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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 28, 2017Henri KontinenJohn PeersMelbourne, Victoria, Australia KONTINEN-PEERS/Bryan-Bryan 7-5, 7-5 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Is that one of your better match point shots, John, given the circumstances? JOHN PEERS: Yeah, it definitely was one of my great shots on match points. To be able to do it on our second match point was really good. I mean, I just tried to play it as another point. Was lucky enough to pull it out, to be honest. It was really nice. Q. Henri, how are you feeling an hour after a match after winning a Grand Slam? What are the emotions? HENRI KONTINEN: Well, haven't really done much with it. A bit of press. Did the pictures. I haven't thought about it that much. Obviously quite a bit happier now than I would have been if we lost. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Q. Do you feel you have a bit of an edge on the Bryans now that you have won the last three matches? HENRI KONTINEN: I don't know if it's an edge. I think we've just been playing very good tennis. We know we're tough to beat. But, I mean, you know their history, how many slam finals they played and won. Yeah, they're always going to be a tough team to beat. To do it now three times in a row is great for us. We know next time we play them, it's going to be a battle again. Q. Australia has a proud doubles history. Now you're part of that. It must be amazing. JOHN PEERS: It is an amazing feeling. I was looking through some of the names on the trophy. To be alongside some of the guys and idols I looked up to in the past is something that hasn't sunk in yet. To be able to do that and be a part of what Australian legacy has been with tennis is something I was dreaming of as a child. To be able to do it and hopefully continue to do that is something I will continue to work towards. It's a humbling sort of experience and something that I'll never take for granted because, I mean, to be able to get here is one step, but to be able to continue to do things in the game, you have to continue to work. You can never settle for what we've done. You've got to continue to work, improve our individual games, and the team will grow with that, so... But, no, it sort of hasn't really sunk in. It's a really good feeling. Q. John, you talked after the semifinal about how you don't seek the limelight, you're happy being under the radar. You just achieved something that few people do, winning a Grand Slam in your home city. Would you like there to be a bit more recognition? JOHN PEERS: Doesn't faze me, to be honest. If I get more press, great. If I don't, there's not much I can do. All can I do is continue to do what I've done throughout my career, continue to knock away, work hard, develop my game. If I get a little bit more press or a lot more press, it's not really going to change what I'm going to do. For me, it doesn't faze me. Q. Henri, how does this set you up for the rest of the season starting like you've done in January? HENRI KONTINEN: It's a pretty good start. Better than last year, I think. I think we lost second round here last year (smiling). Obviously this already puts us in there going towards London, end of the year. But we'll do the same thing as we did last year. We're going to have bad weeks, unfortunately. But everybody does, bad matches. We're just going to do the same thing, stay positive, try to improve individually and as a team. We'll see how the year ends. Q. Has the fact that so many different teams have been able to win slams in the last three years given you more confidence compared to when the Bryans were winning three slams a year routinely? HENRI KONTINEN: Personally, I can't really compare it. I wasn't really around when they were winning all the time. I don't know how you feel. JOHN PEERS: No, I mean, what the Bryans have done, what the Woodies did is something that you can only more than probably dream of. They just dominated the game for so long. Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, there's always going to be a rotation at the top. For us to be able to win our first slam together, and hopefully continue to win a few more, all we can do is put our best foot forward, keep working hard, see what happens. No one can control results. If we could, we wouldn't lose, so... Q. Henri, do you have an exhibition coming up in Helsinki next month? Can you talk a little bit about that. HENRI KONTINEN: I do. Will you come? You're going to come and watch? I hope a few people will come, but never know. Q. What are the details? HENRI KONTINEN: To be honest, I don't know too much about it. It got confirmed during the trip here in Australia. It hasn't been the first thing on my mind, especially this week. But I know it's 8th of February. There's the to be Finnish juniors, an Estonian junior is playing from Estonia. Hopefully we'll have a fun evening of tennis. Of course, really nice to play at home. I unfortunately don't get to do that any more. Q. Any ATP guy beside yourself? HENRI KONTINEN: What do you count at ATP? Q. A ranked player. HENRI KONTINEN: Yes, ranked players. Q. You don't have a name yet of an opponent? HENRI KONTINEN: Yes, I do. I mean, Jurgen Zopp is playing. I don't know if you know him. The young Estonian is Kenneth Raisma. A couple of Finnish juniors, as well. Q. John, you played with Jamie Murray a couple years ago. Did his success spur you on seeing his success? JOHN PEERS: Definitely. Jamie and I put a great performance together, put ourselves in two positions to play in two slam finals in one year, which was great to be able to do. I think we both left each other in a great standing and position to push on and find new partners. We both pushed each other. He did great things last year, won two slams. Now I've won one this year. Just put each other in a nice standing and position in tennis. Q. Can you speak about why that partnership ended. JOHN PEERS: We knew it was going to be time. We kept winning matches and winning matches. Probably about halfway through the year, we knew it was best for both of us to part ways. We continued to work on our games, continued to have success on the court. We left each other in good standing. Q. Does that title justify your decision a few years back to concentrate solely on doubles? Take us back to that process you must have gone through. JOHN PEERS: Yeah, I mean, when I decided to stop playing singles, I had a taste of playing Wimbledon with Colin Ebelthite. We lost in quallies. Lost to Paes and Stepanek, really got drummed. For me, to get to play doubles, it was a chance I was going to play on the world stage, biggest tournaments. I continued to work hard. I said to myself I was going to make it as a singles players, go through quallies, tour events, go through it that way. I kept working on the doubles. Kept pushing what I could do. I haven't looked back. Q. Do you think doubles is underrated in the tennis community? JOHN PEERS: Yeah, it can be because we see the top singles guys playing a lot all the time now. It's a different style of game. Your average player on the weekend will play doubles. Majority of people play doubles. When we get the top guys playing, it's great for us and it's great for the game. I think any way we can innovate the game and grow the game of tennis, it's good for it. Q. What adjustments, if any, do you have to make playing Davis Cup with a different partner? JOHN PEERS: Well, I don't know who my partner is going to be. I'll continue to do what I can do. Over the next few days, I'll work in with the guys. We'll make the best decision for the team. At the end of the day I can only control what I can on the court. Hopefully I can put my partner in the best position to be able -- for him to be able to perform at his best as well. At the moment I can really only control what I can do. I'm just going to put myself in that position and hopefully my partner will, as well. Q. Are you thinking about the No. 1 ranking? JOHN PEERS: Not really. I felt Henri and I, as long as we continue to work, we can't really think about a number. It's the first slam of the year. There's so many big tournaments to come. There's three more slams and so many other tournaments to be played. I think for us to be able to finish year end No. 1, you have to be consistent. You can't just have a couple big results, two for the year, and that's it. Hopefully we will continue over the year and continue with the great start we've had. 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