Alex de Minaur will be forced to prove his fitness if he is to have any hope of being selected for Australia's Davis Cup team for the Finals in Málaga next week.
The 25-year-old appeared in his maiden Nitto ATP Finals campaign earlier this week, failing to register a single win against Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz.
Towards the end of his three-set loss to Fritz, de Minaur grimaced in pain as a result of a lingering hip injury.
The injury occurred during the fourth-round at Wimbledon earlier this year as the Aussie was forced to withdraw from his quarter-final against Novak Djokovic after suffering a torn cartilage.
"I think now is definitely a time of reflection, looking at yourself in the mirror, like I’ve done every other year. There’s plenty of areas I can improve on," said de Minaur after being eliminated from the ATP Finals.
"As a team, we’ll sit down and we’ll look at every single aspect of my life and try to find percentages to improve on because ultimately, once you’re here in the elite playing against the best players in the world, it’s very small margins.
"I’m not satisfied with just staying in my career where I am today. I want to keep on improving. That’s going to be the goal for next season."
Although it's been a gutsy comeback, Australia's Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt decided to leave his star man out in favour of Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Max Purcell, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Matthew Ebden.
However, Hewitt still has the option to draft de Minaur into the squad at the last minute.
De Minaur watched from the sidelines during Australia's group stage phase in September where they sealed Finals qualification.
Meanwhile, the Davis Cup Finals schedule has been released, with the green and gold set to face a star-studded USA side in the quarter-finals.
Quarter-Finals:
Australia v USA:
When: Thursday, November 21
Time: 8pm AEDT
Where to watch: 9Gem and 9Now
Semi-Finals:
Australia/USA v Italy/Argentina
When: Saturday, November 23 Time: 11pm AEDT Where to watch: 9Gem and 9Now
Final:
Australia/USA/Italy/Argentina v Spain/Netherlands/Germany/Canada
When: Sunday, November 24
Time: 2am AEDT
Where to watch: 9Gem and 9Now
Comentários