A. de MINAUR/J. Mensik
6-3, 6-4
Team Europe - 6
Team World - 12
THE MODERATOR: Another strong performance from you today, Alex, and the team is now within clinching distance of taking the win. Do you want to talk us through the match and tell us how the mood in the camp is?
ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, very happy with the performance. I did what I needed to do today. It was very tough at moments. I thought he served really well, and I had to do my best to try and get in games and extend rallies as much as possible.
Just, yeah, I dug really deep through some tough moments, but I'm glad I was able to find the finish line at the end.
THE MODERATOR: Let's have some questions.
Q. I'm wondering, talking to you after the US Open, you were really particularly devastated after that loss to Felix, it seemed. I just wondered, the way things are going this weekend, if this does a lot to kind of reset your year and make you feel better about where your game is?
ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, 100%. Even before I started competing here, I took this as a big opportunity to take a step in the right direction and play the type of tennis that I want to be playing ultimately.
I've had a couple of tough matches and tough losses where I've had lots of regrets, and that wasn't easy to deal with. So a little change in mindset and kind of backing myself and playing the type of way I want to play with that clarity has been very important from the very first point until the last.
Yeah, it's definitely the way I want to be playing.
Q. Alex, on Team World what's one thing you learned about one of your teammates this weekend in San Francisco?
ALEX de MINAUR: What's one thing I've learned... jeez. Do you want to go?
VICE CAPTAIN PATRICK RAFTER: No, because they asked you that question, so you have to work out what was locker room talk and what is...
ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, exactly. No, I have learned that we have got a lot of great double options. Right? We're all really good doubles players, yeah.
Q. Kind of along those lines, you got some rookies, Laver Cup rookies. What do you think of Michelsen becoming the doubles specialist?
ALEX de MINAUR: Michel has been unbelievable. Every match he's stepped out. It's a very big stage, and he's gone out there and had a swing. He's brought the energy, the intensity. He's had that belief from the first point to the last.
I thought he's played some incredible tennis. You know, just to be put in that position where ultimately we're kind of saying he's the doubles specialist of the team, right, so there's a lot of pressure on him every time he steps out on court. He's delivered every time.
So it's been great to share the court with him and see him go out there and enjoy himself as well.
Q. Pat, you used the phrase "he answered the call to join the team" the other day. I guess you could also use that phrase, he's answered the call every time he's been called on this weekend to play. I wonder if you could kind of address that, and also, will you be calling him again if it gets to be 12-12.
VICE CAPTAIN PATRICK RAFTER: I think we've locked him in for the next five years is what I understood. He's laughing. He thinks it's funny.
What he's also discovered about himself is -- he always sort of downplays himself, he's pretty humble -- his doubles play is really good. He's a stand-out at the net. He volleys really well.
What I love today also in his singles, he got down Love-40. He came to the net a couple of times, got passed, and the other guy came in. All of a sudden you're down. Deuce point, and he comes in again on the guy's backhand. No worries, do it again, mate.
So that "never die" attitude, I'm sticking to my guns, I know my game, I know I can handle myself around the net... he's that type of player. He keeps coming forward. He keeps having a crack.
You know, when you bring Alex in, I mean, we tried to get him early, and his schedule, as we said, was brutal, but he looked at this event, and he did answer the call from the higher powers that be to get him here. He came along, which yeah, we're really grateful.
Without him, we would have seriously struggled. Singles and doubles, he's offered so much. We saw him today play clutch. We would have been lost without him.
Q. Guys, Taylor Fritz told Tennis Channel that you, Pat, and Andre let the players kind of set the line-up for today. So I'm wondering, you know, there might have been some disappointed Brazilian fans, but I'm wondering what kind of went into the thinking there?
VICE CAPTAIN PATRICK RAFTER: Do you want to answer that or me?
ALEX de MINAUR: No, that's a "you" question, mate (laughing). I'm glad I'm just a player here.
VICE CAPTAIN PATRICK RAFTER: Okay.
ALEX de MINAUR: You got this.
VICE CAPTAIN PATRICK RAFTER: Yeah, it was a little bit interesting. Andre really wanted to engage them. We were sort of leaning in certain directions.
I had a good chat to Joao about it as well, and he would have loved to have been out there. He knew that, but he also understands it's his first year. He's still learning, developing, and growing.
He would have been up against Alcaraz as well, and I'm sure he would have loved the occasion. He's a kid who is very confident.
So, yeah, we did put it out there, but after watching Fran play yesterday, it's pretty hard not to put him in, and he's got the record. You got the runs on the board. You're putting your best team in that you know at the time that you can play with.
For us, those three guys were the stand-outs, and so far, obviously he got lucky today. Did you get lucky?
ALEX de MINAUR: Always, mate.
VICE CAPTAIN PATRICK RAFTER: He just did his job brilliantly. Yeah, Joao, I think he would have really loved. He's not going to sit there and ring us up and whinge and bitch and moan to us on the side of the court. He's part of the team. He knows his structure. He knows what it's all about.
So, yeah, we have to try and get the job done. We have one more match to win. Somewhere we have to find it in this one or the next one.
You probably need to ask Joao that question how he feels, because he's the one left out, isn't he?
Q. Alex, for us observing from afar, it seems very evident that the coaching from the sideline from both Pat and Andre has resonated with you and all of your teammates. I'm curious how coaching in this event differs from the coaching you can receive in your typical tour-level event. I'm sure it helps that it's Pat and Andre, but do you feel as though coaching in an event like this is more beneficial than your typical tour-level event?
ALEX de MINAUR: Well, there's a couple of layers to this answer, but I'm going to start with the fact that you've got someone sitting on a bench with you in the changeovers. Not only that, you've also got your whole team, right, all giving you different bits of advice.
Plus, when you are playing on tour, you're lucky if you hear something from your coach, right, because at times it's so loud in the stadium. You're so far away. Lots of the time you don't hear too much. The majority is words of encouragement, right? There's no real kind of coaching that you can get or you can understand at the tour.
So this has been quite cool to be able to engage in conversations, and just even today, like, at times I was able to let them know what was going through my head, what I was feeling on the court, ask them how it looked off the court, whether I should keep on going for a certain place, if I should try to mix it up, what they kind of thought.
It was great to kind of get that type of reinforcement that ultimately I should just continue to back myself in the big moments. I think that was crucial to get out of, yeah, those tough moments even at the end, even when I went Love-40 down, and he came up with a couple of good passes.
I just was in a very calm state of mind. I just relaxed. I picked up the ball, bounced the ball, worried about the next point, and 40-All backed myself again and went out with a play that was so beneficial for me throughout the whole match. There again, gave me another crucial point and gave me the match point.
Yeah, it's been an amazing experience, and I've enjoyed every second of it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports