Alex de Minaur believes he has the ability to beat the world’s best players after finishing runner-up at the Rotterdam Open for the second year running.
The Australian No.1 fell in three sets to top seed Carlos Alcaraz who has claimed his first ATP indoors title. De Minaur has lost nine matches in a row against top-five players on the Tour and his career win-loss record now stands at 7-37. His last win over a top-three player was in January 2024 against Novak Djokovic at the United Cup.
However, the 25-year-old has also enjoyed various sucess on the Tour. Last season he won two ATP events before becoming the first Australian man to qualify for the ATP Finals in 20 years. He has also reached the quarter-finals in the last four Grand Slams he has played.
“I’m going to be finishing this week at sixth in the world, that’s not a bad place to be,” de Minaur said after losing to Alcaraz.
“This is ultimately the matches I want to be playing. Of course, I want to be winning these matches and I believe I can win these matches.”
“I think today there were there were chances. Whenever I played Carlos, we always have very tough battles. I don’t mind playing him.
“It’s just about these matches going, going my way.”
De Minaur has lost all three of his ATP Tour meetings against Alcaraz but in two of them he won at set. In contrast, his record against world No.1 Jannik Sinner is 0-10 and he is yet to take a set off him. Sinner was the person who beat him in last year’s Rotterdam final.
“It’s definitely a better match-up for me playing Carlos,” he admits.
“I feel in ways I can rush him a little bit and make his life uncomfortable. I haven’t managed to do that against Jannick yet.”
“Tennis is all about matchups. One guy is ranked at a certain level, and the other guy is ranked at a certain level. The higher-ranked isn’t always going to win.
“You often have different types, different playing styles that hurt more or hurt less for certain players.”
Throughout his time in Rotterdam, De Minaur confirmed he has been struggling with an illness similar to the flu but said it wasn’t an excuse for how he played. His next scheduled tournament is the Doha Open, which will begin on February 17th.
