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FEVER-TREE CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2018

Nick Kyrgios

London, England

N. KYRGIOS/F. Lopez

7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. We asked you yesterday if you had ever served as well or as many aces in a week. Can you recall if that's the case? You seem to be hitting an absolute plateau at the minute.
NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I can't really remember a specific time where I've served at this level back to back. I didn't expect to serve the way I did yesterday, but I just found my rhythm early again in this match. But I felt like I had to. He was serving pretty good today. I wasn't able to really read or kind of lean towards a side when I was returning.

I thought he served way better today than he did in Stuttgart when I played him last week. I obviously served better, as well.

Q. How important was it playing him in Stuttgart last week and getting engaged and going into this match?
NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, it obviously helped me a lot. I played him at Wimbledon, and I know what to expect from him. We have played each other a fair few times. We know what we're both going to do. I know what his strengths are.

He serves really well. I think this is by far his best surface. I mean, I kind of know what to expect from him. You know what's coming, but you still can't really do much about it.

Q. You played Marin when you won your maiden title in Marseilles. What kind of match do you expect?
NICK KYRGIOS: Obviously some big serves again. He does everything really well. He serves well. He's got an unbelievable backhand. His forehand is quite big. Moves pretty well for a big man. Returns well.

I know it's going to be very tough. Last time I played him was a while ago, Marseilles final, but, yeah, it's going to be tough. He obviously feels very confident on the grass. I mean, he played Querrey today and looked really, really good.

I'm not going to think about that at the moment. I'm going to do everything ahead of that match, recovering and eating and stuff.

Q. Do you view him as one of the main contenders at Wimbledon?
NICK KYRGIOS: Cilic? For sure. If he serves well, you know, and he's physically feeling good, for sure.

Q. How is the body holding up?
NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I feel good. You know, I'm managing my hip and doing a couple of hours of treatment on that every day.

But my main focus is my elbow. My elbow is feeling good, which is the most important thing.

Q. Going back to your serving, how much pleasure do you take from the fact that your serves seemed to come up big often when you were under pressure in this match?
NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I mean, it's always been like this for me. My serve's been like this ever since I was a little kid. It was my best shot. I always based my game around it.

It was one shot where I didn't really practice much at all. I would hit maybe 10 or 15 serves a day, you know, would just relax and hit it as hard -- I used to just throw the ball up and hit it as hard as I could. I guess just one day it started winning me easy points. I was, like, this is better than running, and that's it. (Laughter.)

Q. Do you practice it much now, your serve?
NICK KYRGIOS: Not at all. I will never, ever go out on the practice court and hit serves just for the sake of hitting serves. I mean, I warmed up, probably hit about eight serves before I played today.

Q. But in a normal practice session, how many serves might you hit?
NICK KYRGIOS: Well, I don't even hit any serves. I always play points out of the hand and maybe roll my arm over maybe five, ten times and that's it.

Q. Marin says he thinks you have everything in your locker to win a Grand Slam but it's just a bit difficult to put it all together over two weeks. Do you feel now you're coming in with the best form you have ever been in heading into a Grand Slam? Are you confident this is the time it's going to click for you?
NICK KYRGIOS: Well, I mean, I feel good. I'm not even thinking about Wimbledon yet. I just want to keep my grass court form going.

You know, I'm in a good place right now on the grass. I'm serving well. I feel good from the back. I want to just stay focused for this tournament.

You know, I definitely feel like my preparation for Wimbledon maybe hasn't been this good before. I have never won a round here. I have always gone into Wimbledon maybe a little bit underdone match-wise.

I have played a lot of matches going into Wimbledon, which is maybe something that can help me going forward.

Q. On that point, how important was that decision you made to skip the clay because you said this is what you really wanted to concentrate on?
NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, massive. Massive. I just didn't want anything to hinder my grass court season, that's all.

Yeah, during the clay I was still feeling my elbow a little bit, which wasn't great. You know, I wasn't even 100% certain that I wouldn't feel it for the grass court season.

So playing French -- I mean, I wanted to play, obviously. I was just traveling around watching people play, and not really doing anything wasn't great. But in hindsight, it was worth it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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