“This defeat has affected me”: Alex De Minaur breaks down the match that shook his ATP Finals campaign

Alex de Minaur recalled the painful defeat against Lorenzo Musetti in the Round-Robin stage of the ATP Finals. The World No. 7 came into the match against Musetti as the favorite, despite having debuted with a loss against Alcaraz. This was because the Italian was barely recovering from an arduous week of competition in Athens and had not had time to rest between the two tournaments.

Furthermore, the Italian had arrived as World No. 9, and only secured his place in Turin after the withdrawal of the Serb. In a tight match, De Minaur was close to completing a comeback when the score was 5-7, 6-3, 5-3 in his favor. With the serve on his side, De Minaur had the chance to seal the victory, but he ended up getting entangled in errors and allowed Musetti to return to the match. The Italian earned two consecutive breaks and the last four games in a row—to rescue an important victory in the middle of the group stage.

The defeat was especially painful for De Minaur, who extended his winless record at the ATP Finals to 0-5, in addition to being on the verge of elimination. The Australian was more aggressive than his rival, hitting 34 winners against Musetti's 22, although the difference was even greater in terms of unforced errors, with 44 for De Minaur and 'only' 28 for Musetti.

“Ultimately, I don’t think it’s the worst thing to be completely honest and open,” he commented in an interview with Tennis 365. “A lot of the time as players, we try to put on a brave face, but certain losses are a lot harder. We would probably be lying if we said this defeat has not affected me, I’m happy with the result and all that stuff.”

“For me, it was a chance to be completely honest with myself and speak from the heart,” he said regarding the press conference where he showed tearful emotion while facing the media. “Ultimately, for me, that’s the way I can learn from those moments and experiences and try not to make the same mistakes again.”

Despite the defeat, De Minaur had a great performance in his last Round Robin match against Taylor Fritz, securing the win in straight sets. Shortly thereafter, Alcaraz did him a favor by defeating Musetti, and De Minaur ended up advancing to the semifinals thanks to a better game differential compared to his rivals Fritz and Musetti. In the semifinals, he crashed out against the eventual champion, Jannik Sinner.

The Australian is preparing for his participation in the UTS Grand Final this weekend, an exhibition tournament where he will compete against rivals like Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev, and Francisco Cerúndolo in search of the trophy and a significant monetary prize for the champion.

“It’s an exciting format of tennis,” he said. “I enjoyed playing here last year and can’t wait to get back out there again. It’s exciting and something different and it gives you a different view of how to play points. I’ve played a few of the UTS events now and I’ve enjoyed it. Having only one serve is an interesting mindset change and I enjoy trying to adapt to it.”

De Minaur is the highest-ranked player in the draw after finishing the season as World No. 7—his best year-end ranking so far. “Overall, it was my best year to date. There were some great moments and also some disappointments that I can learn from,” the 10-time ATP title champion commented. “Two guys in Jannik (Sinner) and Carlos (Alcaraz) won a lot of the big events and the challenge for all of us is to try and close the gap those two have opened up.”