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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2019

Lucas Pouille

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

L. POUILLE/A. Popyrin

7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 4-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did it feel for you after going to a fifth? How proud of yourself are you?
LUCAS POUILLE: Well, it was not easy, especially that I had a lot of chances in the third set to close it and I didn't make it. I think I can blame myself.

I'm very, very happy to finally find mine back after losing the fourth set, get out of the court, put a new T-shirt on, start again, start a new match. I think I did it right. So I'm very happy with that.

Q. You mentioned Amelie out there. How has she improved your game?
LUCAS POUILLE: Well, we worked a lot on the service and return, trying on my consistency from the baseline. It's not perfect yet, but we working on it.

Yeah, I mean, it's been only one month, one month and a half now. It's going to take time to be as good as we want. But so far so good.

Q. On your Instagram or social media, you're running with Amelie. She's always faster than you.
LUCAS POUILLE: She's not faster than me. No, no, no (smiling).

Q. You're always behind her.
LUCAS POUILLE: No chance. I did it once and we were, I would say, in the gym. The other time she was at the track and field, I was not running. I was just here to watch her run, so...

Q. How cool is it that you get to do these things?
LUCAS POUILLE: Nice, especially we had to know each other because we didn't before starting. Yeah, we were in Dubai and Paris all the time together, hitting together, as I said, trying to know each other. Doing stuff with your coach is always nice. It's fun.

Q. Do you feel like you're getting back to the form that saw you top 10?
LUCAS POUILLE: We'll see. If I say yes and the next few months, I don't win a match, it doesn't make sense. It's about consistency. I need to be consistent all year if I want to come back in the top 10. I was top 10 for one week or two weeks. It's good, okay, but I want to be for a year, to be qualified in London. It's not only about being in a fourth round here.

Obviously it's coming back with the victories, and I'm very happy with this.

Q. Last year in Dubai you made three finals in four weeks. Things then didn't go your way. Do you know what happened?
LUCAS POUILLE: Yeah, I know what happened. I won the tournament in Montpellier. Jo pulled out. I was one set down, 5-3 down. I was kind of lucky, as well. Then I played a bad match against Rublev. Had a good week in Marseille. I was tired, but I was keeping going. In Dubai I played some good matches. I arrived in Indian Wells, couldn't see the ball any more and the racquet. I didn't want to play.

You know how it is, every week is an important tournament. I said, Yes, I play. I decided to go home, practice for the Davis Cup. I practiced hard for it. Once the Davis Cup was over, I gave all I had this weekend, and I was a bit lost. I didn't really know what it wanted to do, if I wanted to practice, if I wanted to go holidays anything. I didn't really enjoy my time on court. You lose one match, two match, then it's tough for you to come back.

Q. Mental fatigue maybe?
LUCAS POUILLE: Yeah, mental fatigue. Didn't really feel well in my life personally. Now it's fine, so I'm happy.

Q. Did Alexei surprise you at all?
LUCAS POUILLE: Yeah. It's always tricky to play an Australian in Melbourne. It's only one month in the year for them to play here, so they always play some unbelievable tennis.

He has a huge serve and huge forehand. He's going for it most of the time. It's not easy. You have to stay focused every single point, try to make him play. Yeah, I think he's playing some really great tennis. I'm sure he's going to break the top 100, top 50 very soon.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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