CINCH CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 18, 2021

Alex De Minaur

Queens Club

Press Conference

A. de MINAUR/M. Cilic

3-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How does it feel? Your thoughts on beating Marin who came into the tournament having won Stuttgart on grass and he's a grass court player, so this must be a very satisfying result for you?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, as you said, very satisfying. I knew coming in it was a very, very tough match. I mean, he's been in form on the grass this year, and in past years has played really well here in Queen's.

Look, I'm extremely proud of myself of how I handled the situation, the adversity today, the conditions, and I was able to play a very high-quality match and play really well in the important moments.

Q. Can you just touch on the frustrations of the conditions? I mean, originally being scheduled for center court and then having to be shifted, just all those sort of aspects and handling that.

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, at the end of the day, I was kind of expecting it. I mean, it's nothing bad. I'm kind of used to it. But the same reason, I mean, you've got Brits here in Queen's. You know, you have three Brits here in the quarterfinals, and they deserve to be on center court.

Obviously I would have loved to play on center court, but due to conditions and all these other variants, well, I wasn't able to play there. As I keep telling myself, if I want to play on center court, I've got to keep on winning matches. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance to play on center court.

Q. Berrettini in the next round. He too is playing some outstanding tennis, such a big guy and imposing figure. Your thoughts going into that one in the semis?

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, I'll definitely love to play someone maybe with not such a big serve but I could get into more rallies with (smiling). Even today I had to fight off a very big server in Cilic.

Look, I'm happy to be in semifinals. It's another challenge for me. I'll go out there and try and show off what a small guy can do against these big servers.

Q. It appeared, watching it on the screen, that you let out a huge roar at the end. Was that of relief or release? Just because it had been such a difficult day?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah. I mean, it was a bit of everything: a bit of tension, a bit of nerves, a lot of relief. I mean, not only for how the day had gone, the conditions, but also just that match.

Even that last set I had to fight off so many breakpoints and play some of my best tennis. It was not an easy way to finish. I was having to play my best tennis till the last point.

It was a huge relief and, you know, very happy with that performance today.

Q. Since the start of the year when you started so well with that win in Turkey, results have been probably not necessarily as good as you'd hoped for, but this is a tremendous boost, isn't it, going in towards Wimbledon?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, exactly. Look, every time I step out on court is another chance to do what I love and try to keep on improving. As I said, I'm not satisfied with where I am, so I want to keep on improving and keep getting better.

Look, these are the kind of matches that I'm able to try and go out and show my level. So I'm really looking forward to it. It's another opportunity. Yeah, it's going to be fun.