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ATP CUP

January 7, 2020

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

N. KYRGIOS/S. Tsitsipas

7-6, 6-7, 7-6

Australia - 2

Greece - 0

THE MODERATOR: First question.

Q. Start with the last game. Nick, fabulous win. Served outstanding. You must be ecstatic with your performance tonight, I would imagine.
NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, it was good. It was a good level. Stef's obviously a pretty good player. But yeah, as you said, I served really well in big moments but the atmosphere was awesome. I'm just glad that we got, we're carrying some momentum going to Sydney. It could have been easy to take your foot off the gas today. I thought both the Greeks showed up and I think they really wanted to win this tie, but I was happy we both got it done today.

Q. Did you happen to notice the part where he seemed to hit his dad with a tennis racket?
NICK KYRGIOS: I didn't see it. I don't think he meant it as well. I don't think you should be giving it too much attention or looking too far into it, to be honest. I've done some stupid things as well in the heat of the moment, so it was obviously an accident, so.

Q. Yeah, it was, he just said.
NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah.

Q. Nick, can you -- I suppose, can you give your thoughts about the concept now of the three matches that they play and what are your overwhelming sentiments from it?
NICK KYRGIOS: I mean, I am really enjoying it. I think it's a great event. The one thing I would maybe change or have an opinion on was the like being able to just choose who can play freely every day. I think that's probably the main thing. In tennis it's about matchups. And I think, honestly, John matches up better against some players than I do and vice versa. So I think that's probably the only change that I could see moving forward.

Q. John, how has it been getting to -- you weren't thinking you were going to get a piece of action, really, here in these round robins, but you got in two matches now, so how has your week turned around?
JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, look, when I came here I obviously wasn't expecting to play too much but wanted to be in with the boys and in and around that team, and also it helped that it was in Brisbane too. I love this place, and so it made a lot of sense for me to stay around. It's cool that I got a couple of matches. It's really awesome that we managed to progress through. And I've really enjoyed it, actually. I've really enjoyed being on the team, like I always do and being able it tap into Lleyton and Crabby and Ivan also, who has done a fair bit of work on me, too, to get my body in a right nick and it's been a really good decision in the end so, yeah, I'm pretty happy.

Q. Lleyton, what do you make of Chris Guccione's ability to come back and just seemingly pick up and kind of sweep things off for you guys with Johnny?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, I don't think it was easy for Gucc straight up as well. There was probably a little bit of pressure on him to go out there and play well. I didn't really know what to expect probably in the first match. And we were 2-nil up in that match as well, so it gave him the opportunity to go out there and play probably a little bit freer, which has probably helped out these first couple of matches, I would say as well. But, yeah, I love Gucch. He's, we played some big matches together in Davis Cup. He was a warrior in Davis Cup, singles and doubles, for a number of years. And I think he certainly plays better when he wears the green and gold as well. Plus he fits in with all the boys. He's a pretty quiet guy behind the scenes, but he sort of gels in with everyone else's personality. So he's nearly a guy that I can sort of go to as well because he's been around the traps for a number of years.

Q. Lleyton, was that the most satisfying win, just considering just the high quality matches out there?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, no, probably. It's hard, I think, yeah, Canada probably, yeah. We're still stinging from Madrid with Canada, so it was nice to get that one. Also just knowing that that one was going to put us through. Obviously, we came here to Brisbane to do a job. So today was nice. The quality of tennis was fantastic today and to be able to get through those two matches when the boys could have easily have taken their foot off the pedal today, and that's not what we're about. And when you wear the green and gold it's not what it's about. So I think everyone can be pretty proud of these two today.

Q. Lleyton, you've come through a really, really tough great year. They're all playing well. Does it make it curious about how far you can go in this tournament now? And what are your thoughts on, I guess, going into the finals in Sydney?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, well, I think we play Great Britain now. I think they snuck through their section, which was bloody close, went down to the wire there too. So, yeah, it's been really good. I think it's come down to a lot of close matches on the last day, and doubles, super tiebreaks, stuff like that, so it's exciting. We'll only focus on Great Britain right now. We know that every match is going to get tougher from here on in. Plus now it's knockout, so you got to be ready to go. We have obviously got an early morning match on Thursday in Sydney, so it's about the boys recovering as well as possible and getting ready for that challenge. But yeah, they have got a pretty even team across the board, singles and doubles, so, and they're used to the Sydney conditions as well, playing there all week. So, yeah, it's going to be a tough one.

Q. Lleyton, going back when the Davis Cup was going through a revamp, you said one of the things you missed the most that was going to be lost was the team locker room, having that. Has this created any of that, just with the -- I know there's four teams in the group -- has there been any sort of feeling where you've actually had your own locker room back and that type of thing?
LLEYTON HEWITT: Probably not like when you have a Davis Cup tie home and away. We still all use the same locker room here on match days. We're given a smaller room that we can sort of all go to and at least hang with the teams, but they're pretty close to one another as well. But yeah, that was one of the parts that we loved, I think, about Davis Cup, and the home and away ties and you had your own locker room. But, yeah, certainly for these boys the ATP Cup being played in Australia is pretty special. As I said, Johnny deserved, at some stage, to play in Pat Rafter Arena for Australia. He didn't come in Davis Cup and he got his opportunity in the ATP Cup so I couldn't be happier for that. He deserved to play in front of his home crowd in the green and gold and it's nice that it's paid off this week.

Q. Lleyton, I wanted to -- interested -- in terms of Brisbane hosting, obviously, the Brisbane International as well, some of the women players have felt a little bit marginalized, I guess this week. Can you understand their frustrations and is that something that perhaps -- no, Nick's shaking his head.
NICK KYRGIOS: Sorry, not a good question.

Q. I mean, Sloane Stephens and Sharapova were both speaking about it today, so I'm just wondering in terms of the organization.
LLEYTON HEWITT: Oh, it's probably a lot tougher, the other two cities haven't had to deal with it that have played the ATP Cup. Yeah, there's times this week though where we certainly haven't been able to get the practice times that we want, I know there's meant to be certain allocation of courts for men, the men's teams as well, so I think it works both ways. If we're in Brisbane or in Perth or Sydney, then I'm sure practice would have been a lot easier for us as well. So, yeah, you can look at it both ways.

Q. Nick, I was going to ask, the Greek fans tonight they were calling you out, you seemed to be laughing a bit. What were they saying, did you really sort of enjoy that?
NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I think the atmosphere was awesome tonight. I knew that there was going to be a lot of Greek fans especially getting behind the team, but I thought they were, I mean, they were loud at some, maybe not the best times, but I thought they were a massive part of the atmosphere, it was pretty cool.

Q. Just on your -- do you have your lineup decided for playing Great Britain, because you shifted around every match here, so do you know who is playing Thursday?
LLEYTON HEWITT: I've got a rough idea but we'll see how the guys pull up, obviously.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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ATP CUP

January 7, 2020

Lleyton Hewitt

Nick Kyrgios

John Millman