Aussie tennis star Alex de Minaur will play through the pain caused by an ongoing hip complaint in a late bid to qualify for next month’s ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
De Minaur was given the green light to finish his season, with doctors informing the 25-year-old that he would not risk aggravating his rare hip injury by playing.
Speaking to The Age from Paris, where he is competing in the Paris Masters — the final tournament of the regular men’s season — de Minaur remained in high spirits about finishing the year strongly.
Despite injury issues dating back to Wimbledon in July, de Minaur is confident his Australian Open campaign will not be derailed, stating he would have ended his 2024 season early if it was going to bleed into the Australian summer.
According to de Minaur, he is recovering from a tear at the insertion point of his right adductor longus muscle into the fibrocartilage — a lingering thigh injury.
“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,” de Minaur 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.”
77th-rank’s pitch for shot of the year
The top eight ranked players qualify for the ATP finals.
After soaring to a career-high ATP singles ranking of No.6 midway through the year, the time on the sidelines saw de Minaur slip back to ninth.
De Minaur trails Russian Andrey Rublev in eighth and Norwegian Casper Ruud in seventh.
“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.
“I know that it’s not going to be my only chance or shot at [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’s last chance to qualify will come next week when he is the top seed at the 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.”
Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt previously said that de Minaur’s plan to contest the ATP Finals and Davis Cup quarter-final could be complicated as he clears off the “cobwebs” from his time out with injury.
