Alex de Minaur admits mental struggles after heartbreaking ATP Finals loss

Utterly demoralised and dejected, Alex de Minaur concedes he must address the mental demons that threaten to cruel his career.

De Minaur remains alive at the season-ending ATP Finals - but only just after enduring yet another despairing three-set defeat, this time to Lorenzo Musetti.

Australia’s world No.7 went down 7-5 3-6 7-5 after failing to serve out the match, keeping the Italian in the event and now leaving the Sydneysider needing to convincingly beat Taylor Fritz in his third and final group match to reach the semifinals.

But facing Fritz in two days’ time is the least of de Minaur’s immediate concerns.

A loser of all six of his grand slam quarterfinal appearances, the 26-year-old was unable to disguise his anguish after suffering yet another high-stakes near miss with his finals destiny in his own hands.

“I don’t know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one,” a pale-faced and emotional de Minaur told journalists in Turin.

“I just have to talk to my team and try to sort out these issues because these are issues that can’t keep happening.

“I mean, if I really want to be serious about taking the next step in my career, these matches, I can’t lose ‘em. I just can’t.

“It feels like I’ve lost a lot of them this year. More than anything, it’s getting to a point where mentally it’s killing me.”

Describing his feelings as “quite dark”, de Minaur lamented a succession of third-set slip-ups in 2025 and said he must find a way to win the tight encounters.

His run of crushing losses include a recent 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5) result against Alexander Bublik at the Paris Masters, a closely-contested US Open quarter-final versus Felix Auger-Aliassime and a semi-final in Monte Carlo against Musetti.

De Minaur also squandered a two-set lead against Bublik at the French Open and a lost in a third-set tiebreaker to Andrey Rublev in the Doha semi-finals.

“I keep putting everything into these matches. When the result’s not there, it’s hard to keep pushing through,” he said.

“It’s something that if it doesn’t get sorted, it’s going to eat me alive. I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later.”

De Minaur and Fritz are 5-5 in previous encounters, though the American world No.6 won their meeting in this showpiece event last year.

The Aussie’s hopes remain flickering after Fritz suffered 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-3 loss to Carlos Alcaraz that ensured the Spaniard would advance to the semi-finals as the winner of the Jimmy Connors group.

The world No.2’s victory, having already knocked over de Minaur, put Alcaraz within one win of securing the season-ending top ranking from Jannik Sinner.

Even if he loses to Musetti in his final group match, Alcaraz will regain the world No.1 unless Sinner, who beat Auger-Aliassime in his opener on Monday, goes undefeated to defend his title.

“I will try not to think about it,” said Alcaraz.

“It’s going to be a really big match for me. I will try not to let the nerves play a bad time in the match. I will think about my goals, about feeling much better than today.”

Fritz, who lost to Sinner in the final last year, seemed set to spring a surprise when he blasted Alcaraz away 7-2 in the first-set tiebreak.

Fritz also had break points in the second set as he pushed Alcaraz much harder than de Minaur had done, but failed to take them.

Once he was broken for 4-2 down in the final set, it was all over.

“I was really relieved after the win because of everything I went through during the match,” Alcaraz added.

With agencies.