Alex de Minaur suffering 'dark thoughts' after heartbreaking ATP Finals defeat

Alex de Minaur admitted that he was left in a "dark" place after suffering another heartbreaking loss. The Aussie led Lorenzo Musetti 5-3 in the final set of their ATP Finals round-robin match and then collapsed, dropping four games in a row to lose 7-5 3-6 7-5.

The world No. 7 has suffered plenty of tough defeats in important matches on the biggest stages, and he's had enough. De Minaur still has at least one more match to play this week - and wants to get the issue sorted because it's "killing" him.

The mood was bleak after De Minaur stepped off the court inside the Inalpi Arena on Tuesday night, having let the match slip through his fingers. "I think it's probably a good thing I don't express my feelings right now because they're quite dark," the dejected Australian said.

"Yeah, to be honest, it just feels like it's been that type of year where I've had what feels like a whole lot of matches that should have gone my way and just somehow don't, so... I mean, yeah, don't feel great."

The Italian fans had been spurring Musetti on until the very end, but the 26-year-old claimed that had nothing to do with the result, adding: "It was on my racket. It wasn't the crowd's fault. It was mine."

The world No. 7 faces Fritz on Thursday - but he's more focused on fixing the "issues" that arose against Musetti.

"Just have a talk to my team and try to sort out these issues because these are issues that can't keep happening. I mean, if I really want to be serious about taking the next step in my career, these matches, I can't lose them. I just can't," he explained.

"I mean, it feels like I've lost a lot of them this year. I mean, more than anything it's getting to a point where mentally it's killing me.

"Just [need to] win these matches. I mean, I don't know. It's something that if it doesn't get sorted, it's going to eat me alive. I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later. Yeah, I don't know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one."

De Minaur still isn't mathematically out of contention to make it out of the group stage and into the semi-finals. It will be difficult, however, and other results would need to line-up. For now, the 10-time title winner seems more focused on reversing his fortune when it comes to the heartbreaking losses.