- Wrote a telling message on the broadcast camera after drought-breaking win
Alex de Minaur has completed one of the most dramatic turnarounds of his career, advancing to the ATP Finals semi-finals after Carlos Alcaraz defeated Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 6-1 in Turin.
It was the exact result the Australian needed to survive the round-robin stage after the Aussie admitted his run of close losses had been taking their toll.
Just 48 hours earlier, de Minaur was visibly broken after losing to Musetti in a match he served for, admitting the repeated setbacks were wearing him down.
‘Losing matches I feel I should have won is getting to a point where mentally it’s killing me,’ he said after that defeat.
‘If it doesn’t get sorted, it’s going to eat me alive.’
He walked onto court against Taylor Fritz knowing that only a straight-sets win would keep him alive.
Aussie Alex de Minaur signs the camera after his win over Taylor Fritz at the ATP Finals
De Minaur signed the word ‘finally’ after losing a string of close matches he believed he should have won
With the Turin crowd behind him, he clawed back from 4-4, 0-30 in the opening set, steadied himself, then dominated the tiebreak before controlling the second set for a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory, his first ATP Finals win at the sixth attempt.
After sealing the match, he looked to the heavens in relief before writing ‘Finally :)’ on the TV camera.
‘I’ve dealt with a fair bit of heartbreak recently. It was good to finally get a win here in Turin,’ he said.
‘A couple days ago, I was in a pretty dark place, and it was a tough pill to swallow.’
De Minaur said the win was about more than the tennis.
‘I feel proud of my efforts, not just for coming out and winning, but also just for the mindset,’ he said.
‘I kind of made peace with it, and I just committed to my game from the first point to the last.
‘I was gonna leave everything out there today and I ended up with a really good match from the start to the end. I’ve worked really hard, so it was good to get some positive reward for that hard work.’
A relieved de Minaur thanks the heavens after admitting the losses were taking a mental toll
Carlos Alzaraz did de Minaur a favour by beating Lorenzo Musetti to keep the Aussie in the tournament
When told on court that he would reach the semi-finals if Alcaraz beat Musetti, he could not help but laugh.
‘Is that actually true or not, I don’t know. I don’t trust you right now… I’m gonna have to see what happens,’ he said.
‘Whatever happens, happens, but I won’t be paying too much attention to the tennis. I’ll be relaxing and having a nice night here in Torino.’
A few hours later, Alcaraz delivered exactly what de Minaur needed.
The Spaniard powered through a tight first set before overwhelming a tired Musetti to secure the match and the year-end world No.1 ranking while handing de Minaur the final spot in the semis.
