Alex de Minaur didn’t hide his disappointment after getting ousted by Jannik Sinner again as the Australian pretty much admitted that the current world No. 1 has been an unsolvable puzzle for him.
On Saturday, the Italian tennis star routed the world No. 9 6-3 6-4 at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. For the 25-year-old, it was his ninth defeat in their meetings. To make it all worse, he hasn’t yet won a single set in any of those matches.
This year, de Minaur has had his best and most consistent year on the ATP Tour, which resulted in him making his ATP Finals debut and also breaking into the top-10 for the first time in his career.
But one thing didn’t change – he still couldn’t figure out how to be a threat to Sinner – they played three times this year and the two-time Grand Slam champion claimed as many straight-set wins.
De Minaur explains what makes Sinner such a formidable rival
“It’s like trying to solve a puzzle that not a lot of people have managed to solve. That’s probably the best way I would describe it. His ball speed, his consistency feels like there’s no real letdown of focus throughout the whole match. So if you want to go out and beat him, you’ve got to go out and play some of your best tennis. Especially in those big points, you need to step up. So that’s how it feels like. It feels like he comes out, he’s solid, he plays well. In the big moments he steps it up. He’s just a very tough player to play against this year, as many other opponents have definitely felt that,” the Australian explained.
Alex de Minaur © Tennis Australia/Instagram – Fair Use
In Malaga, de Minaur recovered from an early break down but still lost the first set after dropping his serve again in the sixth game.
In the second set, Sinner got the first break in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead before closing out the match in the following game.
Since Thanasi Kokkinakis lost in the opening rubber of the, de Minaur’s defeat automatically ended Australia’s Davis Cup Finals run in the semifinal.