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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

December 31, 2018

John Millman

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

J. MILLMAN/T. Sandgren

7-6, 6-7, 6-0

Q. Winning the Dimitrov result last year (indiscernible)?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah. Look, I don't really remember that. Throughout the year you're going to have some matches where you feel like you can win them and some matches where you get through them and some you don't get over the line.

You know, I had that one match point on his serve, though. They're always tough in the tiebreak. He played actually a very good point. You know, that's tennis. The key thing is is to rebound. I really was happy with how I responded in the third set, got off to a really quick start and held that momentum for the rest of the third.

Q. Did you feel any extra pressure out there in front of a hometown crowd?
JOHN MILLMAN: There's always pressure here. Not necessarily extra pressure, but I've always put high expectations on myself throughout the year, but especially here in Brisbane.

I love playing here. I do feel an extra responsibility playing here. I love the Brisbane people. They've been a great source of support throughout my career, and therefore, whenever I step on the court here, I just want to really give them something to cheer about.

Q. How do you find the serving clock? Do you notice that it speeds up the tempo?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah. Not necessarily, to be honest with you. I don't think -- if anything, it might even take a little bit more time, if you -- not necessarily tonight. Physically I felt really good. Obviously it started for me around that Grand Slam at the US Open. I don't think I came very close then when I was playing there. So I don't necessarily really notice it too much. More so just getting out to the court nice and quick, you know, the 2-5-1, I think it is. And that's probably the trickiest because I like to have a bit of a drink when I get out there.

Q. I guess on the opposite side, do you feel like players can exploit it? If they're usually a fast server, you can slow it down?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah. I think if you're a fast server, you probably don't really want to, so you're going to keep it going and you're going to try to keep in that rhythm. Look, I don't think it makes a hell of a lot of difference. Maybe it will next week when the conditions might be really tough outside at the Australian Open. When you have some of those 40-plus days, that's when it can get a bit brutal. But I didn't really feel it tonight.

Q. Speaking of your Wednesday match...
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah. I imagine so, unless Cam has a few surprises up his sleeves. I think I got a Wednesday match. I'm not on the schedule. I've got a bit of doubles actually with a fellow Queenslander J.P. So hopefully he teaches me a few tricks because I haven't won a doubles match for a while.

Q. A good thing for everyone watching.
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, for sure. And I'm sure Grigor is probably -- he had maybe a mixed year for his high standards; still pretty good year in my books, but I'm sure he's looking to kick things off. He loves coming here. He's won here before in Brisbane. He's a tough player, and when he's on, his game can be really hard to maintain because he's got such a great skill set.

I'm looking forward to it, though. These are the ones you want to play. You want to test yourself against who I see as some of the best players in the world, and what better place to do it than here in Brisy?

Q. What did you attribute a strong showing in the last set to? Like, did you have another gear in were you? Were you sort of holding back?
JOHN MILLMAN: No. I wasn't holding back. It's always tough the first match of the season. You haven't quite found your range. You trained all you want, and I thought I put together actually a pretty good preseason. I worked really hard, and I think probably the last couple of days I started to feel like I freshened up a little bit. Before that I felt pretty heavy just because of the hours I put on court.

No, look, I felt comfortable with my body. Felt really comfortable with that, and I just think my game probably increased a little bit. I think Tennys probably missed a few more first serves, didn't quite hit his spots, because I thought he served really well, especially in that second set. I thought he served his way out of maybe a little bit of trouble there. And, yeah, just lucky I got off to a good start. Some of the times those third sets are all about building momentum early, and I managed to do so.

Q. How do you reflect on the year heading into the new year?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah. Look, I've loved the year. It's been one where I feel like it probably could have even been a little bit better. Most of the year I was battling with a few little injuries, and didn't keep me out, but at some times I didn't feel as if when I walked on court I was at quite 100 percent, so definitely things to work on, and there's areas in my game I feel like I can improve. I think that starts with the body, but if I could sign on the dotted line for this 2018, I probably would every year.

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