DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 20, 2023

Lleyton Hewitt

Alex De Minaur

Max Purcell

Jordan Thompson

Alexei Popyrin

Matthew Ebden

Team Australia

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Hello, everyone. Let's start the press conference of the Australian team. We will start with questions.

Q. Welcome back to Andalucia. I wanted to ask Lleyton, one year ago you were here with mostly the same squad with the addition of Alexei. Of course this year you want to go through and get the win, but in a way it feels like nothing has changed. Do you feel it that way too? What do you feel are the changes for this year?

CAPTAIN LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah, we come back, and it's good that we knew what to expect when we got here this year. Yeah, a little bit last year we came in sort of blind, I guess, knowing the situation and the place and the hotel and the court surface and all those things.

It was good to feel used to that, I guess, stepping up, but we also came here with a purpose. You know, we feel it was fantastic, brings back a lot of great memories last year, but we still have a determination to go one better. That's why we're here, and that's why these boys are putting their hands up.

Q. I'd like to ask you about the Thanasi Kokkinakis. He was on the list and he's not here. What happened to him?

CAPTAIN LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, he got injured. He played a tournament in Sydney a few weeks ago and twisted his ankle. He was working through that, and then he had another little setback in training about a week ago.

But to be honest, we had a lot of options. So I feel very comfortable with Alexei coming in. He's had his career-best year on the ATP Tour this year, and we've got a lot of options in our singles but also in our doubles as well.

Whoever we end up putting out there on the court I know is going to perform well and leave it all out there for us, and we've got full belief in all the boys.

Q. This is also for you, Lleyton. As you said, you've got so many options. I think all of these players here have had, you know, very many big highlights this year individually. How do you compare this team to previous Australia teams that you've led?

CAPTAIN LLEYTON HEWITT: Well, the last couple of years it's been a pretty settled team, to be honest. I haven't used that many different players. It's more about the camaraderie that the boys have. They know every time they step on the court they know what they're playing for and it's not just themself. They are playing for each other first, but they're also playing for the rest of the team and support staff, but they're also playing for their country.

It takes a certain player to be able to go out there and perform under those kind of pressures and expectations, and these boys can do it. That's where the belief from the coaching staff comes from. As you said, these boys have all had great individual years, so that just gives me more confidence when we go out there, as well.

But at the end of the day it's about the team spirit, the camaraderie, the culture that we have, and I'm sure again that's going to hold us in good stead this week.

Q. Alex, could you just talk about how much of a priority winning the Davis Cup for Australia has been sort of for you, and when you start the season, really targeting this event, especially coming so close last year?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, of course, growing up it's always been one of my goals and dreams to be able to represent Australia. Now being a part of it and having had a taste of it last year, being so close with all of these guys, I think it really brought us together to kind of keep improving, keep pushing ourselves, and put ourselves in an even better position maybe this year to have another run.

But I think we're all just really excited. It's always a priority, and, you know, when you get a chance to represent the green and gold, you do it with pride and passion. I think every single one of us here leaves it all out there and brings their best tennis whenever we're representing.

Q. A question for Max. Obviously doubles is a vital part of this new format in Davis Cup, but we know you were amazing at those but you also have the best year of your career in singles. How do you balance that out? Obviously we have also Matthew, who did that and has done this for so many years on the tour. How have you balanced out those two things, singles and doubles, having so much success in singles this year?

MAX PURCELL: I made it a huge focus to just play singles, and then everywhere I'm playing singles I play doubles. It's pretty simple for me. I just play both every week, every single week of the year at this point.

Q. Alex, last year you had a special connection with the crowd. What are you thinking about doing this year to put the crowd with you again?

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, hopefully since there is no Spanish nation, then we've become the home nation (smiling). So I'll be encouraging all of the people from Malaga to come and support.

We had a great, great atmosphere playing, and hopefully we can have that from the first day. You know, let them know that we've got a bit of Spanish blood in this team, not only myself, we have Alexei as well. Yeah, if we can get more crowd support, we'll take it.

Q. Alexei, your Spanish blood, can you tell us about that?

ALEXEI POPYRIN: No, no Spanish blood, but I did live here. I lived in Alicante for five years where Demon lives, and lived actually in Marbella for another five years. I'm kind of a local here now (smiling).

No, I've got a lot of friends here. Most of my best friends are from this area, from Andalucia. Yeah, it's basically a home tournament for me. Yeah, it's good (smiling).

Q. Lleyton, you clearly love this tournament, but it has evolved and changed a bit in recent years. If there's one thing that you would like to change about the Davis Cup now, what would it be?

CAPTAIN LLEYTON HEWITT: To how it was (smiling)?

Q. You want it back?

CAPTAIN LLEYTON HEWITT: Yeah. The No. 1 thing is home-and-away ties. You know, I have watched plenty of vision the last few years even of back in the day when I was playing, Cashy, Rafter, these guys.

Yeah, the crowds, you know, even me coming back here to Spain and remembering 2000, you know. Rafa Nadal was carrying the flag onto the court in front of over 20,000 people, all booing and screaming against me, and it was still an unbelievable atmosphere that I'd want a dream of playing in. You know, that's what the Davis Cup was about.

So, yeah, whether we played home semis and finals in Rod Laver Arena or away in France, in Nice, or obviously Barcelona, it was an unbelievable experience and some of my best memories. Some of my hardest memories, as well, but some of my very best.

Q. Let's bring Jordan and Matthew into this.

JORDAN THOMPSON: Token? (Smiling.)

Q. A little more than that. Jordan, you have had some good results this year. Matthew, if you don't mind me saying, you're one of sort of the more senior members of the team, is that okay? Just tell us a little bit about what it's like to be back and obviously being close last year, but also tell us a bit about the conditions here and how they suit your games.

MATTHEW EBDEN: Yeah, look, these guys did amazing last year. Went all the way to the final. I think no secret, like they said, we had a taste of it and we're hungry for more.

We said that at the end before we left here last year that we are hungry for more, and we went about that a couple of months ago to give ourselves this opportunity to be here.

So we're all very -- I mean, we have fun and we're relaxed and we're excited but putting in all the work to prepare and give it our best shot and leave everything out there, like Alex said.

Yeah, we're here for one reason. Hopefully the court and the crowd plays in our favor.

JORDAN THOMPSON: You know, it's been a long year on tour, but I think everyone here makes this a priority. Yeah, Lleyton said we knew what we were getting when we came here this year, a little bit more familiar. You know, the court, the hotel, the surroundings.

I know that everyone on this bench will compete as hard as they can when wearing the green and gold. It's a real priority for us. Yeah, so hopefully we can go one better this year.