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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2016

John Millman

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

B. TOMIC/J. Millman

6-4, 7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Feeling disappointed or satisfied at this point?
JOHN MILLMAN: No, very disappointed. Doesn't really matter who you play. When you don't win, you're a little bit disappointed.

It's been a fantastic tournament, though. I've kicked a few goals, and I hope I can continue this positive start for the rest of the year.

Q. Do you think if you had clinched that second set it might have been a different story?
JOHN MILLMAN: Look, Bernie is a very quality player. He's had a lot of experience in best-of-five-set matches, too. You never know. I was really out there just trying to take one point at a time and one moment at a time.

Everything's good in hindsight or hypotheticals, but I didn't get that set. You know, I was close, but pulled up a bit short.

Q. Do the goals change at all after this sort of week?
JOHN MILLMAN: At the start of the year I wanted to kick on from top hundred. You want to really try to cement yourself a little bit deeper into top hundred. That was top 50.

At the Grand Slams I wanted to go better than I had before. That was the second round. I've ticked that box.

But the key thing with tennis is not to rest on your laurels. I got a lot of respect for so many people out there that play this game, not just guys in the top hundred.

There's plenty of very good players that no one sees, whether they're in quallies or not even in quallies. There's a lot of very good players out there. A lot of great juniors coming through in this country and all over the world.

You can't rest on your laurels. You got to keep on pushing forward. That's what I hopefully can do. I got to just keep on trying to get better each time I get out on court.

Q. Were you overwhelmed by the crowd support?
JOHN MILLMAN: I felt as if I had some very good support out there. I hit on Rod Laver once before. Had a bit of a practice hit with Kei Nishikori a year ago. So probably a different experience. It was a big stage, big court. Aussies love an underdog story. Crowd were great. They got behind me.

I thought it was, you know, respectful, though. I thought the game was played in pretty good spirits. I wish Bernie the best of luck for the rest of the tournament. I wish I was still in flying the Aussie flag, but we've still got one more male flying the Aussie flag.

Yeah, hopefully everyone can get behind him and hopefully he can progress further into the tournament.

Q. The way Bernie served tonight, do you think he has the firepower to...
JOHN MILLMAN: I thought he served great tonight. Very hard to read. He has a deceptively good serve because it looks pretty effortless. He uses his height pretty well. I thought he served really well tonight.

That's probably one of the differences. I didn't think I served that great. I was fighting pretty hard in my service games. I got enough breaks. If I'd taken care of my service games, I got enough breaks during the match. It's just, yeah, I think to beat a player like Bernie, he's a top-20 player, I probably needed to be 5% better in most areas tonight.

I probably needed the luck in my court, you know. I'm not saying I was unlucky. I just probably needed the rub of the green and probably needed to be probably about 5% better in most areas. That's probably why I lost tonight.

Q. Do you think if he serves like that he can trouble everyone?
JOHN MILLMAN: No doubt. He's a top-20 player for a reason. I have no doubt that he can kick on. I know he's playing Andy next round; Andy's an awesome player. The last time I saw him up close playing was at Davis Cup last year. He was in phenomenal form.

So, yeah, there's no doubt that Bernie's going to have to play great tennis, but he's not without a chance, for sure.

Q. How has reaching third round changed things for you? Have people noticed you more? Old friends popping out of the woodwork?
JOHN MILLMAN: Not really, mate. I have a close group of friends back home. Actually a fair few of them flew down for the match and made the best of, what is it, Heineken Saturday today? I was a bit worried they would be a bit legless.

I got great friends. At the end of the day they're the ones that have been with me when times have been pretty tough, and they're the ones that I want to spend time with when things are going pretty well.

I know tennis is a tough game. I was on the biggest high in 2013 when I tore my labrum, that was a career-high ranking back then and came crashing down pretty quickly.

I think from that lesson, from that life lesson, I think I really began to appreciate the good times a little bit more.

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