Australia's world No.7 showed not a hint of the despair that engulfed him earlier in the week, as he reflected on a breakthrough end-of-season championship in Turin that was curtailed rudely by Jannik Sinner's 13th-straight victory over de Minaur in the semi-finals.
Though Sinner concluded his ATP year with a familiarly ruthless 7-5 6-2 win, de Minaur was left upbeat after achieving his first Finals win and a season in which he earned another title in Washington and a personal-best 56 match victories.
"I still think I've got more to give. I haven't hit my peak just yet," said the 26-year-old.
"There's still plenty to learn and grow from, plenty to improve, which I'll be looking at. Hopefully, next year will be an even better version of myself."
But reflecting on how morose he'd felt in Turin following his defeat to Lorenzo Musetti on Tuesday, when he'd said losing from winning positions was killing him and would end up eating him alive, de Minaur admitted he'd had a "little shift in perspective".
"Of course, I feel like I should have finished my Turin campaign with two match wins instead of one, but you can't change the past. You've just got to do your best to learn from it, get back up, and keep on heading forward," he said.
"Obviously, I'm in a much better place ... but I've got to be careful with how much I push myself and how much pressure I put on myself, because that's what gets me into dark places.
"The desire to keep on improving and keep on wanting and expecting more is there, but I've got to find a healthy balance."
Reminding himself of what he's achieved in 2025 is a good start. "It's been another positive season for me. Obviously staying in the top-10 is a good achievement. I won a lot of matches this year," he said.
The latest defeat to Sinner was another humbling one, but de Minaur could reflect that the Italian only did the same sort of number on him that he's been doing on all of his opponents, with the exception of world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz.
The pair, of course, are in a league of their own at the moment and, fittingly, will meet in Sunday's final.
When it was suggested he could hardly have played better than in the first set against Sinner, de Minaur responded: "That kind of sounds like my best is not good enough in your eyes. I have won sets against Jannik in the past.
"I've played him many, many times. Even though a lot of people may not think so, I know how to beat him. It's just not that easy to do, right?"
It was now down to execution, he said. "As we've seen kind of in the last two matches (against Fritiz and Sinner), I do have the ability to play with a higher pace and more aggressive-style tennis.
"I do think this is what needs to come out to beat the best players in the world."
