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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2019

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

ALCOTT-DAVIDSON/Lapthorne-Wagner

6-3, 6-7, 12-10

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How does it feel?
DYLAN ALCOTT: It's kind of weird. Hopefully the vision is a lot stronger than it used to be. Could be extended to 16 instead of 8 players. For example, like Heath the other day lost to the world No. 6. World No. 2?

HEATH DAVIDSON: Yeah, it's definitely improving a lot. We could definitely push it out. Have strong draws.

DYLAN ALCOTT: Having said that, it's cool. High pressure straightaway.

HEATH DAVIDSON: Very weird getting up for a final without playing much. You have to be on it from the start.

DYLAN ALCOTT: Especially when you're No. 1 seeds, you can work your way in. It's like playing against the two best doubles players in the world straight up. They're 1 and 2, I think.

HEATH DAVIDSON: I'm 2.

DYLAN ALCOTT: You carry me (laughter).

Yeah, it was weird. But, yeah, happy to get the win.

Q. Heath, are you looking for a new job? I heard you're advertising yourself to the broadcasters?
HEATH DAVIDSON: Why not? Nice new ear piercing. I'm just out here playing tennis. That's my job.

DYLAN ALCOTT: Neck tatts. I love neck tatts.

HEATH DAVIDSON: Neck tatts, piercings. Bit of the bad-boy image, considering we have the good-boy image on the other on this side.

Q. Championship points away, could have gone either way at the end. How were you feeling in the last few moments?
HEATH DAVIDSON: I was feeling good. I was confident in myself. I wasn't confident in Dylan.

No, my job is to set Dylan up. Dylan knows what he has to do when he goes in. I trust him 100%.

DYLAN ALCOTT: I felt good, to be honest. I felt, like Heath, we were going to win.

Q. Always felt on your racquet?
DYLAN ALCOTT: I'm so proud of how Heath plays. Couldn't have cared less if we lost either. If he had three double-faults or if I did, we never get angry at each other.

HEATH DAVIDSON: We're mates off court. I think that's probably our strongest -- that's why our chemistry is so good on court.

DYLAN ALCOTT: I would have cared, but I wouldn't have been dirty on either of us. You can tell, we're always smiling, don't yell at each other. We're a good pair.

Q. What is a match against Wagner like?
DYLAN ALCOTT: They're always tough for all of us. He's an old veteran. Pokes it around, doesn't give you what you want. It was hot. It was like 39 degrees when we finished. That's hot. I'm from Australia, and that's hot for anyone.

I was super happy to get the win. Super happy also because the winner of Heath and Wagner tomorrow makes it through to the final against me. It will be unbelievable if it's Heath on Australia Day. It will mad, so cool.

Having said that, it's one of the best games I ever played because the whole match, in its entirety, was broadcast live on Channel 9 Wide World of Sports, no breaks, they played the whole match. I put a tweet up of a little girl watching a TV, her mom saying, Thank you for everything, because of that. We just play, you know. That's why we do what we do. It's pretty cool, it really is.

I'd love to be able to play Heath in that final on TV.

HEATH DAVIDSON: If you play me, you're not getting your fifth.

DYLAN ALCOTT: Mate, whatever. Just get there.

Q. Two matches in that unbelievable heat today. Where did you find your strength to make it?
DYLAN ALCOTT: They hit a lot of balls to Heath today, which was awesome because I didn't do much. He played so well.

But we pride ourselves on playing till the last point. I pride myself on being levelheaded the whole time. I think that really helped us. I was really proud how Heath did as well in the singles and the doubles. I think we both played incredibly well. We try to play like you can't tell the score, know what I mean?

I'll tell you the one thing that really helped us is a massive crowd at both our matches, the singles and the doubles. As I said, few years ago, we're used to playing in front of a handful of people. After the Paralympics, the Newcombe medal, broadcasters, all that kind of stuff, people come down and watch now. It's awesome, so cool.

HEATH DAVIDSON: Tonight was amazing. And the crowd for my singles this morning was unreal, too.

DYLAN ALCOTT: We used to know everyone in the crowd. Now we know 5% or 10% in the crowd. The rest of them are random that want to come down and support. It's special to be involved in.

Hopefully for the next generation of kids with disabilities or athletes, it's a bit easier. We had to fight tooth and nail, we had to travel an hour and 20 minutes to have a hit of tennis with a coach. There was nothing when we did it. Hopefully for that NextGen, it's a little easier, you know what I mean?

Q. How is your body holding up this year with the hectic schedule?
DYLAN ALCOTT: I reckon, last year I went to hospital. It's in my book. I spent every night on a drip last year in hospital. I'm not going to hospital this year. I'll be tired. It's my own fault because I do everything. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Commentating Rafa prime time, who gets to do that? Not many people.

Now I'm in tennis mode. But I need a good night's sleep tonight, man, because I'm wrecked. Heath whipped me up yesterday. Had a great match yesterday. Wagner today, doubles. I'm cooked. Hopefully I can have a good one tomorrow and play whoever I play in the final. I hope it's this guy because he deserves it.

Not holding up well, but I'm not going to hospital.

Q. Australia is a special place for quad tennis, seems to embrace quad tennis like no other place in the world. Do you feel that?
DYLAN ALCOTT: What about wheelchair tennis? Prime time, every match, main courts. It is sick. It is amazing. You know what I mean? It's just, like, you know, I want it not just for our division, but everyone here. They do get great support. There's a huge Japanese contingent that get around Shingo and ^ Hugh I.

I played US Open, Wimbledon, Aus Open. So cool that Wimbledon has quad wheelchair singles and doubles. Hopefully Roland Garros is just around the corner, as well.

It's like how it should be anyway, you know what I mean? It's crazy.

HEATH DAVIDSON: It is. It's awesome to be out here in front of heaps of people. The crowd is sick.

Q. How is it under the roof today? Have you played under the roof before?
HEATH DAVIDSON: That's the first time I've ever played under the roof. First couple of games took me a while to adjust to the lights just behind the serve. I was struggling to pick up the ball. Once I figured that out, we started to go all right.

DYLAN ALCOTT: Heath was a lob master today. I was scared they were going to hit the roof, but they went in.

HEATH DAVIDSON: That's because you told me to get 400 feet back. Just trying to imitate Rafa a bit. I'm not that cool.

DYLAN ALCOTT: What is the second biggest court at US Open called?

Q. Armstrong.
DYLAN ALCOTT: That one has a roof. I played there a couple times. Was Rod Laver closed last year when we played? It was raining.

HEATH DAVIDSON: I lied to you. Really sorry about that.

DYLAN ALCOTT: The first time we played prime time is last year after Roger when Chung pulled out. That was the first time we played under a roof. Played a lot better the second time, we both did. It was good.

Q. How much cooler does it make it?
DYLAN ALCOTT: Still pretty muggy.

HEATH DAVIDSON: Very stuffy.

DYLAN ALCOTT: Way better there than inside. Good luck to Danielle Collins. I was so red because I sweated it all off. Melbourne is a burn your skin hot compared to Brisbane. All you do is put an egg on the court, would have cooked in five minutes.

HEATH DAVIDSON: Fried.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2019

Dylan Alcott

Heath Davidson