Statesman sadly hit rock bottom and lost backing (7)
I believe the answer is:
alaskan
'statesman' is the definition.
(someone from the state of Alaska)
'sadly hit rock bottom and lost backing' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'sadly' could be 'alas' ('alas' is used to express regret) and 'alas' is present in the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ka' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alaskan that I've seen before include "in an often frozen state?" , "One from Juneau, say" , "Citizen of the 49th state of the USA" , "Of a northern US state" , "Person from state that's not so warm" .)