By Marc McGowan
Alex de Minaur has taken another step towards cementing his status as the country’s best men’s player since Lleyton Hewitt, becoming the first Australian since the former world No.1 to qualify for the ATP finals.
Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal from the exclusive end-of-year tournament due to injury confirmed de Minaur’s inclusion and resulted in the latter pulling out of this week’s Belgrade Open, where he was the top seed.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur has qualified for next week’s ATP finals in Turin, Italy.Credit: AP
No Australian since Hewitt two decades ago had qualified for the ATP finals – where the eight best-performed men’s players compete for their share of $23 million – until de Minaur, who reached three grand slam quarter-finals this year and a career-high ranking of No.6.
Djokovic’s absence from the event he won seven times, including last year, means it is the first time in 23 years none of the “Big Three” – retired pair Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal being the other two – has played there.
“I was really looking forward to being there, but due to ongoing injury, I won’t be playing next week,” Djokovic wrote in an Instagram story.
De Minaur went public with his ATP finals goal in an interview with this masthead in March, ahead of the Indian Wells Masters, and achieved the feat despite suffering a hip injury at Wimbledon that derailed his season.
Speaking to this masthead again before last week’s Paris Masters, de Minaur revealed he would play through pain to try and qualify for the event, which starts in Turin on Monday (AEDT), then attempt to lead Australia to Davis Cup glory the next week.
“I know that it’s not going to be my only chance or shot at this [qualifying for ATP finals],” de Minaur said last week.
“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.”
De Minaur’s Paris Masters quarter-final run meant he entered this week with a slight edge over Russian Andrey Rublev for the last spot in Turin, a buffer he could have maintained if he won in Belgrade or matched whatever Rublev did in Metz.
Rublev has already won his way into the Metz quarter-finals, whereas de Minaur opted to withdraw from Belgrade and grab some extra rest once the Djokovic news filtered through.
Joining de Minaur and Rublev at next week’s ATP finals are world No.1 Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud.
De Minaur, 25, last week described his rare injury as a tear at “the insertion of the adductor longus into the fibrocartilage”, which still causes him discomfort while playing and has restricted his famed movement.
On top of de Minaur’s ATP finals qualification, his effort to advance to three major quarter-finals this season also made him the first since Hewitt in 2004 to do so.
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