AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2025

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

J. SINNER/A. de Minaur

6-3, 6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Alex, bad luck. Did you ever see Jannik play better than tonight?

ALEX de MINAUR: I don't know. It's been too many times playing him and seeing the same thing. So I'm not even surprised anymore when I face him. Matches like these happen.

So, yeah, he was very good today. I think, you know, with the conditions a little bit slower and a little bit later at night, it's pretty tough to make him miss or hurt him.

Yeah, he was bloody good tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I know you're tired, but obviously congratulations on the tournament. Mentally, how tough is it as a top-10 player who has made four Grand Slam quarterfinals when you go out and play someone like tonight and have that experience? What's that like mentally?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, look, I'm going to be completely honest and transparent. It's tough. Honestly, it's tough going out there and playing someone like Jannik because ultimately, like, I think there are a lot of factors that are vary into the scoreboard today. But matchup. I think he's probably my worst matchup, and you can see it in the head-to-head.

In these types of conditions it's even tougher to play against him. So you go out there, you compete. You try everything. You bring every sort of different look that you can. But in these types of conditions where it's a little bit colder and you can't really get the ball out of his strike zone, he can just unload and not miss. It's tough.

You know, I think if we're playing middle of the day on a stupidly hot day, then that's when you can see some errors come out, and that's when you probably see Jannik not play at his best. But conditions like today, it's tough to rattle him at all.

Q. You talked about feeling like you've got more of an aura in the locker room and people come out and know you're going to be a tough beat. When you see him on hard court based on what he's done over the last 18 months on hard court, what is that aura like?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I mean, he's built this aura up from beating everyone. Like, that's the thing about it, right? It's not like he's just had a good week here or good week there. He's just beaten everyone.

I think the best way to describe it is the fact that he was able to, I don't know if it was last year or two years ago, play Novak here and play pretty flawless, and, again, give him not too many games, right? Novak out here is probably the best player to have ever played on these courts, right?

The fact that he's got this top level that he can do this to players, it's pretty tough. You go into the match, and you know it's going to be a battle, it's going to be tough, you're going to try different things. But then you're an hour and 30 in, and you're struggling to win games, and you're trying to find ways to get on the board.

It's pretty surreal.

Q. Do you feel that you got enough matches coming into the Aussie Open? And would you consider perhaps playing a tour event tournament instead of the United Cup in future years?

ALEX de MINAUR: That's a great question.

I mean, ultimately I would have loved to play a couple more matches the first week of the year. The way it kind of fell about, it didn't come. Wasn't meant to be.

But, again, I don't think today was lack of matches ultimately. What is probably not ideal is that in the United Cup you can go out there and have a great two matches, but you're very much dependent on, one, your team, which it can work both ways, you can not play well, and your team take you through, or the other way around. But, also, the opponents you're playing. That gives you then the different points, right? The way the point system works...

Look, it is tough when you don't get through the group stages. So it's probably something I'm going to have to look back and think about and talk with the team.

Q. You mentioned that top level that Jannik has and other top-5 players have. Can you describe what makes those top-level guys so different than the guys you might play earlier in Grand Slam tournaments?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I think what Jannik has in these conditions is he's got, one, very little unforced errors, and his ball speed is very high. When you are trying to go toe-to-toe with him, naturally you're lifting your ball speed. So all of a sudden you're pressing more than you're used to, right, which obviously creates a couple more unforced errors unless you're feeling the ball and feeling great.

He's got amazing movement that he can absorb and defend. And he's so good out of the corners as well. So sometimes he can change defense into offense so quickly. Yeah, if you decide to be passive with him, he's got the firepower to hit those winners.

And I think today he served at a very high level as well, which ultimately was what made the difference.

Q. I see you've got your home crowd out there. You've got thousands of people cheering you on. I just wondered does that make it more difficult than when you were out there and struggling to sort of find any way to hurt him?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, it's tough. I mean, I know that whole crowd has got my back. They want me to go out there, make it competitive, try to make it into a match, and I'm trying my best.

If anything, it's frustrating that I can't do it. I'm doing my best, but I can't make it into even a match where the crowd can get behind and start supporting, you know?

That's what he does so well. He comes out of the blocks in the sets so well. Whenever we played, it feels like the first three games, four games he gets the early break, right, and then all of a sudden we never really end up getting to later stages of sets where all of a sudden you can have scoreboard pressure, all of a sudden the rallies can get a little bit tense, and I can ask more questions and get the crowd involved, and all that kind of stuff.

It is disappointing. I don't want to leave like this, but yeah, I can only get better and come back stronger next year.

Q. It's been a great run. First time Australian has got to the quarterfinals. It's been really enjoyable for us as Australian tennis writers to write about you. I'm wondering, yeah, how can you reflect on the last week and a half and also given the nature of the defeat tonight, you know, the positives and negatives.

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, the positives, I think how I handled everything. I mean, the fact that I came in this year top 10, and a lot of expectation, a lot of pressure. Obviously the whole country wanted me to do well. I wanted to do well here.

Yeah, I thought I handled it really well to put myself in this position. I would have loved to do more today, but this is what happens sometimes in tennis.

Look, the negatives is after playing some great tennis on home soil and gaining so much, you feel like you just have been slapped across the face, to be honest, to finish off like that.

I guess the other positive is it's not the first time that I've felt that. I felt the same thing when I played Novak a couple of years ago.

So, hey, I'll survive. I'll keep improving. And if anything, I just need to sit with my team and figure out a way to hurt Jannik on the court. That's ultimately the way we've got to look at it and find different ways because at the moment we don't have it. So back to the drawing board, like I've done my whole career.

As I said, I still don't think this is my ceiling. I still think I've got more in the tank. So I'll be searching for that.

Q. I guess you just sort of touched on sort of the bittersweet result here of going to the quarters in all of them. Does an experience like this, particularly with the heightened expectation of playing at home, give you more or less belief that you can go all the way in a Grand Slam?

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, it's pretty tough right now for me to sit here after this defeat and tell you that I believe I can go all the way. But saying that, I do think that there are opportunities out there.

Tennis is so much about matchups, right? Yeah, I think right now my worst matchup on tour is probably Jannik. You know, there's a head-to-head that doesn't lie, right?

If I'm in a different side of the draw, different little section, then who knows? I genuinely think I'm going to give myself opportunities, and I don't think my peak is making quarterfinals in a slam.

I see other players that have made it further, have made semis, have made finals, and I do believe that I can be amongst them, right? If they have been able to accomplish that, then why not me?