Alex de Minaur said he was in a dark place after his defeat to Lorenzo Musetti at the ATP Finals left him on the brink of elimination, with the Australian admitting: “I don't know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one.”
De Minaur served for the match at 5-3 in the final set against Musetti but the Italian won the final four games in a row in front of a raucous home crowd in Turin, sealing an epic 7-5 3-6 7-5 victory with a miracle forehand winner crosscourt.
De Minaur, the World No 7, also lost his opening match against Carlos Alcaraz, blowing a 5-3 lead in the first-set tiebreak, and now requires a heavy win over Taylor Fritz on Thursday and for other results to go his way in order to advance to the semi-finals.
“I just have to talk to my team and try to sort out these issues because these are issues that can’t keep happening,” De Minaur said after his defeat to Musetti.
“I mean, if I really want to be serious about taking the next step in my career, these matches, I can’t lose them. 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.”
The 26-year-old suffered a series of tough defeats at the grand slams this season. He blew a two-set lead against Alexander Bublik at the French Open and lost against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon and Felix Auger-Aliassime at the US Open having won the opening set.
De Minaur’s defeat to Auger-Aliassime at the US Open meant he is 0-6 in grand slam quarter-finals. He also admitted after his second-round defeat to Bublik at Roland Garros that he felt “burnt out”.
“I think it's probably a good thing I don't express my feelings right now because they're quite dark,” said De Minaur following the Musetti defeat in Turin.
“It just feels like it's been that type of year where I've had what feels like a whole lot of matches that should have gone my way and just somehow don't.
“It's something that if it doesn't get sorted, it's going to eat me alive. [I] just have a talk to my team and try to sort out these issues because these are issues that can't keep happening.”
