US OPEN

September 7, 2020

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

A. de MINAUR/V. Pospisil

7-6, 6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Firstly, how excited are you about a milestone in your career, reaching the quarters of a major for the first time? Also, as part of this, if you can look ahead to the next. Obviously you don't know who you're playing, but if you can talk about first playing Dominic Thiem and talk about playing Felix Auger-Aliassime. But first part of the question is certainly how you're feeling?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, I'm obviously very happy. At the end of the day, this is where I want to be, and this is where I truly believe I belong, second weeks of slams and going deep. I'm happy I'm finally at this stage.

But nothing changes. Everything stays the same. Now I've got just another match awaiting for me. It is obviously the winner of Thiem and Felix. I have played both of them.

Dominic Thiem, they both actually have immense firepower. So it's just going to be a match where I'm just going to have to try to stand my ground again, do what I do best, stay solid, and look for any kind of opportunity I can to dictate.

Look, just happy to be in the next round.

Q. The first set, facing the set points, and then you went on that incredible charge of six consecutive points to win the first set on the breaker, can you just go back and talk about that one.

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, I was thinking to myself that I didn't really deserve to be in that position right there. I thought I got a little bit unlucky to go down 6-2 in the tiebreak because I didn't think I played a bad tiebreak.

Mainly I just tried to stick and stay in the moment. I knew if I could jag that first point on his serve, then maybe I would have two points on my serve and hopefully he would feel the pressure a little bit.

But I actually ended up playing some great tennis, putting some very good deep returns and starting to dictate.

So I'm very happy I got that first set, and the momentum definitely changed after that.

Q. You were talking about what you're best at, being solid, really making guys work. I think you take a certain pride in doing that, making guys do something special to beat you. I'm just curious if there is a root to that? Is that something that goes back to your junior days? Where did that come from?

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, if I could definitely blast people off the court, then trust me, I would rather do that. This running thing gets tiring, that's for sure (smiling).

Look, I've got to deal with what God gave me. He didn't give me the best physique, I'm not as strong or as tall as other people so I have to find ways to win. That's the way I win.

Of course I take pride and I want that to be known, I want that to be my brand of tennis. And I want people in the locker room to know that if they're going to beat me, they're going to have to go through me.

Q. Many players say belief must precede accomplishment. You have to believe you can go deep in a major in order to do it. How has your sense of belief evolved?

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, I would say it's an interesting one here, especially in these different conditions.

I didn't have the highest confidence coming in with the week before, so it's kind of just been building. I have just tried to gather some momentum. I ended up playing some good tennis against quality players.

So hopefully I can just keep that going and use it to my advantage, I guess. Now I'm in the quarters of a slam for the first time, but nothing changes. Just gotta keep on going.

Q. So I remember you telling me a couple of years ago that funny enough, you weren't always as quick as you are now and that you were even a little bit clumsy. I'm just sort of curious how you were able to grow out of that and become sort of the speedster, if you want to put it that way, that you are now. What did you do?

ALEX de MINAUR: I think one of the biggest things is I grew into my body. I mean, as a young kid, I was probably 11 or 12 and already had the same size foot I have right now. So it felt like a little bit of a little kid with clown shoes on. I didn't have the best footwork, the best movement.

So it was just a lot of work, especially in technique of movement from a young age. Then me kind of just growing into my body, those two things together.

That's where I am right now, so I'm pretty happy with that.

Q. I'd like to know if what happened to Djokovic somehow concerns you. And also, and if this means that now that everybody is saying the draw is more open, if you think it's open for you too even if you are completely on the other side of the draw, so the road is long to get eventually to a final.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, of course. As you said, it doesn't concern me, because it's not my side of the draw. I have plenty of matches to play before I get there.

Nothing changes. I've just got my match ahead of me, and I think it affects more the people on that side of the draw, to be honest. It's still a long way away to get to that final. So I'm going to stick with my quarterfinals for the time being.

Q. What does it feel like when you're in the middle of a match like that? Things are starting to flow for you. It's falling into place. How do you feel in those moments? And during the match, is it just completely on the next point, or do you allow yourself to think, Gosh, I'm on the verge of a quarterfinal?

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, ideally you're thinking on every point and nothing changes. Doesn't matter what the score is. You're thinking about the next point and all your energy to try and win that.

Obviously without you even wanting your kind of mind and head kind of flies away and starts thinking about the what-ifs and where you could be. So it's just about trying to see when that happens and just focus on the next point.

I don't get too far ahead. That's for sure.

Q. Do you consider that this US Open is the definitive break for the next gen and after this they will dominate and push for big titles? It's on your shoulders to answer that question.

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, you never know. At the end of the day, look, I've been saying it for a while, everyone, all the younger guys, we really want to keep pushing ourselves and go deep in slams, and this is where we want to be.

Who knows? Only time will tell. But at the moment, we are just going to look forward to this slam and see how this slam turns out and then we can worry about the next slam.

Q. You were talking about your foot size when you were one age and the same now. What is your shoe size?

ALEX de MINAUR: My shoe size is 11 U.S. I think it's 45 Europe. A very standard size, but at the time, it was definitely way too big for my body.