AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2025

Alex Michelsen

Press Conference

A. de MINAUR/A. Michelsen

6-0, 7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: First of all, sorry this is not the result you were hoping for, Alex. Overall very good run for you at AO this year. How would you rate yourself?

ALEX MICHELSEN: Yeah, it was a good tournament. Probably 7 out of 10, just because I played pretty poorly tonight. It is what it is. You can't win them all.

Super happy because it's the second week of a slam for the first time. Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talk to us about the first eight, nine games. I think I was looking at the numbers, and it was 4 winners, 22 unforced errors. You would have felt that out there. Was it nerves? You just didn't have your game?

ALEX MICHELSEN: No, not really. It was my first night match of the tournament. I played during the day when it was hot every single time, and then played tonight, a little colder. I felt like the ball was coming at me a lot slower. I wasn't getting my feet set properly. I think that was a big part of it.

I was definitely a little nervous, but that wasn't really why I lost eight games in a row. I just couldn't find my feet. Obviously playing a guy like Alex, who is not going to give you anything for free, that's always in the back of your head when the balls fluff up quickly, you can't hit a winner.

I requested day session. Obviously not gonna get it. Yeah.

Q. On the flip side of that, Alex, can you speak to the character that you showed? It could have been a really bad situation out there. You came back and forced a tiebreak in the second.

ALEX MICHELSEN: Yeah, I was super happy with the way I fought. I put myself in a position to almost win a set playing poorly off a top-10 player.

I was super happy with that. He came up with the goods in the breaker. Hit that forehand pass at 5-4 and the ace at 5-All. Credit to him there. Super happy with even getting it to a breaker there in that set, because it did not feel very good at the first hour of the match. It was really poor. So super happy to just compete and almost find a way in that second set.

Q. You're up to a career-high 36 in the live rankings. What do you think -- without putting too much pressure on yourself -- realistic? Top 25? Or you're not sort of thinking about rankings for the year ahead?

ALEX MICHELSEN: Yeah, I mean, I definitely have goals that I don't want to say in a press conference, but I definitely do have goals. I don't put too much pressure on myself in terms of ranking.

I'm 20 years old. 36th in the world. I know that that's very good, and I'm very happy with that right now.

Q. Generally, did you learn anything additional about yourself or your game this tournament?

ALEX MICHELSEN: I think fitness-wise, when I played Stef four sets, not too warm but warm enough outside, and I felt good. I felt like I could play another two hours out there, which is good for me because I've never really felt super comfortable in three-out-of-five fitness-wise. That's kind of changed this week. I know I can play five sets now, so I'm super happy with that.

Q. You obviously beat Stef and had a great game against Karen in the third round. Not quite there with Alex tonight, but three very good players. How do you think Alex stacks up against them, and what do you think his chances are in the next couple of rounds?

ALEX MICHELSEN: I think Alex makes a lot more balls than all three of the guys that I played. He doesn't miss a ball, doesn't give me anything for free. I think his serve is weaker, and I think that's about it.

I mean, he's way faster than all of them, moves better. His backhand is absolute money. Doesn't miss it. He was hitting his backhand line super well today. I wasn't expecting that, honestly.

But I knew he wasn't going to hang with me on that backhand rally, because everybody knows my forehand is weaker. I'm going to change that.

I think against Sinner he's going to have to not miss a single ball if he wants a chance, because Sinner is just unbelievable. I saw he was struggling today. I don't know what he had. I don't know what it was, but he got through it. Not surprising.

You know, with the home crowd, I think he definitely has a chance. So we'll see.

Q. Can I get you to talk a bit more about de Minaur's serve? There's been a lot of talk around he's hitting bigger, but the last couple of rounds he's been in the 40s in his first-serve percentage. Is it a shot you feel like you can attack and that players talk about that that's a real weakness for Alex?

ALEX MICHELSEN: I mean, no one is really talking about it in the locker room about how his serve isn't great, but honestly, his second serve today, he jammed me in the body so many times, I can't really say anything about his serve.

Yeah, my percentage was -- I served 43% tonight, which is absolutely awful. I don't know what his was. I thought it was 60, but maybe that was a wrong stat that I looked at.

His second serve -- I mean, I played him in Los Cabos in March of last year, I think, and I got him pretty handily there. His serve has gotten a lot better since then, for sure. He was jamming me every second serve. I had to step back. So he's definitely improved that for sure, and that's why he's top 10 in the world.