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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

December 31, 2018

Grigor Dimitrov

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

G. DIMITROV/Y. Nishioka

6-3, 6-4

Q. (Indiscernible)?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah. I mean, on my end it was a pretty interesting match, to be honest. I felt I was actually hitting the ball quite all right for our first match of the year. So, yeah, man. Just right on. I mean one by one now. It was a good day overall. There was a few things that I would like to maybe improve in the next match, but overall I think it's off to a positive start.

Q. Where do you think you're at this year compared to last year because you were playing quite well at this stage last year.
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah, it's kind of hard to say. Just my first match but I think physically it's been -- I think it's as good as ever, so to speak. I had the time to rest. I had the time to prepare. I worked on the things that I thought I could have improved on and off the court. So, yeah, I mean overall everything is set for success. But now the only thing I can do is just play matches and obviously play as many matches as I can, and only then I can sort of, again, establish myself as that top player. Considering how the past five months have gone for me, there's for sure areas that I need to focus on, not to improve, but to get back to the level that I was, and yeah, from then on we're going to think, but there's still plenty of time for that.

Q. What's the one thing you think you really need to do?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Play matches. Simple as that. Play matches. The past five months I didn't play that many matches. I think I played 12 matches in five months. So if you look at the big picture, that's nothing. But on the other hand, as I said, I don't think these months as a negativity or something. I just actually felt that in those months I've learned a lot about myself. I learned things that I need to do better, things that I could improve off the court. So overall I actually felt that they were very successful months off the court. So I mean obviously you lose something, but you win something on the other side. And I like to look at the things like that right now.

Q. Could you talk about your next match, please, if you were to play John Millman or if you were to play Tennys Sandgren?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Yeah. I think they play tonight. Right? Yeah, I mean, again, it's either/or. I've played against them, yeah, a couple of times. Obviously, I mean, Millman is at home. He's done really good out here in that tournament, played one of his best tennis out here in this tournament. So he's going to be in my opinion the favorite for the match. Absolutely.

Tennys, on the other hand, again, he's been pretty steady the past months, had some good results, and fighting a lot. But, yeah, it's going to be an interesting match for both of them tonight, and yeah, whoever is on the other end, I really, as I said, I need to really focus on my side of it right now and really start playing the game that I know I can play.

Q. Rafa Nadal, he's training this afternoon, obviously had a few injuries lately. What are you expecting for him at this early start of the season in Brisbane?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Oh, man. I wish I knew. The one thing is for sure. I mean with the top top guys, obviously, I mean whether it's Rafa, Roger, Novak, Andy, you know, the capability of not playing for months and all of a sudden show up at a Slam and produce some of their best tennis is out there. So there's one of the variables out there already.

I just -- I hope he is injury free and he can play, of course. I mean I'm never going to wish otherwise to another fellow tennis player. But this is -- I mean this is the game, and in a way anything can happen at any given time. So you just need to be ready and prepare. But I'm sure if he's feeling well he's going to give 100 percent for himself.

Q. Greg or, you're north of 85 percent first serve points won in both sets.
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Really? That's fun.

Q. A little bit of a hiccup there towards the end in the second set. But were you happy with the serve today, and what did you feel like went wrong in that last game?
GRIGOR DIMITROV: Well, yeah. Of course, if it's such a high -- I haven't seen the stats yet. I'm going to have a look at them later, but of course, if that's the case, it's great. To be quite honest, there were games that I don't want to say I was throwing them away, but I was just going for my shots. I mean I think at times when you're up a break you don't need to start defending yourself. You need to just play offensive, and this is how I want to establish myself at times that I can do that. And even that break in the second set was just -- I mean for sure I was mad but not to the extent that I'm like, oh, my God, I'm going to over think now. I had good leverage to try some of the shots, to go for certain parts of the net, just things that I can see as a player. And, yeah, but that's -- I mean as I said, for a first match, it's good for now.

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