Alex de Minaur has enjoyed the best year of his career to date, but injury may ultimately end his campaign early and scupper his chances of playing at the ATP Finals in Turin.
De Minaur has reached three Grand Slam quarter-finals in 2024, but he is currently sidelined with a hip injury that was a major factor in the run to the last eight at the US Open coming to a unsatisfactory end.
Injuries stop De Minaur from going further
On the surface, 2024 has been a terrific year for De Minaur, with runs to the last eight of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open following a fourth-round appearance at his home Australian Open.
However, dig a little deeper and it is not hard to see why the 25-year-old Sydney native might be frustrated as he continues his recovery from injury.
His hopes at SW19 were trashed by a hip problem suffered late on in his fourth-round victoryover Arthur Fils, meaning that he was unable to take to the court for his quarter-final against Novak Djokovic.
De Minaur managed to recover in time to play at Flushing Meadows, but a recurrence of his injury meant that he was far from his best as he was swept aside by Jack Draper in their US Open quarter-final.
He is still out of action currently and has dropped out of the top eight in the standings for the Race To Turin, meaning that an ATP Finals debut may have to wait until at least next year.
Strong Djokovic run does more damage
De Minaur was still inside the all-important top eight in the Race To Turin rankings until this week, with Djokovic the man to shake things up with a run to the final of the Shanghai Masters which has seen him move up three places.
The Serb legend is now sixth in the standings, having overhauled Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev, as well as the Aussie number one.
Jannik Sinner, who has now secured the season-ending number one world ranking by winning the Shanghai Masters title, tops the list and is joined in the top five by Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz.
De Minaur stands in ninth place and is therefore in position to be the first alternate for Turin, but whether he would risk taking up that opportunity is another matter, with his long-term future surely a priority.
Hewitt offers up comeback advice
De Minaur has been offered some advice on how to approach the next couple of months by Australia Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, who has had to plan without his best singles option in recent times.
He told 7news: "The worst thing is if it can be a bigger setback and hurt his Australian Open chances and the preparation going into that.
"So that's where you’ve got to weigh up what's more important at the moment, but I think first thing is we've got to get him 100 per cent fit.
"He's got too good a career ahead of him for so many years to come, so he's got to look at the future and what that holds."
De Minaur is currently 51.00 to win the Australian Open in early 2025, while he can be backed at 34.00 to triumph at Wimbledon and is a 67.00 shot to go all the way at the US Open.
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