AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 5, 2021

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talk about the upcoming Australian Open. How are you feeling going in?

ALEX DE MINAUR: Look, I'm feeling good. It was great to have some quality matches under my belt. I'm looking forward for AO. I've got a couple days now to freshen up, be ready to put my best foot forward.

It's been a long year coming. I'm definitely ready to go.

Q. How genuinely excited are you after last year when you had to pull out of the event?

ALEX DE MINAUR: No, I'm really excited. I mean, it was a very tough time last year, having to come out here and say that I was pulling out of my home slam. I'm very happy to be back here. Feeling great, happy, in great shape. I'm really looking forward to coming out and playing my best tennis in front of my home fans.

Q. Did you get enough out of the ATP Cup, the two matches that you played? Would you have liked a little bit more match practice?

ALEX DE MINAUR: I'm very happy. I mean, I was able to get matches in Antalya first or second week of the year. I feel like I've had a lot of matches. Now it's just about kind of freshening up, getting ready come Monday, Tuesday, be ready to play.

I mean, I'm hitting the ball great. Body's good. It's just now putting a couple things together and smoothing that out.

Q. What did you learn from your two matches this week about your game?

ALEX DE MINAUR: Look, I believe in both matches it was there to be taken. I played some great tennis. Just at times I probably didn't sustain it or I didn't bring it out when I really needed to.

Look, the level's there. It's my first matches in Australia. I'm happy where I'm at. I'm happy that I was able to get those two high-level matches. Now I can bring that forward towards AO. Hopefully I can play some of my best tennis yet.

Q. What would you say you've learned about yourself in the last year?

ALEX DE MINAUR: Look, I believe this last year has given a lot of people a lot of time especially to learn about themselves. I've learned different aspects of myself, how I like to enjoy different things outside the tennis court.

I learned to have to deal with circumstances and adapt a little bit better. Definitely from now on I won't take for granted being able to move around at a tournament or do stuff. That's something that if we're allowed I'll make a lot more use of, see different places, different cities, not kind of stick to the hotel room and the courts.

Yeah, it's given me an appreciation for life. My family, my friends, the people around me that we've all kind of gone through tough times, and now hopefully we can push this all around and enjoy life again.

Q. Your serve seems to be the talking point against the top players. That's the area you need to improve. Can you talk around what you're doing to improve, get some more free points?

ALEX DE MINAUR: Look, yeah, it's always kind of one of those things that's brought up. I believe there's many other things as well. Always going to be constant improvement. That's basically what my whole career has been.

I'm going to keep on improving bit by bit. I don't have I guess the stature to just come down and drop bombs, which I wish I could, trust me (smiling). So it's just a work in progress.

I do believe I've made improvement every step of the way, as well as other aspects of my game. These things don't happen overnight. It's just kind of gradual improvement, keep going, a bit of confidence in matches, and it will happen. It's going to happen.

I'm never one to let a part of my game hinder me. I know what I've got to work on. I'll put the hours in on the court till I get there. I strongly believe I'll never get to the point where I'm satisfied with myself or my game. That's just giving me the fire in the belly to keep improving.

Q. You talk about not having the stature, yet you are a similar build to someone like a Lleyton Hewitt. In his career, he elected to take more risks. Happy to have a 50% first-serve percentage. Is that the sort of path you contemplate, something you talked about with Lleyton?

ALEX DE MINAUR: Look, different players. I think I will get to a point where my serve is going to be one of my weapons. I do believe strongly that I've got better matches and worse matches, but my serve has come a long way.

Yeah, look, I'm going to keep putting the work in in the gym, on the court, just everywhere I can, to keep adding those Ks on that serve, try to get more free points.