AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2026

Alexander Bublik

Press Conference

A. BUBLIK/M. Fucsovics

7-5, 6-4, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Alex, congrats. A tricky opponent out there, but you managed to get through. How does it feel?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: It feels great. It was tricky conditions. As you can see, it started to rain. So it was like a little stormy today. I wasn't expecting that.

You know, when we were warming up, it was totally normal weather. And when we came on the court, it was a bit windy. It was more from our end, you know, to land the shots you have to land, you know, in that condition.

For me, I'm really happy with the way I stayed mentally and kept fighting, even being down the break in the third set.

Q. Alex, it feels like we're getting a more locked-in Bublik than we've had. Are you enjoying it maybe more than previous years?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: Definitely, I enjoy more winning than in the previous years. For me it's really, like, that's how I started to play, like probably from around Madrid, Rome, Turin last year. And I continue with that.

You know when the things are working and think you have to change something. So for me it is more about keeping the consistency, keeping the rhythm, doing the things that are working now. As long as it's working, I'll try to continue.

If something needs to be changed or adjusted, I hope to be on time, you know, not to be delayed like I was with probably 2025, a bit of the losing of the rhythm at the beginning.

So maybe if some adjustments need to be done I hope to be on point with that.

Q. Congrats. Another really good win. Sort of 5-2 down in the third set it felt like maybe the Sascha Bublik of a year ago, two years ago, might have packed it in on that set and said Move on. But you didn't, you fought back and you won it, you were great. What's been the main trigger in that mental change for you to be able to push through in sets like that that maybe you wouldn't have done before?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: Well, you know, with years to come I aged a bit, I matured a bit. I think, as I said in the past, I'm treating it more like a work. Like, you know, I came here to do things. I came here to win matches. I came here to do everything that is in my power, not against the rules, or against the codex of a gentleman, you know, whatever you can call it, to make to get the win.

So I'm trying to fight. I'm trying to get the balls back. This is the mentality I catched, as I said, since last year. And I try to continue, because I mean I have no joy of coming here, taking the third set, losing, I don't know, in five, you know, yelling, breaking racquets. I don't feel need to do that.

So for me it's more about fighting. If I can fight till the end and try to get the win, it's good that it worked today, but we'll see how it's going to be in the next matches.

Q. You said before that your aim for this year was to break the top 10. You've already done it. What do you want to achieve? You've done that. What personal goals do you have alongside wanting to provide for your family you have spoken about as well?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: Well, I guess, just be a nice guy to my family. I think that's important. I mean, keep your feet on the ground, work hard, play tennis. You know, I guess that's all I can ask. And that's what I should deliver I think as a human being.

I mean, I try to be a good dad, try to be a good husband, a good friend. So for me if you ask me besides tennis, I think that's what I have.

Q. If you look back at the last, like, five, 10 years of your career, you talk about not getting enjoyment out of smashing racquets. You have spoken before about not wanting to waste the opportunity you have got now. Do you feel like you have wasted some of the earlier years of your career not having this current mindset?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: No, because I think you can't really push someone. In my opinion, to be honest, everyone was telling their kids to learn from other's mistakes. I think we actually learn from our own mistakes.

You can't really push someone, in my opinion, unless you're going to break the guy. Maybe the results will come, but you may break a person. Everyone was telling me that. It's not like I am playing first year or second year. I've been on tour for, what, like, eight straight seasons in the top 50, or seven straight seasons, and besides that I was already top 100 in 2017. So it has been a long way. And I was listening to that and I was getting a lot of that, but it doesn't clicked in.

You know, it's the same I used to like to eat junk food a lot. And I used to drink a lot of Coca-Cola, or whatever, but now I don't because that's my choice.

The same with that mentality. So that's my choice. That's my choice that I feel that it's nice, you know, to stay in the rhythm, it's nice to sleep well, it's nice to be with your family instead of going out. So that's more of a natural way of things.

For me, if you say I wasted years, if you look from the perspective I am now, it may seem like this. But I was happy. I was doing what I felt to do. I knew the consequence.

So I was really pragmatic in the way that I knew that if what I'm doing, I'm not capable of things, I'm not capable of being stable, top 20, top 30 player. I was always like 32, 35, 27, you know, throughout the years. But I knew it.

So I gave full, you know, response to myself, Okay, Alex, you like it like this, you are happy, you have your kid, you have your wife, maybe at the time it was a girlfriend, you're happy, you do whatever you want and you're still an actual player that is still in top 50, you still make finals, maybe I won one. You know, all of a sudden I won a title and I was happy.

So looking back, I would not change a thing. I don't know what's going to happen to Alex Bublik in five years' time. Will I be locked in like now, or maybe even more, or maybe even hungrier? Or I will say, Guys, I don't want to come to some tournaments because I want to be home.

So for me it is more of a natural way and learning from your mistakes. I guess that's important to a keep yourself full, you know, not break parts or give pieces to someone because someone told you that this is a good way you should do it, you know, squeeze your teeth, you go work, and then at the end it's nice if you succeed. What if you don't?

We've seen so many career endings now from the guys my age, which is sad, which I don't believe. The guy was someone who was playing one year ago against me and now is a coach. I'm like, Okay. And for me that's an indication of someone who make finally a decision they like. Maybe they don't want to play any more. I respect that a lot when people make their own decisions.