CINCH CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 19, 2021

Alex De Minaur

Queens Club

Press Conference

M. BERRETTINI/A. de Minaur

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I know you have done it a number of times, but can you explain what it's like to be facing serves that are coming at you as they were today of 200-plus kilometers an hour?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, at the end of the day it's frustrating, I mean, because there's not much you can do about it. You know, you almost just want to start the point and do whatever you can to try and start the point.

Look, it's what happens when you play a bigger, taller guy. Obviously it's gonna happen a lot of times for me in my career. God gave me this body, so it's not like I'm gonna grow overnight. So I'm just going to have to deal with it.

Q. How do you feel you performed today? Watching it, I thought you played very well. You stayed in the match. His serve probably was the biggest factor. But your opinion, your thoughts?

ALEX de MINAUR: No, I think I played a pretty good, level match. I think I got unlucky the way I got broken in the first set with a couple shanks and unlucky balls. Then, I mean, I had one breakpoint. He served a bomb.

Look, it's a good match. Not a lot of chances. He played really good. Didn't give me those chances. Well done to him.

Q. Are you feeling pretty good now? You have got quite a few grass matches under your belt going into Wimbledon. If you could just address that and now that this is finished, what do you need to address in your game going into Wimbledon?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, I think it's a bit of the same. Keep getting this level out of me, especially the last couple of matches I have played.

Yeah, keep going forward. If I play with a little bit of luck in the draw and me playing a combination of that and me playing some good tennis, I can do well at Wimby. You know, that's the goal. That's the plan. Yeah. That's what I'm striving for.

Q. I think this takes you to the career high of 18 on the rankings, and there would be a very strong chance that you could get a top-16 seeding.

ALEX de MINAUR: It's all depending on if Felix loses against Humbert. You know, I don't have the best feeling about that, so I think I'm just going to miss out, which is -- you know, it's frustrating, not gonna lie, but it is what it is.

You know, if I could have won a match in Stuttgart, one more match in Stuttgart, then I wouldn't be in this problem, but it is what it is. We move on.

Q. Congrats for the week, first of all. I was wondering, you spoke how good you played this week on the grass. You spoke about the difficulty you had today against Berrettini. Having a bit slower grass on Wimbledon, how much could help you in the return against player like Cilic or Berrettini?

ALEX de MINAUR: Look, it's a tough one, because if I can make more returns, you know, then obviously that's going to help me out a lot, especially against these big servers. But in the same way, it might be easier to return for me, it's easier to return for them.

It's all about matchups. I've still got to play well off the ground. I can't make mistakes, especially on my serves. I've just got to keep trying to tidy up my service games and then try to do everything I can on returns.