Double blow for winless Demon

Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt may not be able to draft Alex de Minaur into his squad for this month’s finals after the Australian No.1 winced in pain after losing his third straight match at the ATP finals as his lingering hip issue took a toll.

Having declared it was a “borderline miracle” he was even at the season-ending event after battling the issue for the second half of 2024, de Minaur pushed American Taylor Fritz for three sets before succumbing 5-7 6-4 6-3 at the Inalpi Arena in Turin.

The Australian, who needed a win to keep alive his thin hopes of making the semi-finals, winced in obvious discomfort near the end of the three-set clash.

A recurrence of the left-hip problem that first hit him at Wimbledon in July could force Hewitt to abandon plans to bring de Minaur into the squad for the Davis Cup finals in Malaga, Spain.

In his maiden ATP finals appearance, de Minaur lost to world No.1 Jannik Sinner and Russian Daniil Medvedev to bow out of the tournament winless.

De Minaur said he would walk away knowing there’s “plenty of areas I can improve on” to take down those players more often.

“I think now is definitely a time of reflection, looking at yourself in the mirror, like I’ve done every other year. There’s plenty of areas I can improve on,” was the Australian’s honest commentary to reporters in his post-match press conference following the three-set loss to Fritz.

“As a team we’ll sit down and we’ll look at every single aspect of my life and try to find percentages to improve on because ultimately, once you’re here in the elite playing against the best players in the world, it’s very small margins.

“If you want to keep on improving, everyone else is doing it, so you have to kind of keep tweaking, keep improving, keep looking. That’s certain things, whether it’s on the court, off the court, gym-wise. All these things, you just got to keep on improving. That’s what I’m planning on.

“I’m not satisfied with just staying in my career where I am today. I want to keep on improving. That’s going to be the goal for next season.”

De Minaur also walked away content with what he’d achieved in 2024 after breaking into the top 10.

“Overall, it’s been a pretty good season,” he said, with the Australian Open now firmly in his sights, pending his fitness.

Australia will have a presence in the semi-finals in Turin, however, with doubles duo Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell winning their third and final group game to progress.

Having already won the US Open and reached the Wimbledon final together this year, they became the first Australian duo since Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge to make the last-four at the season-ending men’s championship since 1999.

They took down second seeds Marcel Granollers from Spain and Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (16-14) 6-3 win in 97 minutes and will get at least one more match to prepare for their own Davis Cup appearance.

“We’ve both had incredible years, and when you’re trying to toss up doubles and singles, it’s so tough on the body,“ Thompson said.

“We’ve just done our best. We’ve probably played over 50 matches together, so that tells you we’re doing something right.”