AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 16, 2021

Andy Lapthorne

David Wagner

Press Conference

ALCOTT-DAVIDSON/Lapthorne-Wagner

6-2, 3-6, 10-7

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What do you think was the difference to turn it around in the second set and get your self back on course?

DAVID WAGNER: I think we made a few more winners in the second set. So that helped. I think we stepped up a little bit and committed to our plan together. I think that makes a difference.

ANDY LAPTHORNE: Yeah, I think just sticking to the game plan more, me making a few more balls, being a bit more aggressive with what I was doing, which was setting David up at the net. But, yeah, just not enough from me in the end. But it is what it is.

Q. Has it been helpful to have the two lead-in tournaments to prepare yourself for this week?

ANDY LAPTHORNE: Yeah, the two lead-in tournaments were great, it gave us an opportunity to practice together, which we don't usually have, doubles-wise. Yeah, the whole thing for these guys to put this on has been great in these times, so we're thankful for that.

Q. In a match tiebreak just a few too many errors at the wrong times, is that what made the difference? Would you assess it that way?

DAVID WAGNER: Yeah, I think we made a few less winners in the tiebreak, so I think that made the difference.

Q. Andy, what's it been like being back in a final on Margaret Court at the Australian Open?

ANDY LAPTHORNE: Difficult. But David's been great. Been very understanding of the situation and really encouraged me, even when I've been fairly useless at times on this trip. But, yeah, it was difficult, I'm not going to lie, especially in that 10-point tiebreaker, all of a sudden the pressure comes and the anxiety comes and all those feelings I had back at Roland Garros start to come back again. It was tough, I know it probably hindered us, probably the reason why we didn't win.

But I'm battling away, I'm trying my best and I'm trying my best each day to work on myself and work on my mind and it's small steps and it was just nice to be back out there, back out there with Dave, I felt like we had good fun, especially in the second set we were laughing a lot more than what we probably would in those situations.

So I enjoyed it overall and it is what it is. When I'm playing like I am and feeling like I am you can't expect to win Grand Slams.

Q. I know that we can't really predict the future in terms of the tour too much, but have you guys discussed plans maybe pairing up again this year or not?

DAVID WAGNER: Yeah, we have talked about it. I think we'll work towards that. If it works out. I think first and foremost, regardless of Andy and I playing together, we got to get our Uniglo Wheelchair Tennis Tour back on track. We have really struggled to have events outside of the Grand Slams and so we need to have some events come out that we can all play on our tour and not just Andy and I and the top-8 men, top-8 quads, top-8 women, but the whole tour. We're struggling to get that happening.

So we need to figure out how to make that happen and then he and I can play more, we can be more ready. We don't train together often, like he said, and so Dylan and Heath, who live 10 minutes from each other, have a huge advantage on that. The Dutch kids, huge advantage. So we need to get our tour back up and running and that's first and foremost.

As far as tennis goes, as far as life goes, there's so much more to life than just tennis and Andy knows that and we chat about all that all the time. So yeah, I mean, we'll see what the future holds, but first and foremost let's get the Uniglo Wheelchair Tennis Tour up and running.

Q. You just mentioned Simon and Niels, how great do you think it's been to have the eight players this week and obviously there is the strength and depth to sustain that, isn't there?

ANDY LAPTHORNE: Yeah, but we have been saying that for years. It should have been like this for years. So it's been great to have DA, I just hope now that the other slams follow suit and we don't end up going backwards on the next one at Roland Garros, which my fear is that those guys won't make the move, and then we're back to square one again.

This has been a good step forward, it's allowed David to play again, as he deserves to play. He shouldn't from having a tough six months and then drop out of the Grand Slams, that's not how it should be and that is what the situation would have been if they didn't increase to eight here and to me that's not right.

So I'm hoping that these guys see fit to do the same. But as David says, like I'm not sure how much longer we can go on just playing with the top-24 players in the world just rolling around everywhere, playing all the tournaments and picking up all the money and ranking points. I'm not sure we're going to have a sport to come back to if that carries on much longer.

So we do need to bang our heads together and try and work our way to get this thing moving, because it's all well and good being at the top of the table, taking all the cake, but if we don't support the guys that are below, then these guys are going to have to go get jobs and do something else, because you can't spend two years not earning any money.

So, yeah, we need to find a way to be better in that way, we need to find a way to be less selfish in that way, and as a collective we need to find a way to get things moving.