AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2022

John Millman

Press Conference

J. MILLMAN/F. Lopez

6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Obviously a super tight match, particularly in those last two sets. What worked for you? How did you get through that?

JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, well, I started off really well. I don't think Feliciano served particularly well, and obviously that's one of his big strengths in the first two sets, but then he really started to turn it on with his serving and hitting his spots in sets 3 and 4.

So when that happens, I had to look after my service games. I did that pretty well for most of the match, apart from the third set, and, you know, just created enough opportunities to eventually capitalize on one of them to close it out.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How is the body feeling? You had a much longer season last year than you usually would have and on the road. How does it feel to be back out here and how is the body feeling?

JOHN MILLMAN: Look, to be honest with you, probably physically and mentally probably still feeling it. Yeah, I've been battling with a back for a couple of years now. Obviously for those following French Open, it put me out of the French Open and I wasn't quite fit at the US Open either.

That's a bit disappointing when you're on the road and obviously I have to bring a level of physicality to my matches to win the matches. When that's playing up, your body is playing up, it creates issues.

So, yeah, it's one of those things I'm trying to manage to the best of my ability, but unfortunately week to week, you just don't quite know how it is feeling and how it will be going.

Yeah, the mental side, you know, I probably could have done a little bit better at the start of the season. Felt like it was a really short offseason. And, yeah, really good to keep kick things into gear when it counted today at the Australian Open.

Q. Obviously he's a seasoned professional, he's played something like the last 80 slams in a row. Does it make it more satisfying for you to beat someone of his stature?

JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah. One of the massage therapists put a bit of pressure on me because he said Feliciano would be probably the oldest guy in the draw. I didn't think about it, but then I started to think Karlovic isn't around and Big Roger is not there. I was, like, yeah, that's a little bit more pressure.

Feliciano is a really good player. I think in his introduction, I nearly dropped the ball out of my pocket, I think in the introduction they said something like he's been top 100 for 19 years. I think that that's incredible. I think he's fifth all-time ace leader. Like, yeah, he's a top player.

He's so experienced, so it's never easy. I think it's quite quick out there, I know it wasn't the warmest conditions, but especially with the new balls it's actually quite quick. Australian Open is probably becoming the fastest Grand Slam, I would say, that and the US Open.

But even on not the warmest day, especially with the new balls, it is quite skiddy, which I think really suits him. He's still capable of some big results. I remember just at Davis Cup he knocked off Rublev when he was playing for Spain. Yeah, you don't do that unless you're a top player.

Really happy to have stuck with it today and executed a pretty good game plan and just taking those one or two half chances because that could have gotten -- you know, it wasn't that far away from going into a fifth set. We know when it goes into a fifth set it can be anyone's match.

Q. What did your offseason actually entail? You didn't have a long turnover between coming back home and playing in Adelaide. Did you manage to take any time off or was it straight into training?

JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, so I flew home after Davis Cup, licking my wounds a little bit (smiling).

Then about, I think it was a 50-hour journey to get back home. Then 8 1/2 hours in the car ride to drive and then go into a three-day isolation. I did that on the border, so I did that at Kingscliff, spent two weeks there. After the isolation, I got out and hit a few balls, but tried to get the body right.

I wanted to do it there because I knew Omicron was starting to come into the cities, and for me the priority was to get home and see the family. I hadn't seen them for 11 months. So I thought that, you know, if the borders were to close, it would be to maybe a hotspot and I didn't think that would be a hotspot. Yeah, I nestled down at Kingscliff, beautiful part of the world, great part of the world, I couldn't believe it was in New South Wales.

Then I got across the border and I think I was home for 12 days. I had some back issues, wasn't really an offseason. I couldn't really put in a proper block because of the back issues, and also just such a small time. I had to try to freshen up a tiny bit.

Fantastic to be able to play at home in Australia and try to make the most of it, because I'm scared when I look ahead at what the rest of the year is like.

Q. Bit of a rowdy crowd.

JOHN MILLMAN: Yeah, it was, wasn't it?

Q. After the match, a fistfight actually broke out. Someone actually got punched. Has anything like that ever happened at any of your matches?

JOHN MILLMAN: I remember when I was playing in Slovenia a long time ago, playing in futures, I was getting spat on at the change of ends.

I remember when I played in Morocco at a future a long, long time ago, I wasn't playing, I was playing in the tournament, but rival clubs or something, there was players were playing, there was actually a fight on the court. Singles sticks, not with the players but with fans that came on the court and started hacking at each other, and they all got in cars to do a rendezvous at a fight. I think it was in Morocco. Yeah, a fight off-site or something. They all got in their cars. Yeah, I see it in the lower levels sometimes.

The crowd was a bit rowdy. I think everyone's had a couple of drinks and enjoyed themselves. I tell you what, look, yeah, obviously you don't want people throwing punches, because we are the happy slam and meant to have a bit of fun, and, yeah, that's obviously the most important thing.

It's so nice, after being away for such a long year, 11 months, and to have some home crowd support, I'll take it any day of the week. I know it was rowdy, but the last 11 months, normally when you're playing away, you don't really have that support at all.

So I'll take the support. Obviously I encourage everyone to keep their hands and feet to themselves, but, yeah, hopefully I can get, you know, a bit of a rowdy crowd and a crowd that gets behind me in my next one.