Tim Henman pinpoints the moment things started to fall apart for Alex de Minaur in his defeat to Jannik Sinner

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Alex de Minaur fell to yet another defeat against Jannik Sinner in his final match of the season.

Qualifying for the ATP Finals’ last four with a brilliant win over Taylor Fritz, the Aussie met Sinner for the 13th time in his career.

After playing some great tennis in the first set, he couldn’t keep the momentum up in the second, as De Minaur lost to Sinner, 5-7, 2-6.

During Sky Sports’ post-match coverage, former world number four Tim Henman highlighted the moment when things started to go wrong for De Minaur in the semifinals.

Tim Henman says things started to ‘snowball’ after Jannik Sinner broke Alex de Minaur

The Brit believes it was the break of serve at 5-5 in the first set that spelled disaster for De Minaur.

“[Alex] De Minaur has had a great year; he did very well to get through to the semifinals. He knew that he had to play out of his comfort zone,” said Henman.

“He knew he had to take risks and keep going for his shots, and the reality was, he was able to do that for 10 games to get to 5-5.

“But then just, a shot here and there, a couple of unforced errors, missed the line by a couple of inches, [Jannik] Sinner hits a couple of great shots, and there is the break of serve.

“Once he’s got that lead, it’s almost as if he’s got the other gear; your intensity drops, you start to get rushed, make a few more unforced errors, and then it kind of snowballs, which is sort of what happened in that second set.”

De Minaur has now lost 13 straight matches to Sinner, in what is fast-becoming the most one-sided rivalry on the ATP Tour.

Alex de Minaur and Jannik Sinner’s head-to-head record

The record doesn’t make for easy viewing, although De Minaur shouldn’t be disheartened, as Sinner continues to prove himself as the best in the world on indoor hard courts.

Jannik Sinner produced another ‘brilliant performance’ against Alex de Minaur – Tim Henman

Henman couldn’t praise Sinner enough for his efforts against De Minaur, as he qualified for his third consecutive ATP Finals final.

“It’s another brilliant performance. To think that he’s played four matches against the very best players in the world and he’s yet to drop his serve, it’s phenomenal how that area of his game has improved,” he said.

• 2025 ATP Finals RR – Jannik Sinner defeated [8] Felix Auger-Aliassime
• 2025 ATP Finals RR – Jannik Sinner defeated [3] Alexander Zverev
• 2025 ATP Finals RR – Jannik Sinner defeated [5] Ben Shelton
• 2025 ATP Finals SF – Jannik Sinner defeated [7] Alex de Minaur

“It wasn’t as if De Minaur didn’t have chances; he had 0-40 in that first set, and wasn’t able to take advantage. De Minaur, as always, gave absolutely everything, 7-5, 6-1. The scoreline is pretty straightforward, but they played an hour and 52 minutes, which really does emphasise how close it was, at times.

“But the momentum and confidence of Sinner, playing in these types of conditions, on hard, on indoors, in front of his adoring fans, it’s tough to compete against.”

Henman was particularly impressed with Sinner’s serve, as the Italian became the first player in ATP Finals history to reach the final without being broken.

“When you think about all the great servers in the history of our sport, I wouldn’t necessarily think of Jannik Sinner,” he said.

“I’d think of [Pete] Sampras, [Goran] Ivanisevic, Boris Becker, John Isner, Ivo Karlovic, those types. But it’s one of these areas where he’s just slowly improved; he’s worked incredibly hard.

“He’s changed the technique, with his footwork on the serve, moving that back foot up, and now he’s serving so consistently.

“He’s serving fast and accurately, and that’s just a devastating combination.”

Whoever Sinner plays in the final will have their work cut out for them to try to nullify his serve in Turin.

Sinner will play either Carlos Alcaraz or Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final of the 2025 ATP Finals on Sunday, November 16.