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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

January 2, 2019

John Millman

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

G. DIMITROV/J. Millman

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: First questions, please.

Q. He didn't even give you a chance today.
JOHN MILLMAN: No, he didn't. I thought he -- yeah, I thought he played great tennis. Stingy with his errors, very aggressive. First set especially. More first than the half than he gave me anything. Probably found it hard to get on the front foot, because he was, you know, playing so well, obviously really confident. Yeah, really the way he went about his business today, I thought he just played. He just had a day today in my opinion. I don't know what he thinks but yeah he had a day.

Q. What was going through your mind in that second set when you decided to fight back?
JOHN MILLMAN: I always have a bit of fight in me. I'm always going to fight. You know, you just have to just do what you can to hang in there as long as possible, and then to be honest with you, I had a lot of momentum, and then I thought I had a pretty unlucky break. I deserved to get broken the other two times I got broken in the match, but at 4-4 I thought it was a very unlucky break. I played a really positive point at 40-15 where I went after a forehand, and I think I just hit the tape. 40-30, I kind of -- I don't think he hit the cleanest backhand return but it was one of those ones that kind of pulls you off the court. And those things happen in tennis. And yeah, I thought that was a little bit unlucky, and that was a real opportunity for me to turn things around. I thought I did a good job of doing that.

You know, wasn't to be today, though, and all credit to Grigor and his team because today he really produced some of his better tennis. We saw he had perhaps, probably even by his own admission, probably not his best year last year, and we all know what Grigor is capable of when he's playing good tennis, and today, you know, I think he show cased just why people see him as a Top 10 player, for sure.

Q. He teamed up with Andre Agassi in the off season. Do you think compared to last year, has his game evolved?
JOHN MILLMAN: Don't know. Like, you'd have to ask Grigor, like what Andre is doing. I think probably you sound probably -- not you, but we're selling Dani Vallverdu a bit short there. He's got a world-class coach in his corner also that has overseen Grigor the last two years, got him to, what, three or four in the world the year before. I think he's obviously got a good team around him. Yeah, we'll see how the summer plays out. I'm sure Andre will join him. But I've never worked with Andre. I don't know what he's been saying. You'd have to ask Grigor that.

Q. John, I guess the goal was to go deep here, try to get the ranking up?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah.

Q. And hopefully get an Australian Open seeding. How do you relook now?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, look, that would have been fantastic. But today I came unstuck against a guy, and anyone who watched the match, I think, you know, can recognize that Grigor just played some great tennis today. That happens in the sport, unfortunately. Look, you know, I was unseeded. I haven't been seeded yet at a Grand Slam, but I've managed to put in some good performances, and I still firmly believe that when I'm playing good tennis and when I'm fit and healthy, I can match it with a lot of guys, you know. So hopefully I'll get a nice little draw down south at the Australian Open. Yeah, I won't be seeded, but even if I run into one of the seeds I'll walk onto the court confident in my game that I can match it to nearly anyone.

Q. You fly Sydney next?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, that's the plan right now. I've got a bit of doubles action a little bit later today. Yeah, the plan is to head down to Sydney. But probably stay here for a few days. I'm not in as massive rush to get to Sydney yet. I'll try to make the most of Brisbane first.

Q. Sydney is a 250?
JOHN MILLMAN: Sydney is a 250. It's probably not as top-end heavy as this tournament here, but there's a lot of depth there. And the cut's normally quite high. It's pretty stacked probably between 20 and 40 in the world. Some of the top guys choose to sit out that week. You know, I'm going down to Sydney feeling good, though. I've had a couple of good matches here. I feel as if my game is going to continually improve, but I don't think it's too far off, you know, where it needs to be heading into the Australian Open.

Even today it didn't feel like it was coming out too badly at all, you know, and I just came unstuck by a guy who was really, I thought, playing some very, very good tennis.

Q. Obviously worked so hard to get your ranking where it is. You've done well. Just getting at that little bit higher and getting some seedings, is that --
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, for sure. I love that, yeah. If you're seeded 8 there, you avoid playing Grigor in the second round. You know, the earliest you play him is the quarters. So obviously that's what you want, and I think I missed out seeding by -- I think Nick was 8 seed and I was -- I was the ninth on the list, and I think there's a couple of points that separate us.

So perhaps a little bit unlucky, but you realize pretty quickly that everyone at this level can play really good tennis. So you can still come unstuck with a pretty tricky draw even if you're seeded. But obviously that's the idea. That's the goal. I think if I was in Pune, I would have been fourth seed. I think 8 seed there is 82 in the world. So everyone loves coming to Brisbane. I can see why because it's a great city, best in the world.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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