00:00Yeah, amazing, amazing feeling. Obviously, it was a tough match. I felt like I was playing
00:11some good tennis from the back of the court. And yeah, so I'm happy about today's performance.
00:17Thank you very much. One question each. We have a big room. English and then we'll go
00:21to Italian. Questions. Russell.
00:25Yannick, congratulations. Russell Fuller from the BBC. It's quite unusual to win a first
00:30and a second Grand Slam in the same year. So which of the successes did you find harder?
00:36Was it harder to win in Melbourne or harder to win here in New York?
00:41I believe that you can't really compare them because it's different circumstances, different
00:50times of the year. I believe that in Melbourne it was a kind of relief because in my mind
00:57it was like I was working for it and you never know if you can win one Grand Slam or not.
01:05But when you win one, you know that you can do it potentially. Here it was difficult because
01:12also the pre-tournament circumstances were not easy. I felt like that I've grown match by match
01:22and that my confidence level went higher and higher at some point. But it was different
01:31because I had maybe a bit more pressure this time than in Australia. So I'm happy how I handled
01:39this one and I'm just excited to have this trophy with me.
01:45Matt Futtermuth, The Athletic. Congratulations. You mentioned the pre-tournament circumstances.
01:52Was there a point during the past two weeks where you were really able to leave that all behind
01:58and move on from it in a way? What allowed you to do that?
02:03What allowed me to do that was always the people who are close to me daily. People who know me
02:14already from when I was very young and also my family and my team and everyone who supports
02:22me daily. I always try to stick together with them, especially when the moments are getting
02:29difficult and tough because I know that they can help me in these moments.
02:36It was and it's still a little bit in my mind. It's not that it's gone but when I'm on court I
02:44try to focus about the game, I try to handle the situation in the best possible way,
02:51communication with the team. In practice courts at the end of the day we always try to improve
02:58as a player. That's why we practice for. It was not easy, that's for sure, but
03:07in the other way I try to stay focused which I guess I've done a great job also mentally,
03:14staying there every point I play and that's it.
03:19I just wonder how you feel about the fact that the Grand Slams in 2024 all went to you and Carlitos
03:29and maybe the fact that the big three did not win a major this year for the first time in
03:3422 years. Does it feel different to you now at these Grand Slams given that?
03:40Well, it is a bit different for sure. It's something new but it's also nice to see new
03:47champions, nice to see new rivalries. I always have players and I will always have players who
03:57are going to make me a better player because there are going to be times where they beat me,
04:03then you have to try to find a way how to win against certain players and also today we saw
04:09that not everything was perfect. I could have served slightly better but this makes me realise
04:17that the work never stops. It's always a continual work which at the end of the day,
04:26if you want to be a better player you always have to work and you have to have these daily routines
04:32except difficult times on court. I feel it's good for the sport to have some new champions.
04:43Young lady in the middle.
04:46You said on the court that it means so much because it hasn't been an easy period. I just
04:50wonder whether you could put into words how much you felt there's been a cloud hanging over you
04:55during the tournament?
04:58During the tournament?
04:59Yeah.
05:01It's difficult to describe everything because me and my team and the people who are close to me,
05:09they know what I've been through in the last months. It was not only
05:17one week before the tournament, it was months.
05:24In this moment, as I said before, I always try to close myself with people and
05:30understand what happened and try to accept it in a certain way. When the work starts I try to enjoy.
05:43Obviously it was very difficult for me to enjoy in certain moments how I behaved or how I walked
05:49on the court in certain tournaments before. It was not the same as it used to be. Whoever knows
05:56me better, they know that something was wrong. During this tournament, slowly I restarted to
06:07feel a little bit more how I am as a person. It doesn't really matter what the result was.
06:14This tournament for sure helped me a little bit. Now it's good to have a small amount of time
06:22a little bit off and then to restart again from China.
06:30You dedicated this title to your aunt. I was wondering if you wanted to
06:34share the relationship that you have with her, what role she played in your life.
06:39Yeah, my aunt, she is a very important person because when my parents
06:48were young, they were working every day and all day. Sometimes when I had to go to
06:57ski races, I went with her. She always helped me in summertime when my parents were
07:07working and I had some days off or free days. When you're young, you don't go to practice every day.
07:13So I hang around a lot with her and she's a very important person in my life.
07:22And this also, especially when I had this difficult time, I tried to see it in a different way.
07:27Sport, things can happen, unfortunately. But the real life is something different.
07:38We travel a lot, so it's difficult to spend time with the people who
07:41you really love. But if I would have more time, for sure, I would spend more time with the people
07:49I really care about. It was and is a really difficult moment now, but I just also have to
08:01accept that not everything is perfect.
08:07Yeah, Mike, you spoke about some of the challenges before this tournament and how you've dealt with them.
08:15How do you think you'll look back on this year, from the Australian Open
08:19to those challenges to winning the US Open?
08:23Yeah, it was a great run overall. For sure, winning the first Grand Slam of the year gives
08:31you confidence, it gives you good feelings. But in the other way, you always have to work,
08:41it never stops. You always keep going and keep going. Until now, I didn't have so much time off
08:49to say, OK, you've done a great job. But yeah, it's also a big thanks to my team, because
09:04we always try some new things out. Tactically, how can you play better against certain opponents?
09:13How do you work on certain shots, whether you feel better or not? I was a lot in the gym,
09:19because I knew physically I still had to improve, and I still have to improve a lot. But this is all
09:25part of sacrifices you make for the eventual future. We will keep working. In my mind, I know
09:36that I'm not perfect and I will never be perfect, but we always try to evolve in my game.
09:44And then after my career, I can say, OK, I've done everything possible to be at 100 per cent.
09:54What do you think this title means for the tennis world, given the pre-tournament
10:00circumstances and all the reactions that have been in the tennis world?
10:07What do you mean?
10:09What do you think this title means, considering the pre-tournament events and all the reactions
10:18that we have seen in the tennis world? I don't know. You have to ask all the other players.
10:29I don't know. What I can say is that the general reaction of the players was quite positive,
10:40even when things came out. There have been, of course, some different voices,
10:47but this is in everything. This is not only in tennis, this is in other sports and different
10:54jobs also. You can't really do anything about that. That's why you have, as I said before,
11:02the people who are close to you. These are the people who know what was going on and what
11:10I and my team went through, because it was not only me, it was the whole situation.
11:16That's it. I just can talk from my side and from my team's perspective, and we are all
11:24very proud of this achievement.
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