US OPEN

August 29, 2022

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

A. De MINAUR/F. Krajinovic

7-5, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Walk us through your opening round.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, look, happy to get a win against a tough opponent. I thought I did what I needed to do out there. Nice, hot, quick, swirly conditions. It wasn't, as I would call it, beautiful tennis. But I did exactly what I needed to do and very happy to be in the second round.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. This is a continuation of a pretty good North American summer for you. What is it that is clicking well and allowed you to win in straight sets?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, just staying in the moment. I mean, at times I expect perfect tennis out of myself. Reality of the sport is that it's not always going to come, so it's about adapting and kind of just being able to accept mistakes. That's for me the biggest thing. Just move on and keep fighting and try to win every point out there.

Over five sets, it's definitely tough to get through me.

Q. Can you talk about the speed of the courts here relative to the speed of the courts in the other North American events.

ALEX de MINAUR: They feel quite quick, especially when it's hot out there. The balls and the courts are very quick. At times it feels a little bit tough to kind of control the ball when someone hits a pretty good strike in. You got to be quite careful and try to care for the ball a lot more, I would say.

But when it's hot out there, it's very quick conditions, for sure.

Q. You could potentially playbook Garin next. Pretty tough loss at Wimbledon. Unfinished business there?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, good thing is I'm in the second round and they're out there on court right now (smiling).

I'll take whoever I have to play. It will be just another match. Look, of course if I play Garin, then hopefully I can get some revenge. But either way it's just another tennis match. Hopefully I can go out there and play some good tennis and get the win. That's all I care about.

Q. Having played him just a year ago in relatively similar conditions, hard court, all that, did you think back to that when you beat him in Cincinnati last year going into today's match or in today's match?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, the one thing I would say coming into this match I probably haven't had before is the confidence in myself that I'm very tough to beat over five sets if I'm there competing every single point. Especially in hot conditions.

I was ready to play for as long as I needed to. That gave me a bit of confidence coming into the match. Obviously I had a game plan, and I was able to kind of execute it, try to get him off balance as much as I could on the run.

Yeah, it worked out well.

Q. Having played against Nick recently, spent so much time alongside him, his serve, what makes it so good? What have you seen from the way he delivers that shot, the technique?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, I think everyone's talked about how good Nick's serve is. He can hit every spot. Yeah, he can hit every spot with the same ball toss. Everyone knows he's got a great serve.

He's playing some great tennis. It's great to see him back where I believe he belongs.

Q. Do you have any recollections of Serena Williams that you'd like to share?

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, just growing up, I mean, it just felt like, what, when I was four, five, six, basically all my childhood, that it was just the same Grand Slam winner every slam. That was Serena.

It's amazing, her story, how she's become what she's become, the success she's had throughout all the different stages in her life. I think that's probably the most impressive part.

When she was young, just bursting out on tour, even in the later stages of her career, she still had that fighting, winning mentality. Has been a pretty amazing competitor for the sport.

Q. Will you watch tonight?

ALEX de MINAUR: Who are we talking about? Serena or Nick (smiling)?

Q. Both of them.

ALEX de MINAUR: I'll probably watch Nick and Kok, for sure. The good thing about playing early is that I kind of get to relax and get almost a day and a half of just preparing for my next match. I'll definitely have my eye on that match.