WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 29, 2020

Alex De Minaur

Pablo Carreno Busta

Press Conference

CARRENOBUSTA-DEMINAUR/Murray-Skupski

6-2, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously a fun week for you. Congrats. If each of you could just speak about how excited you are. I know you both focus on singles but you still, I'm sure, get confidence from winning such a big title.

ALEX De MINAUR: Yeah, well, it was a week we didn't expect, that's for sure. Look, I think how we ended up enjoying ourselves on court, obviously not the result we were looking for in singles, but, hey, it was a fun dubs week. I think we are both ready for singles again.

Q. Same for you, Pablo?

PABLO CARRENO BUSTA: Yeah, it was a good week for us. You know, when we lost in the singles, we just tried to continue playing matches.

It's important for us to get rhythm and get confidence, and I think that on this occasion was good for this, no?

We didn't expect, like Alex said, to arrive to the final and to win it, but we play probably, the last matches we played better than the first ones, and today we have fun with it a lot. After winning the final now, we are focused on the US Open Series.

Q. Just with sort of what Pablo was saying, obviously you guys have had success on the singles court, it's not new for you, but does that help, knowing that you didn't have great results, that you got your rhythm and now you've won a whole bunch of matches leading into the Open?

ALEX De MINAUR: Well, look, I don't know. We'll have to wait and see when we start the singles next week. But I'm ready to go. That's what I'm really looking forward to.

Q. Congratulations. How exciting is this for you? Your first final, your first doubles title. You know, it obviously is a great thrill, but can you just express that?

ALEX De MINAUR: Yeah, it all ended up being a pretty good end to the week. We're happy with the result obviously.

But now we're ready for singles now. You know, that's my main focus, and I'm looking forward to be starting the US Open and putting kind of doubles behind.

Q. How big a relief is this to be able to actually being back on court following all those little mini videos you were posting from isolation and quarantine and things like that and to have that all go to one side and to actually being playing tennis all over again?

ALEX De MINAUR: Yeah, it's a great feeling. Very happy to be back on court. Hopefully this week in doubles can give me some confidence and momentum going into next week.

Q. Looking ahead, asking you about the Open, what do you think about your immediate draw with Andrej Martin in the first round? And also overall, what do you think of your draw?

ALEX De MINAUR: Well, first of all, I never look at draws, so the only thing I know is my first-round opponent, and that's because I get told by my coach. So I don't like looking at the draw.

The way I see it is I have Andrej Martin first up, and it's going to be a tough match. Every match after quarantine is tough, so I'm looking forward to going out there, and hopefully I can play some good tennis.

Q. How have you adapted to the whole situation in New York and being in the bubble and playing matches without any fans there?

ALEX De MINAUR: It's tough. It's something you need to get used to. I guess it's the same for all the players, so there is really no excuses. It's something that you just have to adapt, and it's going to be the new normality, so you'd better get used to it.