Playing at home in front of a home crowd can go one of two ways. For some, it’s an inspiration, they play their best tennis at the most important moments. For others, it can be crippling, the tension ripping through their body and stopping them from playing the way they so dearly want to.

Think Sam Stosur, the Australian who won the US Open in sensational style in 2011, beating Serena Williams in the final, but for whom the expectations at Melbourne Park were simply too stressful. For all his talent, Nick Kyrgios’s best run in Melbourne is a quarter-final effort in 2015. Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo made one quarter-final at Roland-Garros but triumphed in Australia and at Wimbledon.

In a way, the expectations on Alex de Minaur, the world No 8, at this year’s Australian Open are unrealistic. He is yet to make a grand slam semi-final, so becoming the first Australian man to win the home tournament since 1976 is a long shot. In other ways, they’re understandable; the 25-year-old is coming off a best-ever year in which he reached the quarter-finals of three straight majors and qualified for the season-ending ATP Finals. Had he not suffered a hip injury at Wimbledon, when he was due to play an ailing Djokovic, it might have been even better.

“So much of last year I knew deep down that I wasn’t 100% but trying to convince myself that that was the case,” De Minaur told the Guardian Australia at Melbourne Park. “But I can finally say that I’m feeling 100% and the injury is something from the past.

The even better news is that De Minaur, who spent a large part of his youth in Spain, insists he does not feel the pressure that many homegrown players have, instead taking all the positives of playing on home soil.

“For some people, it’s tough to comprehend that,” De Minaur said. “But from a young age, I’ve always associated playing in Australia as exciting and fun. It’s become something natural in my mind, that whenever I get on the flight here to Australia, I’m just genuinely excited because I get to come back home and play in front of amazing fans. Every time, I just look forward to that first moment that I’m walking out on court and I know that the crowd is tuned for me, and they’ve got my back no matter what.

“There’s always going to be outside noise, and everyone has an opinion. And, you know, Australia deserves a champion. I can only imagine what all the people before me have gone through, having all the same questions. We were so fortunate to have Ash Barty bring the title home [in 2022]. That was a great moment for Australian tennis. On the men’s side, there’s nothing I would rather do more than to play well here and go deep and have that shot at the title.”

Twelve months ago, De Minaur came agonisingly close to reaching the quarter-finals for the first time, losing out to Russian Andrey Rublev in a five-set battle he described as a “brutal, brutal loss”.

“I learned a lot about myself and what type of player I want to be in certain situations,” de Minaur said. “I’m glad that it wasn’t anything negative on the rest of my career. In fact, I chose to make it a positive and learn from it.”

Part of De Minaur’s popularity – the other Australian players all look up to him for the example he sets – is that he is so keen to see the country succeed. Now he is backing the next generation of players through the Alex de Minaur Foundation, which will fund six players aged under 12 and under 14 as they compete in a four-week European Tour. Each of them are also being mentored by De Minaur himself for a year.

“I was fortunate enough to learn from so many amazing players, experienced legends of the game that helped me in my journey of becoming a tennis player,” De Minaur said. “So for me, it was very important to give back to the younger generation, not only on a financial side.

“The biggest aspect of it is the year-long mentorship and getting to learn what it takes to be a tennis player, the sacrifices you’ve got to make, learn from the mistakes that I made in my career, and hopefully be a helping hand in these kids’ journey on to becoming a tennis player.”

The fastest player on the Tour, De Minaur has added power and aggression to his game and continues to improve, little by little. No one will be trying harder here this fortnight.

“Now it’s about locking in and getting ready for a battle,” he said. “Hopefully I can use my experience, my home crowd advantage and all the things that I’ve improved on over the years.”