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ATP CUP

January 5, 2020

Nick Kyrgios

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

A. DE MINAUR/D. Shapovalov

6-7, 6-4, 6-2

Australia - 2

Canada - 0

THE MODERATOR: Who has the first question?

Q. Alex, can you talk about your comeback there? And I think you said on court you might as well stay out there as long as possible when you got a crowd like that behind you.
ALEX DE MINAUR: Well, obviously, I would love to take care of things a bit easier, but you kind of got to play the cards you're dealt. So I had chances in the first set. I probably didn't do too well mentally after that. I went through a little bit of a rough patch where I was a bit too focused on the past, but I managed to turn things around, get back into a positive mindset, get my energy back and able to turn it around again. So obviously very proud.

Q. Alex, just want to know what's -- you love fighting matches out, this two in a row now. What's the key for you when you're down? How do you sort of compose yourself and get yourself going again?
ALEX DE MINAUR: I think it's all energy. I mean, it's good that in the back of my head I know that all the hard work I've put in in the pre-season, so I know that my body's ready to keep on going for however long it takes. So I had to tidy up a couple things on my side of the court today and I was able to put the pressure back on him and turn the match around. So obviously two very tough matches and matches that are going to really help me out.

Q. Lleyton, what are your thoughts on that win and John's win now this morning?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, both wins are fantastic. Obviously, John, first, to come out there and play a quality player in Felix. At the start off Felix was playing fantastic and John was able to weather the storm early, and then he was able to turn it around and John, in these conditions on this court here in Brisbane, I haven't seen him play a bad match yet. So, yeah, I had full confidence once he was out there. I knew what we were going to get out of him, but yeah, he handled the situation perfectly. Played great tennis. He's been hitting the ball really well all week as well.

And then Alex, obviously, it was going to be a really tough match from, the match they had in Madrid in the Davis Cup as well. Denis is an absolute quality player out there and these boys, they have grown up together, they have played a lot of matches in juniors as well, and they know each other's games. And but so proud of the way Alex was able to hang in there. And he was going to get an opportunity at some stage and he had to be ready take it, like two nights ago, and he did that. And yeah as he said, he had a bit of a flat spot there, but after you lose such a tight first set as well that's always going to happen. So he's got to learn from that for the future, but so proud of how he came back and hung in there and found a way. And then also to go on with it in the third set for not, to have that deep early in the third after coming back and winning the second.

Q. Lleyton, you said a couple of weeks ago that you thought during the Davis Cup in Spain that Alex was really starting to come of age. What can these sort of matches do for a player further down the track?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, confidence and belief. That's the biggest thing. To go out there and beat quality players and, yeah, the belief that he can have now. And also, when you're down in matches, to know in a couple weeks he's got to play five-set matches and the two matches time-wise that he's played here already have been pretty close to most five-setters. So he's got that in the back of his mind as well, just where his body's at. There's so many confidence things, but in particular his last four wins, the last two in Davis Cup, and then obviously these two here. Yeah, it's just got to, as he said, he's done all the hard work in the pre-season and it's paying off, but you don't want to stop here. You want to keep pushing that bar a little bit further and he's on the right track.

Q. Lleyton, how is Nick looking, and was there a horrible sense of deja vu when he couldn't play in this against Canada? Obviously, he pulled out against Canada in Davis Cup. How is he and when did he pull out? How close to it was he?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, yeah, he was a bit stiff and sore yesterday afternoon after he hit, so I guess I had it in the back of my mind that it was a strong possibility that it could happen. Yeah, it's not easy for Johnny either, not knowing a hundred percent if he's going to play or not. And then obviously, still this morning, I could tell John that he was going to be in when Nick was still sore and a bit stiff. And it's more a precaution than anything, I think with Nick. He hasn't played a lot of matches. He probably hasn't had the biggest pre-season either, so after his first round he was probably going to pull up a bit sore. We'll test him out begin tomorrow and see where he's at. But as I said, this format, we have got a third guy there as well, and yeah, I was pretty happy in Brisbane when Johnny got the call up.

Q. Alex, how is it having Lleyton with you, particularly with matches like today when you're one set down going into the second and you're behind, just to keep that positive mindset --
ALEX DE MINAUR: Yeah, it's been amazing, not only here but Davis Cup as well. Just, I've got an amazing team and an amazing captain, coaches, my teammates, they're, they have all got my back. So even when there were some rough patches today, on the change of ends I had plenty of words of encouragement to let me know that they're all there behind me and they all had my back, so obviously I'm playing for more than myself and I wanted to do everything in my power to try and get a point for Australia.

Q. You did have that self-belief given your last matchup and your matchup this week. Just talk about how much your confidence is growing.
ALEX DE MINAUR: It's obviously been helping, match by match. I don't like to, obviously, get ahead of myself. So it's in the back of my head, these wins, they count for a lot and even just for me going out there today seeing Johnny, what he's able to do, it's just amazing. Like, I did two weeks of pre-season here with him, in Brisbane with him, and like there's not many people that work harder than him. And he got the call up and he did everything in his power and he came out and he just delivered in his home city in front of his home crowd, and it's just amazing to see. So, so happy to see Johnny go out there and do his thing.

Q. You play Stefanos, or are scheduled to play Stefanos next and obviously had a great tussle with him a couple years ago. What do you do to test him?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Well, yet again it's going to be another incredibly tough match. Stefanos, he's got a heck of a lot of firepower, so I'm going to have to come out with my team and have a game plan to try and neutralize him and play him, play my game as much as I can. And obviously I know it's going to be an incredibly tough match, but that's the beauty of it, I've got another chance to go out there and just test myself and see what I can do.

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