Alex de Minaur may have fallen short in a tight Rotterdam final contest, but his post-match speech was a class above.
The third-seed tripped at the final hurdle against four-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz 6-4 3-6 6-2, extending the Spaniard's head-to-head lead to 3-0.
During the post-match trophy ceremony, de Minaur commenced his speech by offering praise to his opponent.
"Carlos, congratulations man. Too good again, you and your whole team," he said.
"You’re an incredible person. We’ve known each other a long time. We’ve always had fun battles. I enjoyed myself on the court today. Thank you, and well done for the week."
2024 was a rollercoaster year for de Minaur, who, despite reaching the top-10 for the first time and achieving a career-high No.6, a hip injury suffered at Wimbledon disrupted the rest of his campaign.
Only he and his closest circle understand the full brunt of the pain he endured, but now the 25-year-old is looking ahead in the hope of defeating the likes of Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
"To my team, they’ve been there from the very beginning," he explained.
"We are pushing for bigger and better things. We’ve made great improvements. Everyone here and everyone who’s back home, family and friends… it’s been a lot of improvements in my game. I’ll keep pushing for more."
Having lost to Sinner in last year's final, de Minaur added, "It’s been two years with this runner-up trophy. I’m hoping I’ll get my hand on the winners’ one day."
In other post-match media commitments, he revealed that he was carrying an illness despite failing to drop a set in the tournament before the final.
That said, he doesn’t want to use that as an excuse.
"It’s a week to be very proud of, considering the way I’ve been feeling all week off the court," de Minaur stated.
"I’ve definitely been struggling, so I’m happy with the effort, the level, (and) I thought I definitely had some chances today, and maybe could have done a little bit more in certain moments, but he played well in those exact moments and deserved to win."
A positive week for de Minaur moves him ahead of Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings, equalling his best result of No.6.
He will take a week off to recover before heading to Doha for the ATP 500 event starting February 17.
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