Alex de Minaur is coming back to the Next Gen ATP Finals.

De Minaur finished as runner-up last year in Milan. Here are five things to know about the three-time ATP Tour titlist.

1. He is perfect in title matches this season.
De Minaur is a perfect 3-0 in ATP Tour title matches this season. He started the year by winning his home tournament, the Sydney International, and becoming the youngest Sydney champion since 19-year-old countryman Lleyton Hewitt in 2001.

De Minaur also won two more hard-court titles, never facing a break point at the BB&T Atlanta Open and fighting past former World No. 1 Andy Murray en route to the Huajin Securities Zhuhai Championships crown last month.

De Minaur’s unblemished season in finals has come after he had rough luck during the same stage in 2018. The Aussie fell in finals in Sydney, at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., and at last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals.

Watch: De Minaur’s Home Visit In Sydney

2. He talks with his psychologist every day.
De Minaur was an unknown commodity last year during his breakout season that saw him climb 177 spots, from No. 208 to No. 31 in the ATP Rankings.

This year, however, the 20-year-old has felt pressure to back up his season and continue to climb the ATP Rankings. “I’ve got a lot more expectations on myself,” he said.

You wouldn’t know it, though, judging by his improved results. The Aussie has worked with a Spanish psychologist for the past few years, and this year they’ve begun talking daily. De Minaur credits their work for his continued progress.

“I feel like the head, the mind is one of the most important things out there. I train my mind as much as I do on the tennis court or as much as I do fitness,” De Minaur said.

“Tennis is such a tough sport as it is, it’s only you out there on court, so you’ve got to deal with a lot of different pressures and expectations and when things aren’t going well. So to have someone like [him] to be on my team and be able to clear my mind and make me stronger mentally, I think it’s been the biggest change for me. That’s the way I’ve been progressing, thanks to all the work I’ve done with him.”

More On De Minaur
De Minaur Takes Third Title Of 2019, Nears Top 20
De Minaur Beats Nishikori, Dashes Into Fourth Round Of #USOpen
De Minaur Flawless On Serve To Take Atlanta Title
De Minaur On Return To Form: ‘It’s Just A Matter Of Time’

3. He learned how to drive in the off-season.
Like most players, De Minaur put in his fair share of fitness and tennis during the off-season ahead of 2019. But he also checked off a bucket list item: He learned how to drive.

“I was fortunate enough to have a week and a half off, and I put all that time and effort into getting any driver’s license in Spain. So it was a productive week and a half,” said De Minaur, who trains in Alicante, Spain. “I just had to pass my theory and pass the driving test, and it was all good.”

It’s not all open highways for De Minaur, though, who, as of January was still without his Australian driver’s license. “Here in Australia it takes a bit longer than in Spain,” he said.

Watch Uncovered: Millman Investigates De Minaur’s Driving Skills & Dancing Moves

4. He could be near Top 15, Top 10 of ATP Rankings.
De Minaur is at a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 24, already seven spots higher than where he ended last season (No. 31). But the 20-year-old could be even higher had he not been injured during the middle of 2019.

A hip injury kept De Minaur out of the Miami Open presented by Itau and the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and hindered his level. From the end of February to mid-May, De Minaur endured a five-match losing streak. Now, though, he has a chance to end the season inside the Top 20.

“Can’t dwell on the past. It’s about keep moving on and on to the next week. So [I’m] very happy with the progress we have made,” he said.

5. He’s making a return trip to Milan.
De Minaur won his group and rode into the Next Gen ATP Finals title match a perfect 4-0 before falling to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final 2-4, 4-1, 4-3(3), 4-3(3).

The 21-and-under event has propelled De Minaur, along with some of his 2018 #NextGenATP rivals, including Russian Andrey Rublev, who beat Roger Federer in Cincinnati, and American Taylor Fritz, who won his maiden ATP Tour title at the Nature Valley International in June.

Watch: Learn How To Defend Like De Minaur

Janko Tipsarevic is bringing his celebrated 17-year ATP Tour career to a close at the Intrum Stockholm Open. The Serbian announced on Monday that Stockholm will be his final ATP Tour event before he retires in November after the Davis Cup Finals.

But Tipsarevic isn’t content with making this week a mere nostalgia moment. He wrapped up the evening session with a convincing 6-2, 6-4 win over #NextGenATP Frenchman Corentin Moutet. Tipsarevic broke the Frenchman four times and dominated most of the baseline rallies in their 73-minute clash.

The Serbian has won four ATP Tour titles in his career, reached two US Open quarter-finals (2011-2012) and peaked at No. 8 in the ATP Rankings in 2012. Next up for Tipsarevic is top-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini.

Eighth-seeded Brit Daniel Evans won a hard-fought 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 battle with Aussie Bernard Tomic and awaits the winner of #NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud and Serbian Filip Krajinovic. Italian Stefano Travaglia scored the upset of the day with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over sixth-seeded American Reilly Opelka. Travaglia will play Japanese Yuichi Sugita or Swede Elias Ymer for a place in the quarter-finals.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga got his European Open campaign off to flying start on Monday in Antwerp. In a battle of experience against youth, the sixth seed and 2017 champion defeated Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-4.

Tsonga scored the lone break of each set to advance in one hour and 20 minutes, improving to 2-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Sonego. The 34-year-old has excelled indoors this year, picking up ATP Tour titles in Montpellier (d. Herbert) and Metz (d. Bedene). Tsonga will play fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon or Belgian Steve Darcis in the next round.

Fifth-seeded Argentine Guido Pella prevailed in a marathon 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(2) match with German Peter Gojowczyk. Pella improved to 3-2 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Gojowczyk and has won their past two matches. Next up for him is the winner of Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who prevailed here in 2016, and South Korean Soonwoo Kwon.

Tuesday’s schedule features Brit Andy Murray making his debut at this event against local favourite Kimmer Coppejans.

The ATP Race To Milan is coming down to the wire. With two weeks remaining in the Race, which ends 28 October, seven spots are still up for grabs for the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 5-9 November at the Allianz Cloud in Milan.

Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime joined defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas last week as qualifiers for the 21-and-under event. Greece’s Tsitsipas, however, will not compete in Milan because he has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 10-17 November in London.

That means six direct qualification spots still remain for Milan as the final spot is reserved for an Italian wild card.

Aussie Alex de Minaur (1,430 points), Canadian Denis Shapovalov (1,255 points) and American Frances Tiafoe (970 points), in third through fifth place, respectively, are next in line to qualify for the award-winning event. De Minaur is taking this week off, but Shapovalov is the fourth seed at the Intrum Stockholm Open and opens with a bye. At the European Open in Antwerp, Tiafoe will meet German qualifier Yannick Maden in the first round.

Read More: Key Things To Watch In Antwerp, Moscow, Stockholm

Norway’s Casper Ruud (sixth place, 931 points) will try to bolster his standing in Stockholm as well. The 20-year-old, competing for the first time since last month in Zhuhai, is looking to make his Milan debut. He opens against Serbian Filip Krajinovic.

In seventh place, Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (893 points) will try to make his second ATP Tour final (Antalya) at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow. The eighth-seeded Kecmanovic faces Russian qualifier Artem Dubrivnyy in the first round.

Eighth-placed Ugo Humbert (778 points) will look to continue his strong play indoors this week in Antwerp. Humbert made the Moselle Open semi-finals in Metz in February (l. to Kukushkin).

The surging Swede Mikael Ymer, in ninth place with 751 points, is playing on home soil in Stockholm and meets Joao Sousa of Portugal in the first round. Behind back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles, Ymer has added 225 Race points in the past two weeks.

France’s Corentin Moutet, in 10^th place with 569 points, was looking to make up ground on Ymer in Stockholm, but Moutet fell to Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-2, 6-4 on Monday.

Pablo Cuevas/Maximo Gonzalez kicked off first-round action on Monday at the European Open in Antwerp with a 7-6(5), 7-5 win over Arnaud Bovy/Steve Darcis. Cuevas/Gonzalez saved all four break points and scored the lone break of the match at 5-5 in the second set.

At the Intrum Stockholm Open, fourth seeds Wesley Koolhof/Fabrice Martin scored a tight 7-6(6), 6-4 victory over Luke Bambridge/Ben McLachlan. They’ll play Dominic Inglot/Austin Krajicek or Rohan Bopanna/Divij Sharan in the next round.

The VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow saw third seeds Marcus Daniell/Philipp Oswald rally to defeat Nikola Cacic/Dusan Lajovic 3-6, 6-4, 10-6. Alexander Bublik/Mikhail Kukushkin needed just 49 minutes to advance past Miomir Kecmanovic/Nenad Zimonjic 6-2, 6-2, while Aljaz Bedene/Nicolas Jarry are through to the quarter-finals after a 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-5 win over Evgeny Donskoy/Andrey Rublev.

If the first main-draw match of the 2019 VTB Kremlin Cup is a preview of the week ahead, we are in for a dramatic seven days in Moscow.

Andreas Seppi saved two match points on Monday to overcome fifth seed Cristian Garin 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4), converting his sixth match point to end the contest after two hours and 42 minutes. The 2012 champion, who improves to 15-5 at the ATP 250 event, recovered from 3-6, 5-6, 15/40 down to overcome the 23-year-old in their first FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter.

After rallying from 2-4 down in the decider, Seppi could not convert four match points of his own at 6-5. But the Italian held his nerve in the final-set tie-break, winning five of the final six points to advance. Seppi will face Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena or Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Czech qualifier Lukas Rosol also saved two match points in a thrilling 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 6-3 victory over Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero. Rosol fought back from 4/6 in the second-set tie-break en route to advancing in two hours and 16 minutes. Next up for the 34-year-old is fourth-seeded Serbian Dusan Lajovic.

Seventh-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino cruised past 2017 champion Damir Dzumhur of Serbia 7-6(2), 6-0 in the evening session. Mannarino now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1, which includes a straight-sets victory at last month’s Huajin Securities Zhuhai Championships.