AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2026

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

Press Conference

A. DAVIDOVICH FOKINA/R. OPELKA

6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Alejandro, it was a long tough match today. Just take us through that, like, what do you feel you could have done something differently, kept it tighter? Just take us through that.

ALEJANDRO DAVIDOVICH FOKINA: Yeah, well, today was a not easy match. He was serving very good today as first serve and second serve. The second serve was like the first serve. And he improve a lot. I didn't expect he improve a lot from the baseline. So he was putting more pressure in the return.

And yeah, the first two sets I think I played very good. He break me in the beginning of the third and fourth set, so he was more calm and I was more tighter and tighter.

Yeah, in the fifth set in the end, in the beginning again I saved a couple of break points. And yeah, he didn't give me any chance till the last game to have a break point or whatever.

So it was a tough one. It was not physically much, but mentally and guessing where he's going to serve because really he was serving unbelievable, and I was not seeing where he was going to serve, so yeah.

Q. Alejandro, well done. You play Tommy Paul next, another American. You guys have played a fair bit before, you're similar players. I'm curious what it's like to play him, to play someone who plays kind of a similar game as you did?

ALEJANDRO DAVIDOVICH FOKINA: Yeah, well, it's going to be a battle. We play two times here. The first time was in five sets, he beat me. And I was dead last year. I will not count that one.

But every time I practice or play against him, he always putting a lot of pressure, even when he's serving and returning. So we kind of have similar game, it can be, but maybe I'm a little bit more aggressive than him.

What I saw this week and last week in Adelaide, he was playing very good from the baseline. And yeah, that's all.

Q. Congratulations on the win. There is a moment where you slipped and fell at the end of a point and the crowd was chanting US for him. You shouted something back. Can you tell me about that moment and what you said?

ALEJANDRO DAVIDOVICH FOKINA: Yeah, well, I twisted my ankle and he won the point. And I think it's not fair for me they cheered that point because maybe I could get twisted worst. But, no, it was a low twist. I didn't have anything. I didn't have any pain.

But at the end it was not fair that they were cheering at that point because it was a free point for him.

Q. I'm not sure how closely you're following news about the USA, but does it bother you at all that they have so many problems there and so many of their fans were cheering so hard for the country?

ALEJANDRO DAVIDOVICH FOKINA: No, I think today was a very good match. The crowd wanted to see a fifth set. It can happen here, it can happen wherever in the world.

So there were four ignorance drunks that I cannot doing nothing about. Nothing more.