Alex de Minaur did not hold back after his agonising three-set defeat to Lorenzo Musetti on Tuesday evening at the Nitto ATP Finals. The Australian served for the match at 5-4 in the third set but eventually fell 5-7, 6-3, 5-7 and is now 0-2 in the Jimmy Connors group.
"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," De Minaur said in his post-match press conference. "I mean, 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, who is now 0-5 across his two appearances at the prestigious year-end event, lost in the third set against Alexander Bublik in the quarter-finals in Paris last month and also fell in a decider to No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Jannik Sinner in Beijing. While De Minaur has won a career-best 55 tour-level matches in 2025, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index,, he has lost in the deciding set on eight occasions, including against Musetti in the Monte-Carlo semi-finals.
"I just [need to] win these matches. It's something that if it doesn't get sorted, it's going to eat me alive," De Minaur said. "I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later. I don't know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one."
De Minaur, a champion in Washington earlier this year, will face Taylor Fritz in his third and final round-robin match on Thursday. The seventh seed can still qualify for the semi-finals.
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