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Can De Minaur overcome 'tough' ATP Finals group?
Nicholas Quinlan • November 9th, 2025 7:47 pm
Alex De Minaur is looking forward to playing against what he describes as a tough group ahead of his opening match of the ATP Finals in Turin.
The Australian, who comes into the tournament as the World No. 7, qualified for the end-of-season tournament following his quarter-final appearance in the Paris Masters, which saw him notch up his 55th win for the season.
That is the most he has ever achieved in one season, ranking him fifth for total wins amongst the tour.
This is now his second appearance at the prestigious event held in Turin, which has solidified the consistency he showed in his breakout season in 2024.
But the Australian will be keen on avoiding a similar result at this year's Finals event.
In that debut appearance, where he was still feeling the effects of his hip injury that he sustained in Wimbledon, De Minaur would lose all three matches and was eliminated with a match to spare.
But feeling far healthier than he did last year and leading the ATP in total wins on hard court (the surface the ATP Finals will be played on), the Australian is confident in being able to play some good tennis.
"Overall, I'm very pleased with the year I've had. I think I've shown some really good consistency, and I've been able to play some good tennis on this surface," he said at the media opportunity.
For the tournament, De Minaur was drawn into the Jimmy Connors Group. This will see the 26-year-old up against World No.2 Carlos Alcaraz, World No. 4 Taylor Fritz and World No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti.
Amongst his opponents, the Australian doesn't have a winning record against any of the trio, which highlights the tough challenge he faces.
His best record amongst the trio is Fritz, who he has an even record of five wins and five losses, with the American having won the last two, which came at the end of last year in the ATP Finals and Davis Cup.
While noting the difficulties in his path to make it out of the group stage, De Minaur feels that with the high quality of his opponents, it means that anyone can beat anyone on their day.
"Now looking towards the competition ahead, I think we've got a very tough group,” he continued.
“We're all very capable of playing some good tennis and making life difficult for each other.
“Saying that, I think we're all excited for the competition to start. It's what we're all aiming for, the last tournament of the year, to have a really good week and show everything that we've accomplished throughout the whole year."
The tournament will begin on Sunday, with De Minaur’s first match-up for the series being against Alcaraz.
In the four matches they have played, the Spaniard has defeated the Australian in all four.
That will begin at midnight (AEDT) at the earliest.
