00:00Congratulations to him and his team. He definitely played better and deserved to win today. On
00:12my end, honestly the way I felt and the way I played from the beginning of this tournament,
00:18third round is a success. I've played some of the worst tennis I've ever played, honestly
00:23serving by far the worst ever. So yeah, if you play on a quick surface like this without
00:32the serve, without ability to win three points there, very low first serve percentage, many
00:38double falls, then you can't win. You can't win, especially against the guys who are in
00:44form like Alexey, who is serving big, puts a lot of pressure on your service game. So
00:50yeah, it was just an awful match for me.
00:55You mentioned a success just getting to the third round, given where your level is. If we go back
01:02a few weeks, given where your level was on that Sunday afternoon, which was maybe one of the best
01:08matches you've ever played, can you talk us through from there to here and was it just too much?
01:17I don't know, maybe. It's a different surface. Obviously it had an effect. I spent a lot of
01:25energy winning the gold and I did arrive to New York just not feeling fresh mentally and physically.
01:35But because it's US Open I gave it a shot and I tried my best. I didn't have any physical issues,
01:42I just felt out of gas. You could see that with the way I played from the very beginning,
01:49from the first match. I just didn't find myself at all on this court and that's all I can say.
01:57Life moves on. I mean, yeah, it's just trying to recalibrate and look for what's next.
02:08Howard?
02:10Did you try to change anything up? Was there anything you were able to attempt to do to slow
02:18him down? I mean, I tried so many things and sometimes that's an issue. You move away from
02:25the basics that work and then you just lose the basics. You lose the foundation, you lose the
02:31movement, the timing, the rhythm, the tempo, everything. Whether it's a serve or any other
02:35shot. It was just really a big struggle mentally for me to play these three matches here
02:43because I wasn't playing even close to my best. It's not good to be in that kind of state where
02:51you feel okay physically and of course you're motivated because it's a Grand Slam but
02:56you're just not able to find your game and that's it. Your game is falling apart and
03:01I guess you have to accept that tournaments like this happen.
03:07Yeah, you could argue that it's because of the Olympics but I don't know. I don't want to
03:13analyse that right now. I was just looking to really improve my game here on a daily basis but
03:19it just didn't happen. Can I ask you one other question? Wait, wait, wait. We're transitioning
03:25to serve. Is Alexey Poporin a real deal here? Can he contend for the title or maybe not quite
03:36there yet? I don't know what to make of that question. He's just beaten me, the defending
03:45champion here, so he deserves credit for that and respect. If he serves well, plays well,
03:53he can beat anybody. I mean, look, Alcaraz is out, I'm out, some big upsets. The draw is opening
04:02up. Obviously, Sinner is the main favourite but then Tiafoe is there as well as an American
04:10favourite. Fritz, Zverev, you have great guys playing well. Rublev, Dimitrov in this part of
04:16the draw. Anybody can take it. It's going to be interesting to see who takes the title again.
04:24Novak, you said that tournaments like this happen but they don't happen to you. What
04:29sense of appreciation do you have as you think about all the tournaments that you've gone way
04:35past this over all these years? Yeah, I mean, obviously fresh off the court you have a bitter
04:42taste in your mouth and you don't like losing even though I've had so many more wins than losses
04:51in this tournament and really any other. So I have to draw the line and see things from a larger
04:58perspective. Of course, I have to be content but it's hard to see the big perspective right now.
05:06You're just angry and upset that you lost in the way you played and that's it.
05:11But tomorrow is a new day and I'll obviously think about what to do next.
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