00:00Yeah, I mean, it's a crazy match. I think a lot of it was about just handling the moment
00:14and the pressure. And he was playing at a very high level, I felt like, in the third
00:24and fourth sets. And it was really about just staying in it and kind of just withstanding
00:33how much pressure he was putting on me from the baseline with how he was, I mean, just
00:38either pulling me off the court on every shot or taking the ball super early, changing directions,
00:42which is like it's so hard to do what he was doing so just consistently. So it was really
00:50just about trying to withstand it for as long as I could, keep holding serve and apply
00:55the scoreboard pressure and just hope at a certain point that the errors are going to
01:03come a little more, I'm going to get a little more looks to attack and be aggressive. And
01:07you know, it got to that point in the end, I finally started to get some mistakes from
01:13him and some balls that I could, you know, look to be a little more aggressive on.
01:20Thank you. One question each, please. Eva. Congratulations, Taylor. When you talk about
01:26kind of wanting to stay steady and then when you're out there realizing that Francis is
01:29starting to make those mistakes and you have an opportunity, was it difficult for you at
01:33that moment, like even though you've been steady the whole time to stay calm?
01:37It was, it was interesting. So I think we both came out, I think we both came out pretty
01:42tight. I think he actually might've came out a little, a little more tight than me, but
01:48he calmed down quicker than I did. So I stayed a little tight for a little longer, but he
01:58was able to kind of rebound after the break and then, and then take the first. And that
02:01was tough, really tough, I guess, mentally for me to kind of swallow that I was up a
02:08break. Like I, I kind of just gave it, I kind of just gave the set away off of like my,
02:13my mistakes and like me being nervous. And the second set served well, was able to consolidate
02:23a break. Third set played a really bad game to start and that was it. And then, yeah,
02:28when he started making those mistakes in the end of the fourth to let me win the fourth
02:35set, that's, it actually probably motivated me a little more because I was waiting the
02:42whole third and fourth set, the whole fourth set, especially I was just waiting for, I
02:45was just like, when's it going to come? When's it going to come? I'm drilling balls to his
02:48forehand. He's drilling them back, whipping me off the court, changing direction. Like
02:52it's just like, it's just kind of what I was waiting for. And then once he maybe started
03:00making some mistakes, started lifting the ball a little bit more, allowing me to attack
03:07more of anything, it calmed, it calmed me down, I think, because it just, I just felt
03:13like now I had some breathing room and it was more, more in my hands, I guess.
03:17Peter.
03:18Just, you know, you were emotional on the court afterward. Just what were you thinking
03:23in that moment? Like what, what were you feeling?
03:26Yeah. I mean, I, I think I hadn't really like fully, I guess, registered and like hit me
03:32when, when Banks, I guess, said the thing about how in the finals and, and the crowd
03:40was cheering, I'm just like, it's just kind of like how I am. I'm like a more emotional
03:45person when I'm happy, when I'm like really happy. Like I cry at like happy endings and
03:49movies and like not at like sad stuff. So that's like, kind of just like how I am. So
03:55it's just, yeah, it's just, it's just joy. Like the crowd cheering and kind of that realization
03:59like, wow, like I'm actually, I'm, I'm, I'm in like the finals of the U.S. Open. It's
04:04such a, you know, lifelong, I guess, like dream come true is something I've worked my
04:09whole, my whole life for to be in, be in this situation. So I think just kind of like realizing
04:15that and like got me a little bit choked up.
04:17Taylor, can you just discuss why you're confident that you have a shot on Sunday to bring this
04:24home for you?
04:25I've always enjoyed, enjoyed playing him. To be honest, I don't think that I'm going
04:32to be put in a more like stressful situation than I was today and playing in the final.
04:37I think today is like much more stressful than, than me playing, playing the final.
04:42And I just, I just feel good. I have a feeling that I'm going to come out and play, play
04:46really well. And when, when I play good tennis, it's, it's I think that level is good enough
04:55to win.
04:56Chris.
04:57Taylor, can you talk about the, the way you said you were overwhelmed and you talked about
05:02how well Francis was playing and how you had to manage it and try to apply scoreboard pressure,
05:06but it was, it was a seriously incredible effort by you to be able to do that, given,
05:12given the stakes in that. How are you able to do it? And do you think that's been an
05:16integral part of who you are as a tennis player all along?
05:20Yeah. I think one thing that's never been in doubt throughout my tennis career, like
05:27whether I'm playing awful or hitting one side bad or whatever the situation could be throughout
05:32my career, the ups and downs, I think one thing that's never been in question is just
05:36like my, my heart and how I'm always going to compete no matter what. And what I just
05:42kept telling myself was just to, just to keep fighting and to keep working. And if I, if
05:47I don't give it just, you know, everything I have and just lock in as much as I possibly
05:52can, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to regret it forever if I don't take every, it's,
05:58it's easy in that moment to just switch off and, and not, I guess not want to, but yeah,
06:06I just told myself I'm, I'm, I'm going to always regret it if I just don't give it everything
06:11I have to, to stay in. And it was big. I had to, you know, stay with him and some of those
06:15like really long, crazy rallies. Cause I wanted to show him that I wasn't going to, I wasn't
06:21going to go away and I was feeling fit and I was going to keep, keep running for everything
06:27and fighting for every point. And you know, I think, I think that itself made, made a
06:32big difference for me. Howard, Matt, Willie Howard, Taylor, Howard Fendridge for the Associated
06:39Press. Can you explain what you meant when you said a moment ago that you think tonight
06:44was more stressful than Sunday might be? And that was also part of when you were talking
06:50about Sinner and enjoying that matchup. If you could go into a little bit how or why
06:56that's the case. Yeah. I mean, I mean, it's, it's two, it's two Americans to make it to
07:03the final. Both of us want to be the guy to make it to the final. I had a six and one
07:10head to head leading into it. So it's like, and I'm not thinking that I'm, I'm not going
07:15into this thinking that I'm the favorite because everything's totally different when you're
07:22playing a match like this. He's been playing unbelievable all U.S. Open. He's been playing
07:27in the night match slot on every single match. Like I'm not thinking I'm, I'm the favorite,
07:33but it's tough to go in as like the record six to one, this is to make a U.S. Open final.
07:41Whoever wins it is the American that made it to the final. It's a, it's, I mean, it's
07:46a stressful situation to be in. It's, it's different from playing the world number one
07:52who you're probably not going to be the favorite against. But I think I've always, I've always
08:02played well against, against Yannick. I think we're, we're one in one. It's been a while
08:07since we played, but last time he got me in three at a, at Indian walls and I don't know,
08:14he just, he strikes, he hits the ball big. He's like a, a very strong ball striker, but
08:19I feel like I always hit the ball really, really nice off of, off of his ball. And yeah,
08:25I don't know. I think, I think I, I typically play well against him.
08:32Hey Tyler, well done. Um, you, you're so close to Francis, like on the court and you're passing
08:39him at changeovers. Is there any, before he cracked there and he had said his body was
08:46cramping and suffering from nerves. Do you sense anything in his body language, anything
08:51you're picking up that says this? I think there's something different here. I think
08:55he's wilting a little bit.
08:58To be honest, no, he did an incredibly good job of, uh, not showing me, to be honest.
09:03We played that one extremely long rally and I was trying my best to not show that I was
09:09pretty gassed after that point. For me, I feel like it's, it's more like I'm gassed
09:13for like 30 seconds to like a minute. I feel like I'm like, I can't stand up, but then
09:19once I can change, go to the changeover, sit down and like relax for a minute, then I feel
09:23like I'm totally fine. But in that moment, when I went over the towel box, I like bent
09:27over. I was, I didn't want to bend over. I had to, I looked over at him and he didn't
09:32like go hands to knees or anything like that. So I was like, okay, I know I feel awful.
09:37Like he, he has to feel a little bit tired, but he, he, he did a good job of making me
09:43believe that, uh, I guess he wasn't feeling any worse than, than I was. I think the only,
09:51the only thing that I thought was funny or that I noticed very early on in the match,
09:56I hit like a really, uh, like a really insane volley for, for me. And typically if I were
10:05to do something like that, Francis would be like laughing and I would look at, he loves
10:09to like laugh when I hit a good volley because, because he, I mean my, my volleys aren't great
10:14and he always like over exaggerates how bad it is. So I looked over him expecting him
10:19to be like smiling at me and he was like dead serious. So I was like, okay, he's like, he's
10:25really serious. He's really locked into this one because normally like he'd be, he'd be
10:29like joking about something like that.
10:31Uh, last two, Willie and then Richard, you can finish up.
10:35Taylor, what do you think your success and Francis's until tonight and what the rest
10:41of the Americans have done here means? And what do you think Sunday might mean for men's
10:46tennis after all these years?
10:48I think regardless of, regardless of the result, I think it, it gives hope and shows
10:55that we're, we're knocking on the door of, of, uh, of winning a slam. And we have this,
11:02this generation, this group of guys where there's like four or five of us that are,
11:07that are like actually at, uh, at this level. So it, uh, I mean, it shows that we're all
11:15moving in the right direction. I think that, um, whenever one of us does something, the
11:22others, the others follow, the others get belief from it. And, uh, yeah, I think, I
11:29think this is just the, uh, just the start for, for all of us.
11:34Richard, last question, please. Thank you, Taylor. You've been the leader of this particular
11:38group of guys for so long now from the outside, it's kind of always felt like really you were
11:44supposed to be the first guy to get to this breakthrough. And I just wondered if you
11:49ever saw it that way, or did you have that kind of belief all along? I know you're not
11:53one to say that you were the head of the group, but I imagine you had some belief that you
11:59were supposed to be the guy.
12:01I don't know if I, if I like, I mean, I wanted it. I wanted to be, to be the guy I, that's
12:11what I, all of us, all of us want to be. I wouldn't say I feel like, I wouldn't say
12:17I felt like I was entitled to it. Um, I just really just wanted, obviously, um, I've been
12:27the highest ranked for a while. I was able to win Indian Wells. And then I, I was, I
12:34was like the only one that didn't have a slam semifinal. So I really, I really wanted that,
12:40but no, I don't think I felt like it needed to be me or like it had to be me. I just, I
12:48really, uh, I don't know. I just, I just really wanted to have success at slams and to, and
12:55to get to this point. But, um, yeah, yeah. I don't know. I think it's, uh, it's just,
13:03it's just a great feeling to be here. And you know, the match tonight could have, could
13:08have gone either way and it could have easily been Francis in the final. And if it was,
13:12I, I would have been.
