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HUAJIN SECURITIES ZHUHAI CHAMPIONSHIPS


September 28, 2019


Alex De Minaur


Zhuhai, China

A. DE MINAUR/R. Bautista Agut

6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congratulations. Can you talk through the match and what's the key point to winning this match?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Pretty much playing with my eyes closed. I mean, I could not do anything wrong today. It was just one of those days that, I'm playing poor before the match and I've hit two of the luckiest shots I've hit in my life and my coach is like, Today's going to be a good day. And it was.

Q. Your first serve winning percentage was almost perfect like 93, 94 percent.
ALEX DE MINAUR: First serve?

Q. Yeah, first serve winning percentage. You talk about spending a lot of time and perfecting your serve. How do you turn your serve into a weapon?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Trying to keep focus and make as many first serves as I can. And today my first serve was giving me a lot of free points and I was able to get on top of the point early. So I'm just proud that I didn't get broken or just was able to play very smart throughout the whole match. And I had no dips in my level or concentration, which is also something I've worked really hard on.

Q. There was a lot of fantastic points, you tried a lot of drop shots. Is that kind of a strategy?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Well, today I knew that I was almost going to have to play the way he plays. I was going to have to be very patient, I was going to have to wait for the right ball to attack and only once he was very far away and deep on the court I could hit that drop shot, because he's incredibly quick.

I mean, we have a very similar game style, both of us, so I've trained a lot with him and it was a good day today.

Q. A few days ago we talked about your first win against a top 10 player. Now you get your second one in the second tournament in a row. Could you talk about how does that help you to believe even more you belong to be a top 10 player yourself in the future?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Well, I've shown it today, I've got this level, the level I brought today. Now it's all about trying to bring this level as often as I can. If I can try to bring this level almost every week, then I'll be going deep in tournaments and beating these top guys and pushing for titles.

It's all about mentally staying in the moment and not losing concentration and trying to back up every day.

Q. I guess you're too busy playing tennis this week, so no time for the second part of your video?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Well, I've been thinking about it. I'm a little bit lost on what song I should pick. But at the moment I've been trying to focus on tennis, which has been going pretty well lately.

So, I don't know, maybe whenever I've got some free time I might see what I can bring up and maybe some time next week I'll drop part two. Be ready.

Q. I saw an interview of you this week and you said that the proudest moment in tennis for you is you representing Australia playing in the Davis Cup. So when you go to the court do you feel every match you're representing Australia and just happy with your match or do you feel you are a professional just playing for yourself?
ALEX DE MINAUR: I feel, as I said, the proudest moment for me is making my debut for Davis Cup and being able to represent my country. And I feel like it's not only Davis Cup, it's every time I step out on court I'm representing myself and the country I come from. So that's why, every time I step out on court, I try to give all I've got. And no matter how I'm feeling, the conditions, the surface, I just want people to know that I'm going to be that guy that's only going to bring 150 percent and never give up.

Q. Looking forward to the final, can you talk about your opponent? What's your thoughts?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Well, Mannarino, he's a very tricky player, a veteran player who has won a lot of matches and has been playing some great tennis this week. I know it's going to be really tough and it's going to be very different to any match I've played this week, so I'm ready to fight off a lot of great points by him, a lot of flat balls and I just want to go out there and see if I can bring the same level I did today, same intensity, same concentration, and have some fun out there.

Q. This week we have some very short press conferences, but you always got a lot of questions. Fans love you, a lot of gifts and your video collected thousands of likes. Can you talk about the positive energy you get this week from Zhuhai?
ALEX DE MINAUR: Yeah, as I said, it's been incredible. I felt it last year in Shenzhen and I feel it's even stronger over here. I mean, today in my practice I finished my warm-up and I got three or four more gifts. So I don't know if I'm going to be able to fit all the gifts I've been getting in my suitcase. It's just been amazing and I've enjoyed every second of it. And they have even made me learn a sentence in Chinese, so, you know, it's been amazing and can't wait to go out there tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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