"Today was really hard mentally for me" - Kyrgios on playing de Minaur

The score would have you believe that Kyrgios smashed de Minaur and he did but the Australian fought a hard battle inside his mind.

Kyrgios generally doesn't like facing good friends on the court because it's hard for him to get into the right mindset. It was particularly hard against de Minaur as it came after he beat Medvedev which was a new type of rush for him:

"Incredibly tough after yesterday's big high, playing Daniil, and the crowd was amazing. It was a day I'll probably never ever forget. Today was really hard mentally for me to go out here and play Alex. We're such good friends and he's been having such a good career so far and carrying the Australian flag for so long. It was just tough mentally. It's never easy to play a player like that, especially if they're Australian."

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Kyrgios did not try to think too much and it was reflected in the way he played. There was not much thinking as he simply looked for quick ways to finish points and it worked in his favour:

"I just got out here and got the job done. I played the way I had to play. He's a hell of a player. If you play to his strengths, he's one of the best players we have in the game and he's so fast. He's going to have a hell of a career."

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The Australian played a lot of tennis recently and days are starting to look the same to him:

"These days are starting to blend into one another. I'm just kind of playing the game, physio, eat, sleep, play. It's tiring, but that's the sport. I am missing home a little bit, I'm not going to lie. I've got my mum and my dad, I haven't seen [them] in about three months. So I'm missing home but at the same time I know that it's only a couple of tournaments before I go [back]."

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