Talk us through your first-round win and how you thought you played uh tennis-wise um probably one of the most uncomfortable matches I’ve played in my career just tried to
you know I feel like we both had a game the plan we know our game so well but to block out like the body like his body and just like playing the tennis ball like I was not trying to look at him at all um and I felt like that kind of help me you know in the first couple of sets I played incredible from the back of the court I had a real
The clear game plan of trying to move him as much as I could and not let him dictate because when the ball’s on his racket and um you know he’s dictating plays he’s probably one of the best players in the world and um I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that forehand tonight so you know I served pretty good a pretty you know average first percentage for me like the high 60s but I just returned and my the intent from the back of the court was late today great thank you very much questions Craig have you ever felt like that playing anybody else and I know you were saying you were trying not to look at
Him but can you explain how difficult that was in the middle of a match in the middle of points yeah it’s just I feel like there’s probably two players two or three players that you know after tennis I’m probably gonna stay in contact with you till I probably die, to be honest, and Thanos is one of them and it’s just really hard because I feel like I was telling some people I feel like he had a really good opportunity you know the way his body is and the way
He’s holding up physically and you know his belief to play match after the match felt like he had a good opportunity to go far in the draw um so when I saw our names it was obvious it’s unfortunate because you know the way I’m playing and the goals I have you know I felt like I had a good the opportunity this tournament as well and I saw his name and I was just like a mixture of emotions um but look it is what it is I thought I dealt with it pretty professionally um the
The first couple of sets were pretty much flawless from me um yeah never an easy game Kolonaki’s like it’s a like a reminder of who you’re playing every time he wins a game so it’s not easy Nico, you were playing after Serena and I are just wondering how did that play out for you there was so much hype around it and what was it like even stepping on the court because it was a night session but somehow after Serena things were lifted oh I feel like knowing the draw three or four days before actually going out there helped a
A lot I felt like initially when you see the draw you know you have this rush of emotion and
you don’t know how to deal with it then you have like four days to kind of find your feet and hit knowing who you’re playing and your schedule came out and I saw that I was following Serena with like two days before I’m playing and I’m kind of thinking well
this is probably going to be the biggest match of her career like not of her career but you know us open is probably not going to have a bigger match and then to follow that’s it’s a
A special opportunity like to play one of my probably best friends after Serena’s you know
possible last match and with the record-breaking attendance it’s insane it’s a night that I’m never going to forget my 200th win as well so a couple of accolades today and it was it
Was good I felt like it was I’d rather play after Serena because the crowd was amazing still the atmosphere was electric so it was fun you used the word professional before it
felt to me like you were I mean it’s because you were focused on blocking them out but you felt really focused and efficient on your service as well as not always going for too much but getting you to know the serves where you wanted and kind of ending the points
Quickly were you conscious of trying to be kind of very efficient in addition to dictating
the points um well I didn’t look the key against I think against the nazi for my game, in particular, is I need to make plenty of first serves and just try and dictate whenever possible literally whenever I can change direction I have to change the direction you know so I can’t ever let him feel like he’s settled from the back of the court and um you know the way I’ve been serving well 215 220 quite easily for the last six months and you know today I took a bit off it when I needed to you know tried to spread the cord as much as I could um but yeah I mean look I’m always trying to be efficient on my serve because i
feel like the way I’m returning I’m able to put a lot of pressure on people’s service games so
I thought I executed my game plan well today and I had three break points in the third set you know if I didn’t if I took one of those the match you know it’s a lot is a lot quicker than you know the tie break if I lose that you know we all know how to tie breaks go and he can swing either the way you know he gets that bit of momentum who knows who could be out there still battling right now so um I was thankful to get that time break let me tell you okay we’re going to take two more questions it’s late yes hi nick dish with ESPN congratulations on
the win today um you talked about being exhausted before the beginning do Do you feel any different today or you know is it just the culmination of a similar feeling or do you have fresh energy from the wind today no I’m exhausted um you know 99 of the tennis tour doesn’t understand what it’s like to be on the road for this long and I’m not even doing it like that long compared to other Australians or Australians who have been on the road
for five or six months um you know I’m closing in on four months and it’s brutal you know there are new babies being born in my family mum’s sick my dad’s not well and I have to continue to travel could because I’m from Australia, we don’t have any choice so you know obviously, I’m exhausted but I have no choice but to wake up and try and put in my best performance today and I’m not complaining I’m just saying like it’s hard it is hard because people don’t understand everything that I’ve got going on at the moment um so
you know I’m proud of my performance you know the maturity to just put all that aside yeah I miss home a lot and you know so does my girlfriend she misses her family’s newborn baby in that family too and we have to continue to travel and play because we don’t have
The luxury of going home every week if we want to so it’s just another challenge that i
have to deal with but you know our last stop here before home so let’s see what we can do here okay Craig last question, please In the end when you were in when y’all embraced what was that feeling like it was just like a sense of relief or thank goodness it’s over or what did you say to each other just I he said
Too good and just as soon as we have our lockers are next to each other in the change room so I walked over into I walked over to the NASA and I said look that was the most uncomfortable I’ve ever felt on a tennis court um it doesn’t feel right doesn’t you know we’ve shared so many moments um on tennis the court on the doubles court and we’ve had
So much success but it’s just the real-life stuff that the respect that we have with each other you know we’ve been through some things together when I was struggling he was always supportive I roomed with him and he always cared and we always just he’s seen me grow up and I’ve seen him grow up I’ve seen him be resilient through all his injuries and to see him performing on the bigger stage and proud of him in a way as well but we just have respect off the court which is trump’s anything on the court that but it was uncomfortable I don’t want to do that again, to be honest
