AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2023

Mackenzie McDonald

Press Conference

M. MCDONALD/R. Nadal

6-4, 6-4, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining our press conference today for Mackenzie Mcdonald. I will begin, and then I'll open to the floor. We will now begin questioning.

Mackenzie, a great effort today. How are you feeling after the match?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: Yeah, feeling pretty good. Pretty happy to get the win and going into the third round. Yeah, just going to do all the recovery stuff and ready to get some rest.

THE MODERATOR: I will now open to the floor.

Q. How is it to play someone like Nadal when he is injured?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: Not easy, I would say. I feel like when he was kind of hurt there in the third, it made me think a little bit more about the match and stuff and about myself and the game, which I was executing and playing so well in the first couple of sets.

So I hate that for him. I hope he feels better.

Q. Taylor beat Nadal at Indian Wells, and Frances at the US Open, and Tommy Paul later on last year as well. Going into this match did that play into your mind about your chances in general?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: Yeah, good question. I actually -- it did. I thought about Taylor taking him out, yeah and Foe. I talked to Tommy about it too last night. That definitely gave me some more confidence.

Even seeing him at United Cup with de Minaur, and Norrie also helped me a little bit. I think today I had that belief, and I showed that, and I took it to him. I didn't fear it this time as last time at the French. I don't think I was quite ready to do anything against him.

Q. Mackey, Frances was just in here, and he was, like, GOAT wins don't come easy. A very Frances sort of phrase. At what point in the match did you realize you are going to do this or you are right there?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: I mean, even with him, it's never over until it's over type thing. He didn't even want to roll over and quit. He kept fighting until basically the end, even though he maybe didn't have all his game.

But I would say once I broke him maybe in that third set at the end there, it felt like he hadn't really seen any chances on my serve in that set, so I think I could have gone away with it there.

Q. Mackey, what were you most pleased with about what you did out there?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: I'm very happy with how I competed in the first couple of sets and executed the game plan. I feel like I'm working really well with my coach, Robby, and he gave me a good game plan, and I stuck to it and stuck with my guns and didn't kind of go in any fear or anything, and I had a good belief there. So I'm happy with how I executed for sure.

Q. You were playing an injured champion, but he is a great champion. How did your mindset kind of work in those situations?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: Yeah, he came out definitely with a different style. He was more on the baseline going for actually more on his serve and more on his returns and actually hitting some winners too.

I don't know what the stats were, but felt like he had more aces and actually hit more winners in the third set because he was going for it. But then again, he was behind a little bit with the running. So it made me think, Do I go for it too, or do I just make more balls? I definitely hesitated a bit.

I didn't have many break chances in those first five games he had serving, and then I got it. So, yeah, I definitely noticed a change in his game.

Q. What's your state of mind now? It's a big step for you. How are you feeling? You're ecstatic. Do you realize what you just did?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: Yeah. I mean, I was in the locker room, and I was, like, Hey, that's actually really big for me because I haven't beaten someone of that caliber.

But honestly for me right now, like, which I think is good because I feel like I've matured in this sense. I don't feel like much has changed too much, you know. I'm going to keep going about how I'm doing things. I think I'm working really well with my coach.

Even there I feel like I can take some learning lessons away from that match. I'm grateful I had that opportunity to play on that court and play against him, and I feel like I can just learn from it.

Q. What are you willing to share from the conversation with Tommy last night? Like, what was the general sort of consensus of it?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: He gave me a little bit of a game plan. It wasn't far off from what Robby told me, too. Then, I mean, he is one of my best friends, and he told me, Dude, you can do it. You just have to believe it. Yeah (smiling).

Q. What did you say to each other at the net?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: I said, Good match. I think I said, like, I hope you feel better or something like that. He said, Good luck (smiling).

Q. I guess it was not too late at home when you finished, so would I assume correctly you got to FaceTime your family and what not?

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: No FaceTime, but I talked to my dad, girlfriend, and I have to call my mom back. I haven't talked to her yet. I talked to a couple of people.

Q. What was that like just knowing how important they all are, getting to...

MACKENZIE MCDONALD: Everyone is super proud and pumped up for me, but they're all pretty tired now. They're all sleeping. But I'll talk to them all tomorrow a lot and enjoy it for the next 24 hours a bit. But, obviously, there's another match to be played, so I have to refocus.