Alex de Minaur didn’t hold back after his painful three-set defeat to Lorenzo Musetti on Tuesday night at the Nitto ATP Finals. The Australian served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but eventually fell 5-7, 6-3, 5-7 and is now 0-2 in Jimmy Connors’ group.
“If I’m really serious about taking the next step in my career, these games, I can’t lose them. I just can’t,” De Minaur said in his post-match press conference. “I mean, I feel like I’ve lost a lot of it this year. More than anything, it gets to the point where it’s killing me mentally.”
The 26-year-old, who is now 0-5 in his two appearances at the prestigious year-end event, lost in the third set to Alexander Bublik in the quarter-finals in Paris last month and also fell in a decider to No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Jannik Sinner in Beijing. Although De Minaur has won a top 55 tour-level matches in 2025, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, he has lost eight times in the deciding set, including against Musetti in the Monte Carlo semi-finals.
“I just [need to] win these games. It is something that, if not resolved, will eat me alive,” De Minaur said. ‘I have to get this sorted out as quickly as possible. I don’t know how many times I can deal with a loss like this.”
De Minaur, champion in Washington earlier this year, will face Taylor Fritz on Thursday in his third and final round-robin match. The seventh seed can still qualify for the semi-finals.
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