THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 4, 2025

Rinky Hijikata

Press Conference

B. SHELTON/R. Hijikata

6-2, 7-5, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I suppose the experience today, the experience last night, what was it like from your perspective?

RINKY HIJIKATA: Yeah, just a little bit bizarre, I guess. Yeah, I mean, I don't think in any way that it changed the outcome of the match. Like, I want to make that clear, because I think Ben played bloody well, and he was a bit too good for me yesterday and today. I don't think it really had an impact on the result.

Yeah, it was just a strange one. I guess I feel like we finished the second set, I don't know exactly what time it was, but it was quite late. I think we both knew that we weren't going to finish the third before it got dark.

We both said to the umpire, you know, I don't think we're going to finish this set, I think we should stop now and come back at the beginning of the set the next day.

Yeah, I don't know what the reasoning was, but they told us, you know, to keep playing. By 3-2 or 4-2 it was already dark. Then we were playing in the dark for, like, 10, 15 minutes. Again, it's the same for both of us.

It was slippery also. I asked the umpire as well in the third set to come check the court. Yeah, he said it was fine. I said, Mate, I think it's slippery. Ben agreed. The back was a little bit slippery.

He said, It's the same for both of you, which is the case. It's the same for both of us. But it also means it's maybe not safe for both of us. It's still a level playing field, but it might not be a safe one.

Yeah, I don't really understand maybe some of the decision-making, but I guess maybe they have reasoning for it.

Q. Can you see the funny side this morning after all of that, thinking overnight, coming out comes out, it's down in 55 seconds?

RINKY HIJIKATA: Yeah, it's not easy when you have someone like that coming out for one game. You can pick your return spots or guess all you want, but when he is serving down, whatever, 145, or whatever it is, I could have guessed right, still probably not getting a racquet on it.

I mean, that's probably an absolute clinic on how to serve out a match if you got one game to go. Yeah, credit to him. It's not easy to come out and serve out a match when you have a bit of pressure and you've had the night off.

Yeah, I thought it was bloody good effort by him.

Q. I bet you were thinking about it all night.

RINKY HIJIKATA: Yeah. I mean, to be fair, I knew it was going to be, what, I hadn't broken him the whole match. It was going to be bloody difficult. But yeah, at least I got a chance to come back another day and maybe flip the script. But you know, when someone does that, then it's not really in your hands. Too good.

Q. Did you hear the explanation around Hawk-Eye?

RINKY HIJIKATA: I was chatting to Ben a little bit after we came off last night. He was kind of telling me, which I didn't really understand.

But, again, yeah, I guess I would like someone to explain it to me because I didn't really understand the decision, and neither did he. You know, I think the night before they stopped at 8:45. We were playing, yeah, at 9:30 I think we stopped, and it was pretty dark.

I could see him telling his team that he can't see, he's struggling to see. You know, I'm only serving him at 115, 120 miles per hour. He's serving them down at 145. Doesn't make life easy.

Q. What's a lot to face that when it's getting dark?

RINKY HIJIKATA: I can pick up the ball right when it's past my head. It's tough.

Q. Just the Shelton serve, I know you've faced a few big serves lately, Reilly, Giovanni. How good is that serve that Shelton's got compared to other guys?

RINKY HIJIKATA: Yeah, quality. I think him being lefty also adds a different dynamic to it. Obviously a little trickier to return and pick up a rhythm facing a lefty. I feel like he's hitting his kick serve really well, also. It's very difficult with all the kind of different spins and how much lift he gets off the court.

Yeah, it's a difficult serve to handle. I felt like I had, yeah, a handful of opportunities to break. I guess just needed to do better to try to capitalize on those.

Q. Jordan is in another battle out there, and Alex has a chance tomorrow. Do you keep an eye on those guys if you are out? I know you have the dubs to come. Do you keep an eye on those guys? What have you seen from those two that make them such effective grass court players?

RINKY HIJIKATA: Yeah, I like keeping tabs on all the Aussies. I love seeing them do well. What is the score now?

Q. 1-All in the fourth.

RINKY HIJIKATA: I mean, can't say much more about Tommo. He has pretty much a broken back, and he's out there just grinding away. He's had two five-setters. I think he just kind of embodies the kind of competitiveness and the kind of heart that you want your Aussie players to show. Him and Demon I guess just epitomize that. Yeah, it's pretty impressive.

It inspires you to keep pushing and try catch up to those guys and keep striving to get better, which is yeah, pretty cool to see. Yeah, hopefully they keep going and see them deep in the second week hopefully.

Q. I know you and Ben both agreed you wanted to get off early, but then when it got off in the end, Ben wanted to play that final game, as you would have seen. He was quite animated about it. Would you have protested if he had managed to convince them?

RINKY HIJIKATA: I mean, at 5-4, I didn't really ask the umpire. I assumed we were just going to play. But yeah, it was very dark. I don't know. I mean, again, it's the umpire's decision. Either way it's not going to be easy to break him.

As I said, I don't think it affected the outcome of the match at all. But yeah, I don't know. It's their call. I guess I would just like some reasoning behind some of the decisions that were made, yeah.

Q. You didn't hang around, though?

RINKY HIJIKATA: Yeah, yeah, it was a frustrating night, so yeah. It is what it is.