AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 9, 2021

Feliciano Lopez

Press Conference

F. LOPEZ/L. Tu

6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you talk us through your match and how you were feeling on the court today?

FELICIANO LOPEZ: Well, first of all it was a difficult match to play because I have -- I know nothing about him. I never heard about him. I was talking to some of the Aussie guys in the previous days to know something about him.

But, yeah, it's tough, no, to give you an explanation of a match nowadays because honestly, I don't have so much of feedback. Lately we haven't played for almost a year, so especially in my case I didn't know if I was going to be able to come here because my son, he was born on January 4th, so it was very -- I was, you know, until the last minute thinking about what should I do, if I come or if I finally stay home.

So I decided to come and I think it's worth it. Now I won already a match in another Grand Slam, so I'm very happy. I don't think it was a good match. It was -- I think the courts are quite fast this year, especially the outside courts where I was training during quarantine. The court we played today was a fast court.

But this is what I need now. I haven't had the match practice in the last two months because of the baby, because of the situation in Madrid. With the weather it was very tough for me to practice. I was only working out in the gym almost every day a little bit, but, yeah, my preparation was not the best coming to Australia. Luckily, I had the quarantine, so I was able to hit nearly two hours every day. That was my off-season this year. Yeah, but I'm happy I'm in the second round again, and I think it's worth it, you know, coming here and winning a match already, so it makes all the traveling and to leave my family home a little bit more easier that way.