‘A lot of mental battles going on’: Why Alex de Minaur has vowed to play on in pain

Alex de Minaur will continue to defy pain in a last-ditch bid to qualify for next month’s ATP Tour finals for the first time, after doctors told him he would not risk making his rare hip injury worse by playing.

Speaking to this masthead from Paris, where he is the ninth seed at the last Masters 1000 event of the year, de Minaur said the Australian Open remained his top priority, and he would have ended his season early if he felt playing on could ruin his chances of winning at Melbourne Park.

Top-10 star Alex de Minaur returned from his hip injury in the past fortnight.Credit: Getty Images

Australia’s top-10 star returned to the court in Belgium and Austria across the past fortnight, after having played just one singles tournament before that – the US Open – since suffering his injury at Wimbledon in July.

Only the eight best-performed players this year will make the ATP finals, with de Minaur’s quarter-final and semi-final showings in the past two weeks placing him in ninth, but he is only that low because of his time on the sidelines.

De Minaur is dealing with a tear, in his words, at the insertion of the adductor longus muscle, on his right side, into the fibrocartilage.

His team sought various medical opinions and discussed surgery after the injury lingered far longer than expected during the American hardcourt swing, but that option would have resulted in up to a 12-week recovery period and there was no guarantee it would have solved the problem.

“It’s causing instability in a couple of different areas, so I feel it in the adductor a little bit, and a little bit higher up, near the pubis, so it’s not an easy one,” he said.

“There’s a sharp pain with [certain] movements, and it makes it tough to go out and be my usual self, retrieving many of the balls that I’m so used to putting back in play. Now, it makes it a bit more unknown with what I’m going to be able to do on any given day.”

The prognosis for de Minaur was a month on the sidelines, but the setback has instead proven a nightmare amid the Australian’s brilliant season that includes three grand slam quarter-finals and a career-high ranking of world No.6.

He displayed remarkable resilience to make the last eight for the second time in New York, but never looked himself, particularly in his defeat to Jack Draper, and skipped Davis Cup duty the next week.

De Minaur (second from right) was a spectator because of injury at the Davis Cup last month.Credit: Getty Images for ITF

Australia still managed to qualify in second place from their group, but team captain Lleyton Hewitt will hope to have de Minaur back for the quarter-final showdown with the United States on November 21.

“It definitely feels a little bit unlucky, and it doesn’t feel, in a way, fair, but this is tennis, and you get some good moments, you get some bad moments,” he said.

The Race to Turin (the top eight qualify)

1. Jannik Sinner (Italy) 10,340 points
2. Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) 6720
3. Alex Zverev (Germany) 6325
4. Daniil Medvedev (Russia) 4830
5. Taylor Fritz (United States) 4300
6. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 3910
7. Casper Ruud (Norway) 3855
8. Andrey Rublev (Russia) 3720
9. Alex de Minaur (Australia) 3555
10. Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 3150
11. Tommy Paul (United States) 3145
12. Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) 3015

“I know that it’s not going to be my only chance or shot at this [qualifying for ATP finals]. I know that I’ve got plenty more to give, so I’m doing my best to make it happen this year, but if it doesn’t happen, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and it’s just going to make me stronger into next year.

“The goal is to play. It all depends on the body, but sure as hell I’m going to push myself to do my best, to dig deep ... I’m just going to put my head down, compete and try my best.”

De Minaur trails eighth-placed Russian Andrey Rublev by 165 points and is 300 points behind seventh-ranked Norwegian Casper Ruud in the Race to Turin, where the ATP finals is held.

He has a challenging draw at the Paris Masters, starting against Argentine Mariano Navone for the right to play Serb Miomir Kecmanovic before a potential last-16 clash with American Taylor Fritz, in what could be a Davis Cup quarter-final preview.

World No.1 Jannik Sinner is de Minaur’s projected quarter-final opponent.

The 25-year-old Sydneysider, who has bases in Spain, Monaco and England, will round out his ATP finals assault as the top seed at next week’s Belgrade Open.

“There are a lot of mental battles going on while I’m trying to play these matches, and I’m trying to find different ways of competing with what I’ve got,” de Minaur said.

“The end goal, obviously, is Turin and trying to make it there, and every day I’m feeling a little bit better, which is a positive.”

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