THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 7, 2023

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

M. BERRETTINI/A. de Minaur

6-3, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Your initial thoughts on today's match, please.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, came up against a very good opponent today. Played very well on his side. On my side I maybe could have served a little bit better. But, you know, yeah, he came up with his weapons, and I wasn't able to counteract them.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Do you think it was a bit similar to that Queen's match? He just was on it from the start, wasn't he?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah. Obviously I didn't help my cause by getting broken first game.

But yet again, it's one of those matches where, you know, he's got the ability to swing. When he's feeling it like that on serve, then on return he's got opportunities to just have a swing. And if he laces a couple, then all of a sudden he gets a break and I just genuinely wasn't able to get enough returns back or make him play enough, get into enough rallies.

I had two, three chances in the whole match, but it felt like I was facing first serves throughout the whole match. It was pretty tough.

Q. Where does his serve sit when he's serving like that?

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, I think it's pretty high up there. I mean, consistently over 130s, hitting spots. Can hit every serve.

I don't know. At stages I just needed to guess, and I had a better chance of getting my racquet on the ball than to maybe trying to lean towards one side or the other.

Yeah, it's just it's tough to play an opponent like that when he's feeling it from the get-go, and as I said, then on return he can have a swing. Any small chance, he just goes after it. If he makes it, then good. If not, well, he's not really under pressure on his serve.

Q. When you get a defeat like this, does it sit for you or can you brush it off and move on quickly?

ALEX de MINAUR: No, this one will obviously sit with me for a while. Yeah, I'm not happy at all. It's a pretty bad situation to be in.

Look, I'm probably more disappointed in the fact of being out in the second round, you know, not maybe as much as the opponent I lost to. Because I knew that going in, he hasn't been there for a while, but obviously this week he's kind of shown up. You know, he's shown what he was able to do a couple years ago by making the final.

I'm probably more disappointed, it was always a nail section. Yeah, it is what it is. I'll try not to dwell on it, but it won't be easy.

Q. Similar to when you got your top 16 seeding and then you played Korda. Similar thing happened. You have no luck with these draws, do you?

ALEX de MINAUR: It's actually amazing. The better I'm seeded at a slam, the tougher draw I get.

It's not exactly, you know, being lucky really, when you see some of the other second-round matchups. But to play Berrettini in the second round, yeah.

But hey, it's maybe the secret for me is to not be a higher seed and maybe I'll get an easier draw. I don't know.

Q. Are you still in the mixed doubles later?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah. I'm scheduled to play, so yeah.

Q. We have been asking Katie about you all week, and she just gushes and says how you have improved her game, how your humbleness has inspired her. She's hopefully playing with you later and tomorrow as well. What do you say about Katie how she's developed?

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, it's something that, you know, since the moment I met her I knew she had it in her. I've always thought she's such a high-quality player, and it's been amazing and great to see how she's developed. She's got that self-belief and what she's been able to accomplish.

I mean, the way she's been handling the spotlight, the pressures, it's been pretty astounding to me. You know, now it's probably my turn to start learning from her.

But yeah, she's been playing amazing. She's been doing amazing. She's shown again this week that she deserves to be where she's at, and I think, genuinely think, that it's only the beginning. Hopefully she can keep on going and finish off a great year.

Q. At the end of this, you have reached a final of Queen's. Is there any way, sort of consolation at the end of it, Look, it actually hasn't been a bad grass court...

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, of course. When you look back at these things, that's what you look at. But at the same time, I kind of would have liked to have gone a bit further here.

You know, I thought, you know, this was a great opportunity for me. I was playing great on this surface. I just came up against a tough opponent on the day. You know, when I've had a bit more time, I'm sure I'll be able to be pretty content with how this couple weeks have gone.

I'm sitting at a nice little ranking at the moment, and, you know, hopefully set myself up for a strong end of the year and keep pushing myself towards my goals.

Q. Yesterday Holger Rune complained about the anti-doping system for the Brooksby case. Could you explain to us what the anti-doping system is for a tennis player and what is your opinion about it?

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, we've all got the same anti-doping system. You've got to put where you are. You've got to allocate an hour each day of where you're going to be, and they can decide to come up and look up where you're supposed to be or not.

You get three strikes. If you miss the three strikes, you get banned. That's basically what happens for every tennis player.