MURRAY RIVER OPEN

February 2, 2021

Alexei Popyrin

Press Conference

A. POPYRIN/B. Gojo

6-7, 7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you talk us through how close that match actually was?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: It was really close. No, I think we both played high level of tennis. We served, we both served, I think, unbelievably, and when you get a guy like him serving 220 and 75 percent first serves in, it's kind of hard to get breaks, to get opportunities on return. So I was just trying to focus on my serve, trying to focus on getting the ball in play on my return, and hopefully I get opportunities and saving six match points, also, that's pretty close.

Q. Six points, match was never in doubt, eh?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Never. Not for one second.

Q. What were you saying to yourself as those match points kept cropping up?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: I think when the first three came along, it was three in a row I was Love-40 down on my serve. I was just taking it one point at a time, trying to get my first serve in, trying to hit a big first serve and get a good opportunity to finish the point as quick as possible because I knew when I would get in a rally I didn't feel quite as comfortable today. I think the conditions were also quite hard. It was quite windy so rally, so it was important to get those first serves in and all the match points, and that's what I did, I think.

Q. Have you gotten that many match points in a match before?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Not that I can remember. I'm not sure. I doubt it. I think this is very, very rare.

Q. Talk about the off season, where you spent that and what your focus was.

ALEXEI POPYRIN: I spent most of it in Nice in the Mouratoglou Academy. I spent my first four weeks there focusing mainly on fitness and on the physical aspect of my game, which I think improved dramatically over this off season. I'm feeling in my best shape, feeling really, really good, and then the last two weeks we went to Dubai to get more used to the weather, to the heat. And then we came for the two-week quarantine, and that went pretty well.

Q. Do you know much about him going into the match?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Well, yeah, we played juniors together. He's a year older than me, I think, but we played a few tournaments together and we hit quite a bit two years ago during the American swing. So yeah, I knew about him, I knew all about his game, flat, flat, flat ground strokes, big serve. I just didn't expect him to play this well to be honest. But props to him.

Q. How did you put up with quarantine?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: Oh, I was really good. I think Tennis Australia and the government did an unbelievable job in the quarantine, honestly. Everything was organized amazingly. And to get those five hours outside of the room was really amazing.

I think we could -- I think I kept the level up in my game from what I worked on in preseason. That didn't go away. And the physical aspect also, you know, one and a half hours in the gym and then also we could do fitness in the room whenever we could.

The only thing is if we could crack open a window or so in the hotel, it would be good, but other than that it was really amazing.

Q. What are your 2021 goals?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: I think I just want to perform better than I performed last year. Last year wasn't really the best year for me. It was a difficult year for everybody. But yeah, I just want to perform better than last year. I want to get a couple wins under my belt here in Australia and then hopefully I can continue that form throughout the year.

But I'm just going to take it one match at a time and hopefully the ranking will come up as my performance goes up.

Q. Is it in your mind at all about the last couple of years on how you've done at the Australian Open going into this year's Open, or is it not quite in your mind because the circumstances are so different?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: No, I think it's always going to be in my mind. I always seem to play my best tennis in the Australian Open, so I think it's always going to be in the back of my mind, but then again, I think I'm a better player than I was last year, especially after the preseason.

You know, hopefully I can get better results in Australian Open. The last two years before the Aussie Open I was losing rounds in the 250s, and right now I've just won my first round. I think the level for myself is only going to get higher and hopefully the results will come, also.