Debutant Alex de Minaur lost his second consecutive ATP Finals match to Daniil Medvedev on Tuesday.
After an outburst during his opening-round loss to Fritz, a fatigued Daniil Medvedev admitted he was looking forward to the season’s end.
However, he bounced back on Tuesday, delivering a commanding 6-2, 6-4 win over Australian number one Alex de Minaur in just 78 minutes of intense play.
De Minaur wasn’t playing poorly, but Medvedev’s 24 winners and much-improved service games left the Australian little hope.
Now, for De Minaur to have any hope of advancing, he’ll need a convincing win over Fritz and will also rely on Medvedev losing heavily to Jannik Sinner.
Alex de Minaur admits he needs major improvement for 2025
For the Australian, unless a highly unlikely set of results fall his way, his attention will soon shift to Australia’s Davis Cup campaign in Malaga next week – an event they came runners-up at last year.
He can look back on a strong 2024 season, where he reached the quarter-finals in each of the last three Grand Slams and firmly established himself in the top 10 rankings.
While injuries have hampered an end-of-season charge, De Minaur has maintained he’s eyeing up improvement for next year.
After his defeat to Medvedev he reflected, via Punto de Break: “For next year, I have to continue working on what I have already done this year. I need to keep working on my ball power from the baseline, on my serve, on trying to earn more free points, on the precision of my shots.
“I believe that the average ball speed on the circuit is increasing year by year. You have to elevate yourself and play at a level where you can hurt your opponents,” he explained.
Known for his movement and exceptional court-coverage, even a small increase in weight of shot might be enough to see De Minaur start toppling those at the very top.
Alex de Minaur will play a central role in Davis Cup success for Australia
A smart Aussie outfit has the luxury of a number of top players across both singles and doubles, with Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell adding to the star-studded line-up.
Montreal champion Alexei Popyrin will also be on hand to compete in the singles, however the nod is likely to go to De Minaur.
Seemingly recovered from a cartilage tear in his hip – an injury that disrupted more or less the whole hard-court season in North America – De Minaur played a pivotal role in leading the team to the final in 2023.
In fact, a rematch of last year’s winning rubber between the Australian and Sinner played out earlier this week in Turin.
With Sinner taking that one relatively comfortably, the two teams could face each other again, this time in the semi-finals.
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