ROLAND GARROS

May 27, 2025

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

A. de MINAUR/L. Djere

6-3, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Alex, can you walk us through the feelings today of the match. What was the key?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, first-round match was never going to be easy. I managed to sneak through in three. I'm happy to get three. It wasn't pretty, but ultimately got the win, and that's all that matters.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You've been talking recently about how much more comfortable you are on the red clay compared to 12 months ago. Can you just run through what specifically you're feeling good about, what you still feel needs to be adjusted, and really how comfortable are you?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I'm feeling very comfortable on this surface. Everything from my movement to my shape to my understanding of how to construct points and what is going to be effective for me on this surface.

Now, there's still plenty of areas that I need to get a little bit better. That's probably weight of shot. It doesn't come as natural to me to play with a lot of spin and heaviness. That's something that on the clay is obviously very effective and very important.

I have, over the years, gotten a lot better at that. Probably take the next step, it's just getting a bit more comfortable with that and trying to break sidelines, I would say.

Q. When you're doing that, are you doing that anecdotally, or are you looking at the numbers for yourself, some of your rivals or your peers?

ALEX de MINAUR: No, I think over the course of my career, I've been pretty good at feeling my game out and feeling the areas that I need to improve. It kind of goes based on the matches I play, the opponents I play against, sometimes matchups, right?

Over the years on the clay I definitely felt it was very easy for opponents to out-power me, kind of bully me around the court because I wasn't strong enough. Thanks to getting five or six kilos more, getting a little bit stronger, also learning how to move a little bit better and more effectively on the clay, it's definitely helped me hold my own on this surface to the point where I'm comfortable enough to play against anyone on any given day.

Q. Can I ask you about your feet. They were on camera quite a lot.

ALEX de MINAUR: Oh, geez. I'm sorry for everyone that who had to see that (smiling).

Q. Problems there? Just repairs?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, it was nothing, nothing major. I often get my toes taped up before matches. Actually one of the toes that wasn't taped up was rubbing against the tape.

There was nothing wrong on that toe. It just felt like it was rubbing. I thought since he went for a toilet break, I might as well use this time to get that retaped.

Yeah, I'm sorry for everyone who had to see my feet. That's not a pretty sight (smiling).

Q. How did you find the conditions out there? This time a year ago you were wearing thermals and it was pouring with rain. How different is it this year?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, well, I still remember that match like it was yesterday. It was one of the tougher matches I've played and the most proud I've been after because of exactly that. It was cold, it was drizzling, it was miserable out there.

Today was still pretty cold. It was swirly. It wasn't easy conditions to play tennis. But I remember from last year, if you're able to hang around long enough, normally clears up and the weather gets a little bit warmer and a little bit sunnier. That's what we're all kind of hoping to get to.

Q. Are those conditions that you described from a year ago about as tough as it gets for a tennis player?

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, it kind of depends. It depends on every type of player and their likes and dislikes. I would say for me, on a clay court, playing against a big hitter at the time, which was Struffi, that was probably about as worse conditions as possibly it could get for me.

On the clay, I always rather when it's nice and warm and the ball's more on the livelier side, I would say.

Q. You talk about adding little pieces to your game. If you could borrow one element of another person's game on clay, what would it be?

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, I wouldn't mind having some free points on serve, I'll tell you that (smiling). But I feel like that's a little bit of a cop-out because you would probably use that on every other surface.

On the clay, probably I would say like a heavier forehand. I would say maybe a Casper-, Alcaraz-type forehand where you can really get those revolutions, really feel that weight of ball without feeling like you're going to miss. Also being able to break sideline easily, which is I think very important on the clay. If you're able to break sideline and make your opponent get wider and wider, that's half the game here.

Q. Another question about the clay. Could you go back to your junior days in Spain, did you play a lot on clay during that years?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I grew up a lot on clay. Even though when I turned pro, I wasn't winning too many matches, but I did in those days play a lot of tennis on clay.

I was always not the traditional clay-courter, I would say (smiling). My groundstrokes were always a little flatter. I was always more on the aggressive side.

Yeah, even though I played many, many matches as a junior on the clay, it was always a surface that I struggled to play a little bit more.

Q. Pat Cash had the checkered headband. I think Lleyton had the C'mon range. Do you think you've got them covered with what you've got with the Demon? And how did it come about?

ALEX de MINAUR: Geez, well, I think for me to have that on the same, to be mentioned in the same conversation, I'll probably need to win a lot more matches like they did. Maybe a couple slams. That might help a little bit, as well (smiling).

As for kind of this, what I'm wearing right now, it's been a long time in the works with Asics. It's been something that I've been very passionate for for a very long time. Along with my logo, we've been able incorporate it into the foundation and now to get some training kit, which I think it's pretty cool.

I'm very excited about this. It's only the beginning. Hopefully I'm going to be able to, you know, as a lot of the greats in this sport have something else to be remembered by.

Q. Has the kid from last year turned up? He was in Paris Bercy. I didn't see if he was. But did you make contact with him? How did it work?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, Paul's here. He made it. He's got a very distinctive way of supporting me, which even though I wasn't sure exactly where he was sitting, I could definitely hear him. I made contact with him at the very end of the match.

But yeah, it's great to have him around again. Hopefully we can have a blast again this year. Yeah, I mean, as far as I know, if he's available, he'll be coming to all of my matches.

Q. Your next opponent, Bublik.

ALEX de MINAUR: Just won?

Q. Yes. You talk about taking the racquet out of people's hands, having that weapon, he served 16 aces, 41 winners. How much of a threat is he going to be?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, he's going to be extremely dangerous. I think he went through a little bit of a rough patch at the start of the year. He's definitely found his game as of lately.

It's going to be tough 'cause exactly that, he's unpredictable. He takes the racquet out of your hands. He's obviously not going to want to hang in too many rallies. He's going to try and have short points and break the rhythm out.

I've got to be both ready mentally to expect anything and everything, and also make sure I'm ready physically from the very first point to the last.

There's going to be a lot of ups and downs, some good stuff, some not-so-good stuff. Hopefully I can maintain my level throughout the whole match and ultimately get ready for another battle and a very tricky match.