AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 18, 2021

Aslan Karatsev

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/A. Karatsev

6-3, 6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Bad luck on today's result. However, congratulations on a marvelous tournament. What do you take out of your time here in Australia?

ASLAN KARATSEV: Thanks. First of all, yeah, it was a great two weeks for me, start with the quallies. It's a good experience.

Yeah, to play against Novak, it helps me to get this experience, to feel the game, the way how he's playing.

And, yeah.

Q. Congratulations for making it this far. You had a lot of support in the crowd tonight, a lot of people cheering you on. How did that make you feel?

ASLAN KARATSEV: It felt unbelievable. Yeah, it was a lot of people here, and they supporting, yeah, was really warm, I would say.

Yeah, it was good atmosphere to play.

Q. Congratulations on your two weeks here. It's a fantastic effort. Just on the crowds, how much harder is it to readjust again all of a sudden? You have this run where you play a few matches where you're behind closed doors, no crowd, and then you get to a semifinal of a Grand Slam playing the World No. 1 and all of sudden there's people there. Do you feel a little bit more nervous all of a sudden?

ASLAN KARATSEV: I think it just helps to play with the crowd. I mean, the more you have, the more you get support. I don't think I would get tight in that moment. I think it's better to play with a crowd, yeah.

Q. You won some matches against some very, very good players: Schwartzman, Felix, Grigor. Then you played the No. 1 player in the world. Was there a big difference? Is he on a different level?

ASLAN KARATSEV: Of course. There is a huge level, I mean, the difference is really big. He doesn't give you free points. I mean, on my serve it's like every point you have to take, you have to play the rally.

The serve doesn't work well today, and on my service games there's always rallies, rallies. He served well all the match. Yeah, you're under pressure. So, yeah.

Q. I think your winning rate at this Grand Slam is about 83%. What do you do now?

ASLAN KARATSEV: Can you repeat? I can't hear you.

Q. You had about an 83% win rate for this Grand Slam. What do you do now? Do you retire with one of the best win rates in the game at Grand Slams or do you carry on and see where else you can go?

ASLAN KARATSEV: I don't understand the question.

Q. You had a very strong win rate at this tournament. One of the best ever, just given that you have won most of your Grand Slam matches that you have ever played in. So what do you do now? Do you carry on with that, trying to match that in future?

ASLAN KARATSEV: Of course. It give me more experience, more confidence. Now I will be playing all big tournaments without playing the quallies.

So I'll get this confidence and just keep playing, keep practicing.

Q. What's your biggest takeaway from your experience the past few weeks?

ASLAN KARATSEV: What is the big experience?

Q. Your biggest takeaway, biggest lesson or something you will hold on to moving forward.

ASLAN KARATSEV: That I can play with everyone. To be there and to compete with everyone.

I think it's help me a lot during my career. I improve the ranking, top 50. So, yeah.

Q. Do you have any idea what you'll be doing with that nice paycheck you'll be receiving?

ASLAN KARATSEV: I will call you and we discuss together (smiling).

Q. Congratulations on your performance in this tournament. What do you think the best you can do in the future will be, based on how well you have done here?

ASLAN KARATSEV: I mean, if you want to follow, you will see. I mean, how can I say? I will keep playing. I will be in the tour. I will play big tournaments and then we will see what happen.

Q. But did you get a sense from what you did here about your potential and how well you can do that is different in your mind from what you thought about yourself before?

ASLAN KARATSEV: Yes, it gave me a lot of confidence. I start to believe more in myself that I can play with everyone, as I said before.

And, yeah. It's more easy.

Q. I want to know what is your schedule for the next weeks? And how did you manage your future and to come back to something more ordinary?

ASLAN KARATSEV: I planning to play Doha, Dubai, and Miami.

And the last what you said? I didn't understood.

Q. How did you manage the future, the next step after this big tournament?

ASLAN KARATSEV: Keep playing. Just beginning of the year. There will be a lot of tournaments, so just keep playing, practicing.

Q. Less qualification maybe?

ASLAN KARATSEV: I would say no qualification.