Alex de Minaur endured a bittersweet end to the 2025 campaign, having reached the semifinals of the ATP Finals despite opening up on his struggles.
De Minaur issued some home truths to himself after losing his second match to Lorenzo Musetti, and at that point, his chances of a semifinal berth looked slim.
After those comments, Sam Stosur gave De Minaur some advice, and clearly, they paid dividends as he went and beat Taylor Fritz to reach the semifinals.
De Minaur will do a little bit of reflecting in the off-season, and he will look back at his first run to the semifinals of the ATP Finals with a lot of pride when the dust settles on his campaign.
Alex de Minaur picks the mistake he makes that he’d love to change
Ahead of the ATP Finals, each player was asked to pick a red flag within their game that they’d love to change.
Tim Henman has given De Minaur some advice this week, and perhaps his own red flag is something that can lead him to more wins over top 10 players next year.
De Minaur’s red flag might now come as too much of a surprise and clearly he struggles with the notion of potentially trying a little bit too hard in matches.
Speaking to the ATP on Instagram, he said: “Maybe I don’t have enough fun sometimes, maybe I’m all business and too serious sometimes, maybe I just need to let go sometimes, relax, have fun, have a laugh whilst I’m practising or playing a match.”
Will Alex de Minaur ever crack the ATP top five?
De Minaur needs to find a way to improve against top players
The Australian performer had an awful record of 17 straight defeats against top 10 players before overcoming Fritz to reach the semifinals of the ATP Finals.
Still, there is serious work to do, and if De Minaur is serious about winning top titles and finally reaching the last four of a Grand Slam, he needs to correct his flaws.
It’s interesting that he’s alluded to the fact that he possibly tries a little bit too hard on the court, and perhaps relaxing can help him close out more matches when the nerves start jangling.
De Minaur is a very likeable player on the ATP Tour, and it was refreshing to hear him speak with such honesty about how much of a dark place he’s been in.
Now, after reaching the ATP Finals semifinals, the off-season should be a little bit more bearable and it will be interesting to see what sort of form he shows during the Australian swing in January.
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