AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2026

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/A. de Minaur

7-5, 6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Alex, tough luck tonight, but how do you look back at the AO, and what do you think of your performance tonight overall?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, look, obviously proud to have made another quarterfinals here, you know, back-to-back. It wasn't easy.

Obviously would have loved to have given more out there tonight, but yeah, a little bit disappointed overall with the performance.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Congratulations on the run. You've improved so much since this time last year, and this tournament you were just taking apart really, really good players. I'm wondering how does it feel when those improvements don't really register on the scoreboard in a match like this?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, well, it doesn't feel amazing, I'll tell you that. Yeah, you try to do the right things, you try to keep on improving, but when the results don't come or the scoreline doesn't reflect those improvements, then of course you feel quite deflated, I would say.

Q. You talked a lot about being more fearless in those big pressure moments. Do you feel like you took a step forward in that regard tonight? Like I think back to that 5-3 game in the first set. You had that backhand on break point and obviously got that. Are those the types of positives you need to take out of a result like this?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah. I mean, I've got to take something out of it, right, if not -- and that's it. Of course, look, in terms of mentality or the way I committed to hitting the ball today, it's what I set out to do. I just can't really execute it. I didn't really execute it for the whole match.

There was some good parts out there, but overall, I'm playing out of my comfort zone and at times out of my skin. Of course, for me to take that next step, I've got to be comfortable in playing that sort of way for the whole match, and that's what it takes, you know, to take it to the next level, especially against these types of guys.

Q. How do you get comfortable in that scenario?

ALEX de MINAUR: You just keep practicing, keep working at it, keep getting to the stage of committing and playing at that level more frequently.

Then, yeah, some tweaks here and there that's going to allow me to increase ball speed, because at the moment the way my natural groundstrokes are, they're quite flat, and it's quite difficult for me.

I mean, there's a whole lot of risk for me to play at a very high ball speed, and I feel like, you know, some of my, in this case, your Janniks or Carlos, they have so many revolutions on the ball that they're able to not only play at a higher speed but also have their consistency, because they're able to get that spin that helps the ball come down and create different angles as well.

Yeah, there's stuff that I need to look at and see and try to work out, but yeah, it is what it is.

Q. It sounds like you have an idea of what you need to do to make that step. Do you still have the belief that you're going to be able to do that?

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, you get back up, right? That's what it is. I mean, yeah, I can decide to look at it two different ways, right? I can look at it the fact that, you know, I'm losing to -- at the Australian Open, I've lost to Rafa, Novak, Jannik twice, now Carlos. I'm not losing too many matches to players I possibly shouldn't lose to, right?

Yeah, you just got to keep on moving. It's the only way. I mean, as tough as it is when you get results like this, you get back up, you get back on the horse, and that's it.

Q. It seemed like you had really good preparation going in, some great wins at United Cup and some exhibition matches. Were you satisfied with your preparation coming in to prepare for these types of matches? Is this something that you would do differently in the future to prepare for these really big matches in terms of in the future?

ALEX de MINAUR: I don't know. What could I do differently? You tell me.

Q. No, I don't know. I was just asking.

ALEX de MINAUR: I mean, the schedule is what it is. I either play the first week of the year or I don't, so I don't know how, kind of, I could change my prep too much. It's either I don't play the first week of the year or I play it.

I mean, I don't think today was lack of preparation. As I said, I've been playing at an incredibly high level. It's just you come up against someone like Carlos in the nighttime, and yeah, it's tough to find the right answers when you are playing against him.

Q. Obviously you've played him several times before, but was his level maybe even a surprise to you tonight just how high it was?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, to be honest, when I played him in the exhibition just before the tournament, I thought his level was freakishly good. Tonight was pretty similar. I mean, especially in those night conditions, he's so strong, right? He's able to generate so much force, and his unforced errors just almost disappear, right?

In the past when the conditions have been, you know, a little bit quicker and skittier, I've been able to have some reward with some of my flat groundstrokes, especially into the backhand wing.

But today there wasn't really a whole lot of reward. Maybe the first set there were chances, right? There was plenty of Love-30s and stuff like that on his serve, but apart from that, after the first set and when it got a little bit heavier, yeah, it was pretty tough for me to really hurt him at all, right?

That's the biggest thing. The rallies start. I'm probably hitting the ball bigger than I've hit, you know, previously in these types of matches, but I'm still not able to kind of hit through him.

Then he's obviously got the ability to generate on command. If you leave one ball short, then the point's over. So he's definitely playing at a very high level. I'll be very intrigued to see how the rest of the tournament plays out.

I do think he's playing at a very high level. Ultimately, No. 1 in the world for a reason.