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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 4, 2019

Alex De Minaur

Wimbledon, London, England

S. JOHNSON/A. De Minaur

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

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Bad luck today. That looked like a pretty bruising, physical fight. How do you assess what happened?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Yeah, it's a tough one to swallow, one of those matches where you come off the court and you still don't know how it didn't end up going your way. I felt like I did everything I could, everything in my power, gave myself that many chances and just could not put those important points together.

I mean, you look at the stats, and I lost 6-3 in the fifth, yet I won more points. It doesn't get tougher than that to swallow.

Q. Do you feel like it's something that you didn't convert with those opportunities, or was it a case of him taking the match away and you have to tip your hat and say, Too good?
ALEX DE MINAUR: I think I had way too many opportunities for me to say that he played too good in all of them. He did play well in some, but I still feel like I had my chances and I just did not convert.

It's tough, because, I mean, if I want to keep improving and keep rising up the rankings, I can't let that happen. So no one's going to be more sort of self-critical than myself, so something I've got to improve on.

Q. It really was a match of fine margins, though. You got broken late in the fifth and had that breakpoint to get back straightaway and it was...
ALEX DE MINAUR: Just another opportunity I didn't take advantage of. I mean, let's just go through the match.

I won my first set, playing great tennis. Keep the momentum going. I've got two breakpoints early in the second. Don't convert. Get to a tiebreak. Don't play my best tiebreak ever. Yeah, he comes home with a (indiscernible) there.

Third set, pretty sure I had breakpoints again. Didn't convert. He did.

Fourth set I finally converted my breakpoints. Held onto my serve. And then fifth set, almost every game I was either Love-30 or had my chances, and it gets to a point where you've got to convert. You've got to take those chances, because, I mean, you're playing at a very high level and it's a game of inches.

If you don't take advantage of what's in front of you, then you're pretty much shooting yourself in the foot.

Q. I think it was a 27-point rally point that you hit a great winner. Did you feel then the momentum was kind of shifting towards you?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Yeah, in every stage of that match I felt like I was in the match. I was playing well, and I was on top. I felt like I was holding my serve comfortably and I was in a lot of his service games.

So for me to then look at myself, I'm two sets to one down, I had to really just focus, tell myself that I was playing well, I was having chances, I just had to convert them.

Go to a fifth set, did everything I could. Put myself out there. Just one of those days that I've just got to sit here and say, you know, I didn't do a good enough job.

Q. There must have been a fair bit you learned from the experience, though, playing a proper grass court player in a five-setter at Wimbledon?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Yeah, you learn from these things. At the moment, obviously you don't think about that. I feel like I've played a lot of matches against experienced players now, and obviously coming in knew that Stevie was a hell of a grass courter. This surface really suits his game.

I knew that I was going to have to play my best game to be in contention and hopefully to get a win, but today happened. Won more points, had more chances, didn't go my way. That's tennis.

Q. Do you think it might be a case of, like, you were a little short on matches? You had a couple months off this year, struggled with injury. Do you think match fitness is an issue? I think last year you played and won a lot more. Is it just a little case of rust?
ALEX DE MINAUR: I don't know. I don't feel it's match fitness, because I feel at every stage of that match I focused with high intensity. Even at the end of the match I felt like, you know, I didn't drop physically.

So I don't know. Maybe it was that. I had a good lead-in. Had a good first-round match. Played a good match today. But didn't go my way.

Q. Looking ahead to the US Open now, you're probably going to be seeded there, as well? What's the plan kind of leading into it?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Well, I'm going to play Atlanta, Washington, Montreal, Cincy, and then US Open. That's my U.S. hard court swing at the moment.

Hopefully I can play some good tennis and sort of turn this little bit of a slump around and just go back to where I want to be and in contention for sort of big wins and get a lot of wins under my belt.

Q. Good memories playing there last year. That must give you some sort of confidence?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Obviously great memories. I've got Washington where I made a final there. US Open, third round. I mean, I played some great tennis there. Now I've just gotta come back and do the same. Yeah. It is what it is.

Q. Considering where you were in March and April and you said that that was a place that you hated and you never want to be again, are you at least a little bit encouraged with your progress or the way you're trending? Compared to Roland Garros, that was a first-round loss and today is a second-round loss, are there positives you can draw from that?
ALEX DE MINAUR: There's always positives, but I think at this stage right now in the moment that I am right now, obviously disappointed. But the body is feeling good. I've held up really well today. I felt like I could have kept on going, yeah. And now I'll go with doubles tomorrow or whatever. I've got to play doubles.

And after this tournament done, I'll have some time off to sort of relax and hopefully start the U.S. hard court swing with a bang.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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