De Minaur “not satisfied” with flatlining, eyes improvement next season
The Australian ends his 2024 season with three straight defeats at the ATP Finals, but is eyeing improvement next year
Alex De Minaur, ATP Finals, 2024 © Chryslene Caillaud / Panoramic
It feels as though Alex de Minaur has been knocking at the door of tennis’ elite for some time now.
Having first cracked the top 20 in 2018, the Sydney native has slowly but surely edged his way up the rankings ladder over the past six years, finding himself at No 9 in the world at the end of the 2024 season.
This is De Minaur’s highest year-end finish, and just three places off a career-high ranking of No 6 achieved over a typically productive grass-court summer earlier this year.
At still only 25 years of age, De Minaur has this season added another two titles to his tally to reach a commendable total of nine ATP trophies. Perhaps more significantly, having reached just one Grand Slam quarter-final prior to 2024, the Australian reached another three in a row at this year’s latter three majors.
Yet, having ended 2023 at a career-high twelfth in the world, this season has seen De Minaur’s progress up the ATP rankings decelerate significantly as he’s struggled to take that next and biggest step into the world’s top 5.
After drawing 2024 to a close with three consecutive defeats at the ATP Finals in Turin, De Minaur has admitted that improvements will need to be made next year if he is to maintain an upward trajectory.
“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 a three-set loss to Taylor Fritz in Turin – a loss that ended his hopes at this year’s ATP Finals.
“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.”
promising season leaves de minaur well-placed for top-five challenge
It is worth noting that the latter half of De Minaur’s season was significantly hampered by a recurrent hip injury that derailed much of his post-Wimbledon schedule, as well as ruling him out of what would have been a maiden last-eight berth at SW19.
A trifecta of Grand Slam quarter-finals, a new career-high ranking and two ATP titles is a very worthy return for most players even when fully fit for the duration of the year.
To that end, the world No 9 has put together a highly respectable season and one that makes him excellently placed to break into the sport’s very upper echelons going forward.
At the end of his final press conference of the year, De Minaur himself perhaps put it best with a reflection that, frankly, sums it all up rather perfectly.
“Hey, overall it’s been a pretty good season.”
