HSBC CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 17, 2025

Alex De Minaur

Queens Club

Press Conference

J. LEHECKA/A. de Minaur

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Sorry, Alex. This is not the result you were hoping for, but any positive that you can take from your first match back on grass?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, look, not too many to take out of today. Just not a good day at the office. You know, I thought Jiri played very well, and he's a very dangerous opponent at the worst of times. Obviously I wasn't up for the level today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It's obviously a very tough first round, but putting that to one side, what are your thoughts on how you played? You say "not a good day at the office," but do you think it was more him or you or both or what?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I think it pretty sums up that it just wasn't a good day at the office. Obviously he's got some incredible firepower that doesn't make it too easy to play him, so if you want to be effective against him, you've got to be ready from the very first point till the last and you need to bring a high level. Today I did not do that.

Q. Just on that, are you feeling okay? You pulled out of Netherlands last week. What about yourself physically, mentally?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, that's a good question. I'm not too sure. Obviously wasn't the kind of result I was hoping for coming here to Queen's. Obviously skipping the first week so that I would give myself time and be able to, you know, hopefully have a good result here and be happy with that decision, but obviously wasn't a good day today.

So back to the drawing board, and we're going to have to make some decisions.

Q. Katie did a story with BBC, which was published today, talking about online abuse she's faced. I'm sure you're aware of it. Not sure if you've managed to read it yet. Firstly, could you tell us how proud you are about her how she's opened up and to reveal this scale of abuse?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, it's great for her to step up and shine a light into this, which is something that happens to every single tennis player out there. Every single athlete, I would say.

It's good to kind of shine a light of everything that happens not only when you lose, that you're feeling not in the best state emotionally, but then you've also got to deal with everything that happens behind the scenes with angry gamblers.

So it's always good to shine a light, and hopefully there is something that can be done about it.

Q. As a top player, what do you think should be done about it, specifically? Police clamping down more on it, government authorities, tennis governing bodies?

ALEX de MINAUR: I'm not really sure. It's something that's been going on for a while now. It's something that a lot of people have spoken out against, but it doesn't change.

I haven't gone on my social media yet, but I'm sure I'll have a lot of people not too happy with my result today. But it's just part of it. I would love for it to be dealt with or fixed somehow, but I'm not too sure what's the answer.

Q. How do you emotionally deal with that when it is your fiancée who is being targeted? How do you feel about that? What's the emotion that stirs up?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, as I said, every single tennis player on the tour gets thousands, millions of messages every time they lose a match or they cost someone money betting on them. So it's something that you've kind of -- yeah, you've gotten used to.

Q. Do you think athletes will eventually boycott social media, come off it to make a stance? Because very little is being done by the tech giants.

ALEX de MINAUR: Well, you see a lot of players, athletes already, that don't deal with their own social media just because of that. There is a lot of good that comes out of it, but there is also a dark side.

Q. Jack is playing currently, and there is huge support but also pressure on him. Wonder how you found it being "the" guy in Australia. And also, conversely, what it's like playing against the British player or the British crowd? I remember you played Andy here a couple of years ago.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, obviously I think Jack's dealing with it incredibly well. He's obviously had a stellar year and achieving some incredible things.

He's playing in his home ground now. I'm sure he'll love to do well. I guess for me it's just trying to use all the energy from the crowd. I know that the crowd is behind me every single point when I play in Australia, and that's something that definitely helps me a lot kind of calm the nerves and just focus on myself.

Q. What about the other side when you're coming up against the British crowd?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I would say the British crowd is a little different to the Aussie crowd. Mainly I would say it's because of Wimbledon. Wimbledon has so much history and heritage and kind of culture. It's a very -- they're very polite, I would say. You know, probably in Australia they're a little bit louder.

Q. There is a new mixed-doubles format at the US Open, and they've just released their field. Looks like it was a very competitive cutoff. Were you and Katie ever keen on playing? Is it difficult to get a wildcard for an event like that with a field like that?

ALEX de MINAUR: I didn't even know they had come out with a cutoff yet. Yeah, we're definitely going to be keen to try and play if they allow us to and if they want us to. If that's an option, then we'll definitely be up for it.

Q. Are you planning to ask them? I think the cutoff is the end of July, but they have obviously released this now.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, to be honest, I don't have too much of an idea. It's not really, you know, the normal set of rules where sign-in just happens about a week before the tournament.

Obviously it's incredibly early for them to already have a cutoff. So, yeah, I'm sure we'll get on top of that.