NITTO ATP FINALS

November 10, 2024

Alex De Minaur

Inalpi Arena,Torino

Press Conference

J. SINNER/A. de Minaur

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Alex, that was a tough match, obviously a very tough opponent. Can you walk us through the match today. Do you think you could have done anything different?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, obviously it's never easy playing against the best player in the world at the moment. I knew I had my work cut out for me.

I thought I started well, then kind of slipped away. Two breaks... I just couldn't sustain the level that I needed today to beat Jannik.

He's playing with a lot of confidence at the moment. In the big points he showed it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. When you walked onto court you had a nice moment with the mascot. Can you talk about that. Then the atmosphere of playing here for the first time with the Italian crowd.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, look, it was a great moment walking on court - it feels weird saying 'mascot' - but a little kid.

Yeah, it was a great atmosphere. Exactly what I expected here in Turin. Even though everyone in the crowd was going for Jannik, it was a very good atmosphere, very respectful. I felt I even had some support myself.

It was great playing on this court and I'm looking forward to the next matches already.

Q. You've had wins over pretty much everybody in the top 10. Is there anything specific about Sinner - yes, we know he's a great player, he's No. 1 - but anything specific about him that you really struggle with?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, I think he's got pretty good head-to-heads with a lot of players. Obviously I'm yet to get a win over him.

His ball speed, in my eyes, is so much higher than basically the rest of the people. From both sides he's solid. He keeps on improving. He's improved his serve so much throughout the years.

Yeah, right now he's playing on some unbelievable confidence and consistency. It's very hard to find holes in his game.

I think in Rotterdam I did a better job of kind of exploiting a little bit those weaknesses, which was a little bit easier with my movement.

Yeah, he's got extreme firepower. He's very consistent at the moment, as well.

Q. Is there a shot besides Jannik's serve that particularly you notice improved? Now that the storm is passed, how do you rate your chances to go through?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, I always rate my chances. I think the way I see it is Jannik was the only player in the group who I hadn't had a win against. The rest of the players I've had some success against. Now I'm not playing the No. 1 in the world anymore (smiling). I'll be looking forward to that.

As for Jannik, there's a lot of areas of his game which I think he's constantly improved. I would say one thing that for me really stood out was his returning. I mean, his returning, he's so long and he covers the court so well that it's very hard to get any easy returns off your first serves.

Q. I know it's a difficult question, but do you think they should make a final decision on Jannik's drug case before the Australian Open? Are you surprised how long this is dragging on?

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, honestly I'm just a tennis player. I've got no bearing in making these types of decisions whatsoever. I'm sure everything will happen when it needs to happen.

As for Jannik, I can only say on what I know of him as a person. Even though he's kicked my ass seven times now, he's a great guy. We shared a lot of moments on the court together. Him and his team, I've got a lot of respect for.

Q. I haven't seen you on court since the US Open. How is the injury? Are you concerned at all at any time during a match? Do you have to try and maybe favor it a little bit? There was one moment in the match tonight where your arms and legs were all over the place. Just wasn't sure how you rebounded from that.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, it's been a work in progress. It hasn't been easy whatsoever. It's borderline a miracle that I'm here competing and I've been able to qualify under the circumstances.

But I have improved, for sure. It definitely feels better and better. There's still probably a percentage to get to to get back to where I want to be.

I'm quite close.

Q. I'm curious about the speed of the court. What is your opinion? Also, at the beginning of the match I have the impression that you start to try to go on the net, try to make some volley, but in the second set was not possible almost.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, look, I think against someone like Jannik, everyone knows how good he is from the baseline, right? If I'm going to beat him, I'm not going to beat him from the baseline. I'm going to bring my variety and mix things up. Yeah, use my variety, right?

The only problem is that sometimes he makes it difficult to do that (smiling). He plays with a lot of depth, a lot of pace, puts the ball in awkward positions for you to really attack him or hurt him.

I started really well. I started with the right game plan, and then I probably missed a couple shots trying to go for it. A couple unforced errors there ended up costing me and maybe giving me a little bit of a lead and be able to build confidence. He might have dropped a little bit his level.

Yeah, wasn't the case. I tried. Didn't work out today. On to the next.