🔗 Share this article

The Australian tennis star's aspirations of reaching the ATP Finals semi-finals are dangling by a slender margin after a gut-wrenching defeat in three sets to Lorenzo Musetti.

Crushing Defeat in Turin

The world No 7 went down 7-5 3-6 7-5 after being unable to close out the match, allowing the Italian to stay alive in the tournament and now leaving the Australian requiring to convincingly beat Taylor Fritz in his last group match to qualify for the semi-finals.

Psychological Challenges Threaten Career

But confronting Fritz in two days' time is the least of de Minaur's immediate concerns as the Sydneysider concedes he must address the mental demons that threaten to cruel his career.

A unsuccessful competitor of all six of his grand slam quarter-final appearances, the twenty-six-year-old was couldn't hide his distress after suffering yet another high-stakes near miss with his tournament fate in his own hands.

"I don't know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one," de Minaur stated in Turin. "I must talk to my team and try to sort out these issues because these are challenges that can't keep happening."

Professional Turning Point

"Essentially, if I really want to be genuine about advancing to the next level in my career, these contests, I must win them. I just must not. It seems as if I've been defeated in a lot of them this year. Most importantly, it's reaching a point where psychologically it's destroying me."

Characterizing his emotions as "quite dark", de Minaur bemoaned a succession of final set collapses in 2025 and said he must find a way to win the tight encounters.

Recent Setbacks

The Australia No 1's streak of crushing losses include:

• Recent 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5) result against Alexander Bublik at the Paris Masters
• Tightly-fought US Open quarter-final defeat to Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Semi-final in Monte Carlo against Musetti
• Wasted two-set lead against Bublik at the French Open
• Defeated in a third-set tiebreaker to Andrey Rublev in the Doha semi-finals

"I keep putting everything into these matches," de Minaur said. "When the result's not there, it's hard to keep pushing through."

Immediate Solution Needed

"It's something that if it isn't resolved, it's going to eat me alive. I need to get it sorted quickly rather than delayed."

Forthcoming Test

De Minaur and Fritz are tied at five wins each in past meetings, though the sixth-ranked American won their meeting in this prestigious tournament last year.

The Australian's hopes remain alive after Fritz suffered a 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-3 loss to Carlos Alcaraz that guaranteed the Spaniard would progress to the semi-finals as the winner of the Jimmy Connors group.

Tournament Implications

The world No 2's victory, having already knocked over de Minaur, put Alcaraz a single victory away of claiming the season-ending top ranking from Jannik Sinner.

Even if he is defeated by Musetti in his last round-robin contest, Alcaraz will regain the world No 1 ranking except if Sinner, who beat Auger-Aliassime in his opener on Monday, goes unbeaten to defend his ATP Finals title.

"I'll attempt not to think about it," said Alcaraz. "It's going to be a extremely important match for me. I will try not to let the anxiety play a negative role in the match. I will concentrate on my objectives, about performing much better than today."