AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 23, 2023

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/A. de Minaur

6-2, 6-1, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Alex, tough match today for you. What can you learn from the match against Novak tonight?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, just, if anything, a little bit disappointed. I didn't give much for the crowd to cheer on. I think I came up against a very good opponent with a very high level today.

But, yeah, there's lots of things to improve for me if I want to take the next step.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Have you played a better player than the version you got tonight?

ALEX de MINAUR: I don't think I have, if I'm completely honest. I think what I experienced today was probably Novak very close to his best, I would say.

To me, if that's the level, I think he's definitely the guy that's going to take the title.

Q. What was it about Novak's game tonight that stumped you a little bit, that you looked at him and said, Geez, he's on fire?

ALEX de MINAUR: I think what makes Novak Novak, at the end of the day, how solid he is, his movement, his end range gets, what he's able to do with that, the depth he's able to keep. It just felt like constant pressure today. Every service game I had, wasn't getting free points. It felt like an uphill battle from the start. Never really was able to get my teeth into the match, make it tough for him, or bring the pressure moments and situations.

Q. Putting aside your performance, are you astounded how good Novak was tonight, how powerful he was?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I think he was moving pretty well. He hasn't done what he's done in this sport without knowing how to play this level.

Look, I knew what to expect. Ultimately you go out there with a plan, you try to execute it. At times your opponent makes it pretty difficult to execute a plan.

I think today that's what he was doing. He was what felt like on another level to mine. I was just trying to hang on there. At the start was very solid, then he loosened up even more and started swinging. It felt like he could hit winners from every place in the court.

Didn't really know what to do out there.

Q. You mentioned the game plan going in. Where did you feel you could attack Novak tonight?

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, I tried to be aggressive. That was the game plan, to get him moving, really test where he's at. Yeah, didn't get much joy out of it.

I think two things happened really. Whenever I got him on the move, he was pretty good out there. He hit a quality shot from end range, which ultimately got him back into the front seat of a point. Then he made it quite tough for me to be aggressive, as well, by hitting the ball very hard, flat and deep, not giving a lot of chances for me to attack.

There was a bit of both happening.

Q. How do you sum up your summer overall in Australia?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, it's tough to look back on it now. I mean, it's the old cliché: I'm happy with the summer I've had, but really I want to do better than fourth round at a slam. It's great, I'm happy, but I'm not content. I want more. I want to be in quarterfinals, be in the semifinals, really go deep. I want to take the next step. That's what I want to do.

Like everything, it will add fuel to the fire. I'll get my head down. I'll speak to my team and work on the things I need to work on to take the next step 'cause this is not where I want my goals to be, making fourth rounds of slams.

Q. You mentioned how well Novak moved. Does that make all the speculation about the hamstring frustrating while you're on the court?

ALEX de MINAUR: I don't know. You tell me how you thought he looked out there. Playing him, I thought he was moving pretty well, so... I don't know.

Q. Is it hard to isolate yourself from all that speculation on the hamstring when you entered the court today? How did you move away from that?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, I don't know. I think everyone's kind of seeing what's been happening over the couple weeks. It's the only thing everyone's been talking about.

Today I was out there on court against him. Either I'm not a good enough tennis player to expose that, or... it looked good to me. He was just too good in all aspects.

Q. We've spoken a lot in the lead-up to the Open with your wins over Medvedev and Nadal. What about a loss like this? How difficult is it to get over this? If you were to play Novak again down the track or another top player, how do you go on the court mentally believing you can win?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. I guess we'll see once we get there.

Ultimately these are the matches I want to play. Maybe I'm being very hard on myself right now, but it did seem like I played a pretty faultless Novak today. I could be wrong. I could then look at the match and see what I could have done better to expose him in any way, shape or form.

The feeling I've got just walking off the court is that I played a pretty high-level Novak, which I feel like if he has that level, he will win another title here. That's my thoughts.

Q. That makes it easier?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I'll try not to take it too hard on myself because ultimately these guys, they've done a lot in the sport. If they bring their best level, you're just slightly off your game, this is what happens.

Q. You mentioned before it was a pretty faultless Novak. What positives do you take from the tournament going forward to the next events that you're playing?

ALEX de MINAUR: I guess positives? I had a great match against Mannarino. That was a positive. Made the second week of a slam again. That's another positive. Yeah, over the Aussie summer I got a win over Rafa, which is pretty positive.

There's definitely positives out there. Now it's just about forgetting what happened out there today and moving on 'cause ultimately in this life you're going to have a couple of these performances, nights, days, where things just don't go your way. There's plenty of them. If you take it too hard, then it's going to linger for a while. You got to get ready for the next week.