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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL PRESENTED BY SUNCORP

January 6, 2018

Ryan Harrison

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

R. HARRISON/A. De Minaur

4-6, 7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What do you think was the key to escaping that one?
RYAN HARRISON: Composure. I mean, I had to keep really good composure. There was a lot of people out there cheering against me, and they were very loud and very patriotic. And I did a really good job of staying composed in those big moments.

Q. What did you make of his game? Were you surprised at how well he did or have you seen him through the tournament? What did you think of him?
RYAN HARRISON: I was really impressed with how aggressive he played, especially, you know, in those big moments.

It's a first time stage for him to come into this situation, especially playing at home, and it can go one of two ways. Some guys get fearful and they play down. And he's obviously a guy who loves that opportunity. I think that he's shown that the whole week.

He's got the ability to raise his level in big moments, and that's a really important thing to have when you're trying to build a successful tennis career.

Q. There was one point you were talking to the umpire in the second set. You were concerned about his movement or something that was bothering you?
RYAN HARRISON: Yeah, he changed around his position quite a bit. Just it happens a lot when guys are trying to make adjustments and break serve.

But the only thing I said to the umpire was just if he was going to move it around that if he could be set before I go to serve. I didn't want him to be -- I don't necessarily think it's against the rules, but it is a little bit gamesmanship if you're intentionally doing it before the serve is tossed.

And he immediately raised his racket up to apologize, which I thought it was a nice thing for him to do, because it does solidify that he wasn't doing it as gamesmanship. It was more just because he was trying to adjust and made a last-second decision that he wanted to change the spot that he was at.

So I had no problem with it after that. I just asked the chair umpire on the change of ends if he can just be aware that if he was going to make his movement and adjust something that I was going to need him to be -- you know, we're going wait for him to be set before I started my service motion.

Q. Well, that composure was very important in that tie break at 5-3 down.
RYAN HARRISON: Definitely. 3-4, he hit an amazing return off a really good second serve. He smoked a backhand return down the line.

Kind of, again, like we said a second ago, took me a little by surprise how aggressive he was going to be on that sort of shot and that sort of moment.

But, you know, again I just told myself, let's execute one more point here. If you're 3-6 down, it's quite a long way back, especially if the guy has got two points on serve. I was really focused immediately on that next point of putting it at 5-4.

And, you know, winning two points in a row on serve can feel, at times, difficult in big moments. And once I got the first one to get the mini break back, it's almost like he goes from a winning position where he feels like it was on his racquet, to now playing a point where he feels like he can't lose it because I'm serving the next point.

So immediately after I got the mini break back at 5-4, the pressure goes right back onto his shoulders. And it was one of the few times in the match that he gave me an inch, and he actually double faulted there.

Q. You took that momentum with you to the start of the third set?
RYAN HARRISON: Yeah, that was the only time where there was any sort of mental lapse or energy on his side. It was probably a tough situation for him to be so close to -- you know, such a big tournament and playing in his home crowd to be that close to the final.

I knew that starting the third set it was going to be a good opportunity for me to get ahead. And I wanted to try and run with that momentum as quickly and fast as I could.

The second break that I got at 0-2 to go 0-3 up actually turned out to be very, very important. Because as you saw, I gave back one of the breaks, and so it was very important to have the insurance.

Q. Happy you're starting the year with getting to a final and staying composed in matches. You would have probably been the favorite in all of the matches you played here based on the rankings, but still taking care of business.
RYAN HARRISON: Yeah. I mean, they're all tough matches for different reasons. Mayer and Istomin both around my ranking, both very good players, both won titles. I think both had really good tournaments last year, Istomin with his run in Australia; Mayer winning a 500. By no means was I a heavy favorite in those matches.

And then the other two matches are extremely tricky because you have one guy who I played in Hanfmann as a lucky loser going into the second round. And it's always tough when a guy gets a second opportunity because you just feel like it's house money. You know, there's nothing to lose. You have already lost in the event. So he came out playing great tennis.

And then obviously, today, Alex with all the momentum, starting with the wildcard tournament where he won all of those three-out-of-five set matches.

He's extremely match tough. I don't know that there's anybody who is able to start the year as match fit as he is after winning all those matches at the Australia wildcard playoff. So he was obviously very confident coming in.

Q. How do you feel about still having to play doubles today and then also I guess the prospect of possibly facing your doubles partner in the singles final?
RYAN HARRISON: We did have some bad news that it was a very physical match out there. Grigor and Kyrgios are in a very tough three-set match right now.

And Grigor and I discussed the possibility of if either of our matches went very long and physical that resting up for the singles final was going to be the priority.

And so once my match turned out to be slightly physical, we decided to make that move.

Q. You talked to him before or have you talked about it before?
RYAN HARRISON: Grigor and I? Oh, we talked about it before. We talked about it this morning. We kind of had a very clear idea of what was going to happen.

Q. He won't be surprised when he comes off court then?
RYAN HARRISON: He knew. I saw him. And, you know, Nick and him were waiting in the hallway as I was walking off. And he basically just said, Go home and rest up. Which meant, I know.

Q. And what about if you end up facing Nick?
RYAN HARRISON: If I end up facing Nick, well, I've played Nick twice and I think that he's a very talented player. He obviously has a polarizing serve. It's a very difficult serve to read. He can hit all the spots really well.

He gives you some cheap holds where he might not necessarily be all in it for a second, but then he has some ability to produce a really high level.

It's going to be important that I take every single step of the way as very, very important. Because when you play with somebody who has that sort of ability, then a break at 0-1 in the first set can be just as damaging as 4-5, because at times he can take the racquet out of your hand.

Q. This is your first final outside the States. Any particular different milestone for you as you win outside of your own backyard?
RYAN HARRISON: Well, definitely a different milestone for me. Because, again, I had made two finals and one title, but they were both in the States.

But as we talked about last year, there's been a lot of new milestones that have been occurring in my career. And a lot of that's due to, like we talked about the other day, just a different sort of approach, a "not extra added pressure on myself" approach, which is allowing me to be a little more free, a little more confident, and even under some really difficult circumstances like I was under today with a massive crowd behind him.

And I'm just able to enjoy playing tennis. Try to produce some of my best tennis.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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