AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2023

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

A. de MINAUR/A. Mannarino

7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Alex, congratulations. Into the third round of the Australian Open. You must be pretty ecstatic.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, very happy. Especially coming through a battle like it was today. Yeah, lots of positives to take from this, and looking forward to my next one.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. When did you start to feel comfortable out there with what he was throwing at you? Coming up with these magic tricks, you were having to withstand it. You finding the balance between power and settling into a rally. How did you find that process?

ALEX de MINAUR: To be honest, I probably only started feeling comfortable 2-1 in the fourth, if I'm really honest (smiling). Then I started to see that he was struggling a bit physically. That just gave me wings.

From then on, I felt like I was able to expose him a lot more. But up until then, it was just an absolute battle out there. I mean, we were both going at it, both running miles and miles, having very tricky rallies.

He's a very tricky opponent. Especially in these types of conditions where the ball stays very low, in his strike zone. He's very fit.

Yeah, until I saw he started to struggle a little bit physically, I wasn't feeling comfortable at all.

Q. Your next opponent, Benjamin Bonzi, you've had some recent wins over him, and obviously you won this really special with the Davis Cup. I also wondered, Nick Kyrgios played him at the US Open. Would you reach out to him or do you sort of bank on your own knowledge?

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, if I hadn't played him twice recently, then probably. But, yeah, he's a tough opponent. We had a battle in Davis Cup. I played a very good match in Stockholm. I know what to expect. I'm going to have to be physically ready to bring it all out there again.

It's going to be some grueling rallies. He's a very solid opponent and a competitor. I'm looking forward to it. It should be a great battle.

Q. Where would you rank this battle? How much do you feel you draw on your experience, knowing how to use the crowd and how to find your right level?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, that's a good question.

I reckon this one was one of those matches where it's going to stay with me for a while because I dug very deep into kind of a place I wasn't really sure was there (smiling).

It's always great when you can dig deep and find something that you didn't think was there. Look, it wasn't looking great out there. He was playing some great tennis. I knew it was going to be a battle, but I wasn't really sure how I was going to turn that around.

I found something within me to kind of tell me to keep on going, add an extra level of intensity, and then managed to change the whole match around.

But, look, if I lose that third set, then all of a sudden he's got the momentum, he's got the energy, and it's a very, very uphill battle.

I dug very deep, and I'm very proud of that.

Q. Rumor has it you had one day off. That shows on nights like tonight. What did you do on that day off?

ALEX de MINAUR: It was a travel day. Literally, I finished in Malaga, and my day off was traveling. I finished on the Sunday. I traveled on the Monday. I got to Monte-Carlo. I started my pre-season on the Tuesday.

It wasn't my ideal day off, let's just say that (laughter). I was hoping for a little bit more relaxing. But, hey, it is what it is. No rest for the wicked.

Q. Paid off tonight.

ALEX de MINAUR: (Nodding head.)

Q. Did you have a mindset that you just wanted to focus on what was ahead straightaway or...

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, trust me, after last year, there's nothing I would have loved more than to spend one or two weeks just in some lost island somewhere, right, and just not think about tennis, not worry about my phone, and not do anything of the sort.

But it was a very long year, and we started very, very soon. That's when kind of the sacrifices kick in, right? You can either decide to want the extras, the one-percenters, be professional and tell yourself that you'll get some time off sometime in the year to really get these types of results.

I could have easily taken a couple weeks off and probably come here a little bit under-done. That's not the person that I am. I always want to get the absolute most out of this wonderful body I've got (smiling).

Q. You mentioned Alexei when you were out on the court. I don't know if you saw much of his match. He talked about how he's won more games this year already than he won - matches, sorry - than he won all of last year. What do you see in him? Did you reach out to him last year? Where do you think he can go in this tournament?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, Alexei, he spends a bit of time in Nice. We hit a couple times in Monaco. I mean, I've grown up with him. I've played Davis Cup with him.

He probably didn't have the year he wanted last year, but the potential he's got is being shown right now. Just this Aussie summer, he's had, what, now two top-10 wins. He's a big guy with a big game, and he's very dangerous.

He's one of those guys that I'm sure no one really wants him on the other side of the court, yeah. So it's amazing to see Aussies do great. It makes me very proud. It makes me very proud and very excited 'cause ultimately that's going to be us and hopefully flying the flag, doing Australia proud, whether it's in Olympics, team competitions, Davis Cup. I think that's exciting.

Q. You said when you dug deep you felt like you found something you didn't know was there. Obviously you play sport to win, but how satisfying is it as an athlete to find something that you didn't necessarily know you could dig in and find?

ALEX de MINAUR: I feel like athletes, tennis players, we are constantly banging our head against the wall, right? A lot of the time it's during a match. We're banging our heads, and nothing's really happening until at some point there's a little crack. Once you see that crack, then you can tell yourself you can keep going, and there's actually a chance to really get through this wall.

It's a lot mentally out there. But probably one of the phrases that I've always loved, and it's kind of ingrained in my head, is: when the going gets tough, the tough get going. That's kind of what I was trying to tell myself out there, to just dig deep, find something.

Those are the differences in these types of matches. To find yourself, to improve for bigger matches. You can bring that for the big-time matches, for sure.