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WIMBLEDON

June 30, 2016

John Millman

London, England

J. MILLMAN/B. Paire
7‑6, 6‑3, 4‑6, 6‑2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congratulations on your win and Olympics selection.
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, big day and I'm in the bigger room for the presser. It's great. No, very excited. First of all, just before I walked on court, I found out I was in the Olympics, which means the world to me to be able to represent my country at the Games.
I'm buzzing for that, and then to be able to go out there and put together a pretty good performance out there was awesome today. Yeah, live to fight another day here at Wimbledon.

Q. Was it a bit strange finding out about your Olympic selection just before you went out on court?
JOHN MILLMAN: I had a good feeling that I was going to get selected. I'm very grateful the appeal process with the ITF went through. I felt I presented a pretty good case.
You know, my ranking was good enough to get in, and I have always made myself available to be selected for Davis Cup. I was even at two of the ties and didn't get selected, I was fifth player.
I kind of felt, you know, I put myself in a pretty good position to be selected. I'm very grateful that the appeal went through. Yeah, for me, it's the greatest honor to play at the Olympic Games and represent your country.
I'm pumped. I hope that I can represent the Australian community, the Australian people as best as I can, and I'm very grateful for that opportunity.

Q. How much are you looking forward to facing Andy on either Centre or No. 1 court?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, it's going to be great. I played Andy once before. It's a bit of the reversal of roles. Obviously it's quite a bigger tournament, but I played him in my home tournament in Brisbane. Obviously it's a little bit different now at Wimbledon, but it's what you dream of.
You dream of playing on the biggest courts against the biggest players. I feel as if I deserve to be there, you know. I have played two good matches to get through. And third round Wimbledon, it's uncharted territory for me. It's the first time I have been third round, but I was close last year and I'm glad I could get over that hump.
We start off at 0‑All. I respect Andy a lot. I think he's such a great player. Especially over five sets, I think it's a whole different ball game against him.
But like I said, we start off at 0‑All. I'm going to go out there and I have never been one to necessarily, you know, go out with an intimidated mindset before I play. I think that that's kind of being disrespectful to the game. So we are going to start at 0‑All. I'm going to give it everything.

Q. What's the difference between your home tournament and his?
JOHN MILLMAN: He probably had a bit more support. I don't think anyone was going for him back in Brizzie.
But, no, Wimbledon for me‑‑ I love playing in Brisbane. It's an unbelievable tournament for me. I train there. You're just familiar with the surroundings so much more.
I'm sure it's the same with Andy here. He's played it that many times. I have never been inside Centre Court or Court 1. So, you know, I don't know, maybe Wimbledon will put us on 16, because I played on that one. (Laughter.)
Or 4 or 8, I have played on them. Who knows? Wimbledon might do me a favor there.
If I do get to play on one of those big courts, for me, that's what tennis is all about. I would never have dreamed, you know, a couple of years ago that I would ever be in this position. So I plan to make the most of it.

Q. Is part of the challenge now to manage the occasion as well as the opponent?
JOHN MILLMAN: I think so, but I have played a couple of biggish matches now. I have played Roger, too. I played third round on Rod Laver this year. I feel as if I have played on a couple of the bigger courts. Obviously this is another step, another challenge.
But how good is it? You know, this is what you live for. I'm one, I know that tennis can change pretty quickly, and I know you're one big injury away from being back at university.
These are the matches you live for and these are the ones you will remember for the rest of your life. I plan to go out there and I plan to make the most of it, and I plan to put up a great showing.
I hope that, you know, I can deliver and I hope that maybe I might even turn a few of the crowd, they will go for me a tiny bit.

Q. You have literally never set food inside Centre Court?
JOHN MILLMAN: No, I haven't. It's a beautiful court from the outside. I'll probably try and do that. I know Timmy Henman and Marcus Willis, we were in the change rooms, looking a little bit of it there. I might try and get out there tomorrow and get a feel for the place, if you guys let me in there.

Q. You mentioned the Davis Cup. Did you go to Glasgow?
JOHN MILLMAN: I was in Glasgow.

Q. What are your memories of that and how Andy played that weekend?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, Andy played amazing there. I think everyone knows that. Anyone who watched it saw Andy, and Jamie, too, in the doubles, and Dan played great tennis there, too.
But Andy was a force to be reckoned with there. I got goosebumps every morning listening to the ‑‑is it the Rose of ‑‑

Q. Tralee.
JOHN MILLMAN: They played that every morning. Everyone was singing, I take the high road and you take the low road. I thought that was awesome.
The atmosphere in Glasgow was great. That really inspires you. That really inspires you to work hard, because you want to be living those moments, and I would have loved to have played.
I thought I was relatively close to having, to be able to play him there. You know, unfortunately for some of the boys in the Aussie camp, a few injuries and whatnot, and, yeah, that's what you live for, those experiences. Obviously Andy has had a whole lot of them.
He will be able to draw upon them. Hopefully, you know, I can draw upon, you know, some of my ones. They are obviously not as big. But, you know, I feel like I deserve to be there, and I'm really gonna look forward to it.

Q. You have a good record against Brits as a whole?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, I guess. I wouldn't quite know what it is, but I think Britain, British tennis is starting to look up. I think that you've got some really good players.
I'm very close to Kyle Edmund. I have had a lot to do with Kyle over the last couple of years, and I have seen his career just really progress and shoot forward. I think you're going to get a lot of pleasure watching him in the coming years.
He's a Liverpool fan, too. I'm a big Liverpool fan. So we, you know, we talk about, you know, latest signings. We just got Mané. So he'll probably deliver us a title this year. (Smiling.)
No, I think that it's looking up for British tennis. I'm obviously familiar with a lot of the guys there. Yeah, I hope they don't say too many bad things about me.

Q. How did you become a Liverpool fan?
JOHN MILLMAN: I have been a Liverpool fan since I was really young. I think on my dad's side of the family, they're all United supporters, and the team they hate the most is Liverpool. So being a annoying little six‑year‑old, you probably go against the team they hate the most.
Since then, you know, football is probably growing in Australia, and the amount of travel that I have done since I finished school, you see just how big the game is, yeah, I'm very passionate Liverpool supporter. And I love Jurgen Klopp.
Kyle, the Scupskis are Liverpool supporters, too. It's pretty cool to be in amongst the tennis and hang out with the Brits, especially the Liverpool ones.

Q. Your injuries?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, definitely. 2013 was probably the biggest one. I have had a couple shoulder surgeries. The one in 2013 was pretty significant. I tore my labrum. Was playing a tournament in Munich, got wrongly diagnosed. Then come French Open when I was going to be in main draw there, Tennis Australia had given me a wildcard, which was fantastic of them. I got a scan. I was going to get some cortisone in there. Because of the wrong diagnosis, they thought a little injection could fix it. The next scan showed I had a torn labrum and it was devastating for me.
Worked in the city for a little bit at one of my mate's companies. I was dressed up in a suit each day going in. I always wanted to get back into it. Great credit to the guys out at National Academy in Brisbane. They really pushed me along. Friends and family supported me through that time.
And, you know, I think I really have an appreciation of these moments right now, because, yeah, there was a big time there where I wasn't too confident.
But I got very lucky with my surgeon, very lucky with my team around me that helped me. I got lucky with a few results early on, which really helps, you know.
I really feel sorry, and I see a couple of guys who obviously work hard to get back from the big injury. Those first few results don't go their way. I was lucky in that, you know, I went to play a couple of futures. I was playing $10,000 futures in Korea and got a little bit of confidence up there. Then I went on a run in America. That was the end of 2014.
Start of 2015, I played Federer in Brisbane, so it was a pretty ‑‑took a very long time to get myself right over 12 months, 13, 14 months, but, I, you know, was rewarded pretty quickly by being able to play, you know, probably one of my greatest idols in Roger Federer.
So, you know, you never know when there's bad times, you never know when a good thing is around the corner.

Q. What was your job in the city?
JOHN MILLMAN: I was working at a finance place. Yeah, Discovery Finance. So, yeah, a mate of mine kind of knew I was annoying my mom too much at home. They needed to get me out of the house, so I needed to go in there and annoy them there.
Then I'd go and do a little bit of rehab. It's a slow process. You know, when you tear your labrum, you have to build up from scratch.
So, yeah, it's been well documented that I have had to come through some injuries and it's taken me a little bit longer to probably, you know, make it at this next level. But, you know, I'm one of many, many, many, many people, and I want to stress that, that I'm no, you know, abnormal case.
There is a lot of people that have faced adversity with injuries in sport, and they make comebacks and I know how hard it is. So I have a lot of respect for those people.

Q. There is a story in Wikipedia, you gave out drinks to all your fans after a match. Can you explain that?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, I don't really want people to know that because I will probably get a bill. I do it at most tournaments, actually. Yeah, I try to raid the fridges, especially, you know, here it's so overcast that you have to hand out coffee or something. (Laughter.)
I might have to do that, hot chocolates and coffee. Back home, especially in Australia, it can be pretty hot. Tennis is nothing without the fans, so I think it's always good to give back to them. And, you know, they are sweltering there. I know if I was a little kid and I wanted some drinks, I would have loved it. It's always good to give back.

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