AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 8, 2021

Bernard Tomic

Press Conference

B. TOMIC/Y. Sugita

3-6, 6-1, 4-1 [Ret.]

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I know you didn't have unfortunately the satisfaction to close out a match point but you still must be pretty pleased with getting through to round 2 of the Australian Open?

BERNARD TOMIC: Absolutely. Yeah, I played very, very bad in the first set. Kind of was a little bit nervous, it was windy, it was cold. It was a pretty bad first set.

Second and third was some of the best tennis I have played in a while.

Q. You say you played badly in the first set. Seemed like you saved two set points, seemed like there was a bit of a shift there. Can you explain what happened that brought on those second and third sets?

BERNARD TOMIC: Well, I thought he's always going to play a tough game, he's always going to play aggressive. You know, I didn't practice much especially in these conditions because it's quite cold at night and it's a bit different, like 5:00, 6:00 p.m.

There were those key points where, you know, I just felt out of rhythm from the first point to the end of that first set. I know I sort of got out of that sort of a situation, was it 1-All, I believe, in the second? 15-40, 1-All -- or was it the first game? I can't remember, as well. But I do remember it was an important point.

Yeah, from then I think I got a let cord on the 2-1 game at Love-40 up and then he managed to get to 40-30, got a let cord and then from there I think I lost two, three points from the next 20, 25 plays so I was playing unbelievable then.

Q. You obviously had the knee injury last week and it was taped up a little bit today. Looked like you were moving quite well. How did it feel?

BERNARD TOMIC: I didn't practice yesterday. I practiced like 30 minutes because I felt it. I put the tape on, and, you know, I didn't feel it today so it was good.

Q. Feel like it can hold up as far as you go?

BERNARD TOMIC: I'm hoping. You know, I didn't feel it for five, six days. I felt, let's say, last week I think I practiced with Cilic and this is before I had to play I think Polmans, and I felt it for a day.

Prior to this I felt it in the last three, four days of quarantine so I kind of took it easy there. And then I was like I'm going to take these next few days to take off. Didn't play that match against Polmans. Took a few more days off to feel right. Then I didn't feel it for about five days and yesterday I felt it. So I was, like, really nervous.

Q. What does today's result mean to you?

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, I mean, it's good. It's a great feeling. Am I overly excited? Probably not. It's good to be back I guess at this level. Played some solid tennis in quallies. Yeah, I'm happy to be here.

Q. Obviously you don't know your opponent yet because they are playing tonight. Jannik Sinner and Denis obviously two top talents. Can you say what your expectations are against either of those guys?

BERNARD TOMIC: Well, in my opinion, they are going to have a long match. They are going to play some quality tennis against each other because Jannik is playing unbelievable, won his first 250, I believe, and Denis is top 15 or top 10 in the world. So it's gonna be unbelievable match.

I think it's going to go long, so we'll see. Hopefully it goes long for my sake.

Q. Looked like your old man was back in the stands today. That was good to see for you back in Team Tomic.

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, he was here supporting, doing what a dad should do, I guess (smiling).

It was nice to have him there, for sure.

Q. Looked like he had some words of encouragement at the end after the match.

BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, it was nice, eh?