after qualifying for the French Open, but lost in the first round to Pedro Martinez.
In 2021, Vukic cracked his first ATP Tour win against Yen-Hsun Lu in the 2021 Great Ocean Road Open and was given a wildcard to the following Australian Open, but was dispatched by 19th seed Karen Khachanov in the first round.
In a slight setback, he failed to qualify for any further majors in 2021, falling short at the French Open and Wimbledon, and contracting COVID-19 prior to the US Open.
However, he did qualify for the BNP Paribas Open, an ATP Masters 1000 event, and achieved his first win at that level against Pablo Andujar.
After finishing 2021 ranked 156, Vukic made his move the following year, reaching his first ATP quarter-final at the Adelaide International, where he lost to eventual winner Thanasi Kokkinakis.
At that tournament, he also achieved his maiden top 50 win against Alexander Bublik.
Vukic followed up his solid preparation with a first Grand Slam victory at Australian Open 2022 against Lloyd Harris, but was bundled out in the second round by Raul Albot.
His first title - a Challenger event at Bangalore - followed just after the first major of the year with two more finals at that level coming in 2022.
Vukic also reached the quarter-finals at the Sofia Open, scalping Fabio Fognini and Fernando Verdasco.
His progress continued in 2023, where a career-high ranking of 48 was achieved mid-way through the season, after reaching the final of the ATP 250 in Atlanta - only narrowly losing to current world no.10 Taylor Fritz.
Vukic also made the second-round at Wimbledon and got into three Challenger Tour finals - winning in Busan against countryman Max Purcell.
He has a current ranking of world no. 62.
Aleksandar Vukic prize money
Vukic has earned a total of US$1,384,825 (AU$2,067,170) in prize money over his career, according to the ATP.
Nearly half of Vukic's career prizemoney was collected in 2023 as his success saw him collect US$679,334 (AU$1,014,578).
Aleksandar Vukic grand slam tournament record
Singles
| Aus. Open | French Open | Wimbledon | US Open | |
| 2019 | Qualifying 1 | - | - | - |
| 2020 | Qualifying 3 | 1st round | - | - |
| 2021 | 1st round | Qualifying 3 | Qualifying 1 | - |
| 2022 | 2nd round | Qualifying 2 | - | Qualifying 1 |
| 2023 | 1st round | Qualifying 2 | 2nd round | 1st round |
