Alex de Minaur did not cover his disappointment after getting ousted by Jannik Sinner once more because the Australian just about admitted that the present 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 on the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. For the 25-year-old, it was his ninth defeat of their conferences. To make all of it worse, he hasn’t but gained a single set in any of these matches.
This yr, de Minaur has had his finest and most constant yr on the ATP Tour, which resulted in him making his ATP Finals debut and in addition breaking into the top-10 for the primary time in his profession.
However one factor did not change – he nonetheless could not work out find out how to be a menace to Sinner – they performed 3 times this yr 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 defined.
Alex de Minaur © Tennis Australia/Instagram – Truthful Use
In Malaga, de Minaur recovered from an early break down however nonetheless misplaced the primary set after dropping his serve once more within the sixth recreation.
Within the second set, Sinner obtained the primary break within the ninth recreation for a 5-4 lead earlier than closing out the match within the following recreation.
Since Thanasi Kokkinakis misplaced within the opening rubber of the, de Minaur’s defeat routinely ended Australia’s Davis Cup Finals run within the semifinal.