00:00Yeah, it was a it was a really tough match for me I think I had a
00:10You know a plan of what I wanted to do going out but a lot of I
00:16mean some parts of it I did well and a lot of parts of it I
00:21I didn't
00:23Definitely didn't I guess hit the ball as
00:26As well as well as I expected to and that's something that's big if I wanted to just
00:31you know go back and forth and ball strike with him because he's
00:35such a such an amazing ball striker and
00:40Yeah, I feel like I
00:43Served improved the serve a lot in the second set the first set my service was really struggling and then
00:49Third set started to kind of put it together a bit more with just hitting the ball hitting hitting my forehand a little bit better
00:56put myself put myself in a good position to win the third but
01:01Just I mean he played he played a good game when I I went to serve it out
01:06but
01:07Yeah, I mean that's kind of just how it goes when you're I mean I'm playing the you know
01:12He's the best best player in the world right now
01:15my plan
01:17My plan he's not working the the plan B that I fall back on
01:23you know would normally be just like
01:26Bringing everything in being a little bit safer
01:30Grinding it out and that you know that works along with my serve against some other you know
01:36a lot of other players, but I guess him when I tried to kind of
01:41Bring it down not be as aggressive then. He's just gonna
01:44He's gonna bully me a little bit too much, so I you know it was tough that I guess my
01:51Plan a wasn't wasn't really working for me until like you know the third set I started to kind of get it going
01:57Thank you one question each
02:01Brian
02:05Cheers from I mean when you play such an emotional and long semifinal
02:11I'm curious to Friday have any impact on today, and if so was it more
02:16Physical and like you was it more emotional having to I I don't really think I
02:23Don't really think it had too much of an impact. I think my body didn't feel like amazing maybe yesterday, but I
02:30mean like we're in the
02:32We're six matches in it's the finals of slam like I don't really expect to be feeling like
02:38Fresh you know I saw you know all things considered. I think my body felt felt fine and mentally. I think honestly
02:45I thought it was a good thing I
02:47was
02:49Very I guess nervous going into the semifinal and I didn't feel anywhere
02:55Near as nervous going into to this match as as I did in the semis, so I thought emotionally
03:03You know it's obviously the US Open final. I want to win. It's it's it's a it's a really big moment, but I
03:11Felt like
03:12emotionally I was gonna be okay because I
03:16Knew it wasn't gonna be as bad as I was before my semi-final match, and I found a way to get through that
03:22Troy
03:25Francis any other day how different it feels now
03:27How much more open it feels and that this tournament has really like reinforced that I just wondered
03:32I mean compared to like the big three peak here. I just wondered how you feel like going forward
03:37I guess like how much more confident or how much more open it feels now. Yeah, I mean obviously I mean obviously like
03:44Carlos or Novak, and you know some people lost early on in this tournament, so it really opened up the draw a lot and
03:52You can only really beat who's who's in front of you, but I
03:56Mean I think it's
04:00really positive for me, and I because I I don't feel like
04:05At any specific point in these two weeks. I don't feel like I was playing like amazing tennis. I guess I feel like I was I
04:13mean
04:16Playing solid like nothing I guess
04:20Special like I feel like I'm
04:22Having my back in as good as I'd like to I haven't been serving as good as I'd like to
04:27luckily I can still get away with it and hold but
04:31Maybe I mean
04:34Maybe maybe it is a bit more open. I don't think you have to I don't know play unbelievable to
04:42Go deep in tournaments and content like I said, it's different like you
04:47Know back and and Carlos lost you know I would have had to play a
04:51Really really a great match if I happen to play Novak
04:55somewhere else in the draw, but
04:57yeah, I mean, I think that
05:00you know you can find yourself a little deeper in the draws like quarterfinals and stuff if you just
05:06Play solid tennis. I still think to beat the top guys you need to you know you need to bring your your best game Howard
05:16It had been a little bit of time since you had played Yannick
05:20Is he has he improved in that span and if so are there specific things?
05:27Could it point to that make it feel more challenging or difficult again?
05:31I mean, I'd say he's definitely improved a little bit since I beat him in straight sets at Indian Wells in 2021
05:40Yeah, he
05:42The biggest improvement by far is is to serve
05:46If I'm gonna go back from the cuz I played him in in 20
05:49I played him in last year Indian Wells, and he had already improved to serve I think
05:54From then I don't think there's that I don't think the improvements like a ton. I think that's he was I think he was
06:02Very very good at that point
06:04And he had just kind of been injured pulled out of a lot of tournaments when he was already like deep into it
06:09So like at that time he was ranked like I think outside the top ten
06:13Like I got kind of a tough draw was the top eight seed and I had to play I had to play him but I
06:20Think at that at that point
06:24He was very close to
06:27You know he's improved now with confidence and winning, but I think he was very close to the level
06:32at that point he just
06:34Had yet to show all of the the results because after after that he had a I mean he went
06:40He lost to Carlos that week won Miami the next week was you know
06:45Unbelievable all last year and starting this year as well, so I think that was kind of like the start of it
06:51If I want to go back to like the 2021 Indian Wells
06:55Yeah, I mean the serve and the movement massive improvements. I could
07:00Find myself in a lot of a lot of return games just off of his first serve
07:06I felt like I could get myself in points off of his first serve every time and
07:10Then it was much easier to hurt him from the ground as well. So he's much faster a
07:18Lot better out of the corners and his service his serve is very good now, please turn off your devices Larry
07:25Understanding that the match didn't end all that long ago can you
07:31Appreciate what you've done in this tournament can can you define this tournament as a success or
07:36Do you have to wait a little while?
07:39Yeah
07:41Not not yet, I
07:44there's obviously a lot of like a lot of positives and
07:51When I when I get some time to like cool down, you know, then it's I
07:58Think I'll be you know
07:59I'll be happy about the fact that I made it to the finals and stuff like that
08:04but right now it's
08:07I'm pretty I'm pretty just disappointed and
08:12How like I just a lot of a lot of things on the court how I
08:16How I played how I hit certain shots it it sucks. I'm not saying like that
08:23It necessarily would have made a difference. I don't know if it would have but I just would have liked to
08:29I've
08:31Played better and giving myself a better chance. So it's it's you know, it's really disappointing right now. I feel like I I
08:38I
08:40Don't know I feel like
08:42the fans obviously American fans been wanting a
08:47men's champion for a long time and I just I don't know I'm pretty upset of with high
08:54how I play it and I I feel like I
08:57I don't know. I feel like I almost let a lot of people down there. We'll have time for a few more David Cindy Willie
09:09When you came out onto the court you looked pretty confident
09:13And I just wanted the whole occasion generally did was it different to how you expected it in any way?
09:20What's the match actually got underway?
09:24Not really, I think just kind of
09:27Walking on the court and and just like hearing
09:32the crowd go crazy and just kind of like soaking in the moment of like
09:37like I'm you know, like I'm walking out to play my match on ash in the US in the US Open finals is like
09:44What I what I dreamed about my whole life it like almost got me like a little bit emotional but I was just like I
09:51Was just really happy and ready to enjoy the moment. And like I said, I I just I really
09:57Because I didn't feel like overly nervous. Like I felt pretty good
10:02I just really expected to come out and play better from the start
10:07last two Cindy
10:09You go from here to Berlin for Laver Cup
10:12Is there some comfort in rejoining your friends your countrymen over there in that team competition?
10:18for sure, I think I
10:20Think coming from like just the highs of like playing the US Open like at home with the crowd like and
10:28Then also just being so like mentally locked in for these like two weeks. It's
10:33it would be really tough to go play like a
10:36Another like individual tournament, that's not gonna have the same like
10:41Just energy of playing like nothing really matches playing like being an American playing like the US Open. So it's
10:47It's amazing that I'm gonna get to go play like
10:50just a really fun event that I enjoy with all my friends because if
10:55It's pretty impossible for me to like not be fired up like playing a match when I have all these guys on the bench
11:01like kind of
11:03going crazy for me and also like
11:05it's just a fun tournament to like or event to just
11:09Compete in and be with the group of guys. So like yeah, I'm you know, it's it's a it's a good
11:16Time in the calendar for this. I think kind of just like play that and then you know
11:21Almost like recharge a little bit mentally
11:24To go I guess grind it out in Asia afterwards
11:27Willie last question given what you were sick of being asked about and when you hadn't had the opportunity to do before
11:35What do you think you proved to yourself at this tournament? I
11:41Think I
11:42Think the biggest thing is like like I said before and I just I
11:48Played solid this week, but I played very
11:52Within myself. I don't think I
11:56At any point was like wow, I'm playing
11:59Incredible or I'm I'm playing out of my mind, you know, and I think that's
12:04just extremely
12:08Reassuring to me that I was able to get to this point
12:12just just playing playing solid tennis and and I know that
12:17there's still a lot of a lot of room for improvement and something I've said throughout my
12:21Entire career whether it's when I won my first
12:24ATP point or I won my first challenge or I made
12:28My first round of 16 or whatever it is. I've always said once I do something
12:32Once I I just feel a lot more confident and being able to do it again. That's something that's
12:39That's always stuck with me sometimes it's taking me some time to get to a certain achievement
12:43but I've always felt like once I've done something I
12:47Gain a lot of confidence that I can do it again. So
12:52It's it is a great feeling to have gotten to this point knowing that
12:58You know, I'm playing well, but I'm playing very within myself and I I feel like it's it's it's repeatable
