00:04Alex, congratulations on the win today.
00:06Impressive scoreline.
00:07What was working so well for you?
00:09Yeah, everything.
00:10Everything was working well.
00:12Serve good, moving good, feeling good on the clay.
00:15It's been a long stretch, but I feel like I've learned a lot
00:18and become a better clay court player.
00:20So I'm really glad that showed in the results today.
00:27Yeah, what do you feel like is clicking for you
00:30that you sort of feel like looking like you've solved something
00:32about how to make your game work on clay?
00:34Yeah, I feel like I'm just making a lot more balls from the baseline.
00:37I'm not going for silly hard court or grass court shots like I usually do
00:41because I never grew up on clay.
00:43And I think just eliminating those bad decisions got me to the win today.
00:51Alex, congrats.
00:51I was listening to Lindsey on TNT yesterday.
00:54She was saying it's a great opportunity for American men
00:57because of the condition, so I wanted to get your take on it.
00:59It's hot.
01:00Everybody says it's playing faster, but can you explain to me actually
01:03what it's like on the court, why it maybe is playing differently
01:06because of the heat?
01:07Yeah, Lindsey's totally right.
01:09It's definitely good for us Americans.
01:11It's definitely moving fast when it's hot.
01:14It's probably, what, 90 today or 30, whatever country you're from.
01:17But, yeah, it's moving fast.
01:19And I think, you know, Americans generally were, you know, big serve,
01:23big forehand, you know, big ground game and likes to play offense.
01:26And I think when it's super hot, the ball is moving through the air very fast.
01:29And I think it's great.
01:30It's definitely great for my game.
01:31I love it.
01:32I was so happy when I saw the forecast.
01:33It's going to be so hot for the rest of this week.
01:36And, yeah, it's really good for all of us.
01:42Can you elaborate a little bit more?
01:44Is it just a pace through the court?
01:46Is it bounce?
01:46Is the clay feel different under your feet?
01:48Are there other reasons you like it just other than it's fast?
01:52I mean, no.
01:53That's really the main thing.
01:55And also the Roland Garros courts are so perfect.
01:57It's very – it's not taking any bad bounces or crazy high bounces
02:01like on pretty much every other stop that we have.
02:05but mostly it's just the ball moving through the air very fast.
02:07That's just generally how it goes when it's warmer, yeah.
02:11Alex, hello.
02:11There's a lot of U.S. fans here in Roland Garros.
02:14Do you feel that on the court?
02:17Yeah, I had a couple – I had a couple of boys around my age
02:19that were screaming after every point I won on one of the sides,
02:22which was fun.
02:23But, yeah, I mean, I also played on court 12,
02:27so I don't think there were, you know, too many Americans out there.
02:31But, you know, maybe in my second-round match,
02:32I'm also playing another American.
02:33And so, yeah, hopefully all the Americans will come out.
02:40Hi, Alex.
02:43Congratulations.
02:43You're playing Nishesh, who you know from your junior days.
02:48Can you talk a little about that match
02:49and how that matchup is for you?
02:52Yeah, it's going to be very, very interesting.
02:54I actually thought when he was, you know, supposed to play Taylor,
02:57I thought that was going to be tough because he's going to use his hands
02:59and, you know, Shesh has very good hands and he's going to be a tough out
03:02and he's a very good competitor.
03:04And, you know, we played our first match against each other
03:06when we were probably eight or nine years old.
03:09So, you know, it's pretty funny.
03:10We're getting to play here at a Grand Slam.
03:12But, yeah, it's going to be a tricky match.
03:13He's a very, very good player and I'm expecting it to be a very tough match.
03:18Hello, Alex.
03:19I'm a Belgian journalist and I just wanted to know,
03:22you've been working with Christophe Ligen for a couple of months.
03:26Can you tell me what he brought to your game
03:28and what do you like about working with him?
03:32Yeah, Christophe is amazing.
03:33We've been working together since October
03:37and he is just one of the smartest tennis minds that I've been around.
03:42He's got a lot of experience not only in tennis and in life
03:44and, you know, we talk a lot about other stuff besides tennis
03:48and he is a great guide and he's a great mentor as well as a coach.
03:52And I think all those things combined are also working on things.
03:55My serve has gotten better beforehand.
03:56He's taught me how to move a little better.
03:59And, you know, he's European.
04:00So there's a couple of different things like that.
04:02But, yeah, he's been great.
04:06Alex, there are still line judges here.
04:09What is your opinion about that in comparison to other tournaments?
04:12Well, today I was happy.
04:14You know, there's no mistakes.
04:15But I think, you know, eventually it's only human.
04:18People are going to make a mistake.
04:19And I do kind of like it to have the line judges.
04:24I think it's cool.
04:24But at the same time, I also feel the game is super fast now.
04:28And it's tough for humans to see, like,
04:31Riley Opelka serving 140 miles an hour.
04:34Like, how are you supposed to see that?
04:35It's really tough.
04:35But I think on the clay it's a little easier
04:37because you can see where the ball is bouncing.
04:39You have the mark, right?
04:39So I think, you know, if we're going to have line judges,
04:43I think clay is the best service to have them on.
04:46Anything else?
04:49Back to Nishesh.
04:50I think you guys have played a couple times on tour,
04:52a couple times at Challengers.
04:53But you played when you were eight or nine.
04:55How many times would you say you played before you got to the pro?
04:58And was he always the guy with the hands,
05:01the drop shot clinic like he put on yesterday at Fritz?
05:03Are you pretty used to see him play that way?
05:05Yes, he's always had the hands.
05:06He's always been very, very talented.
05:08I mean, in juniors, we played in the Easter Bowl final.
05:11I got him there.
05:13But other than that, I don't know if we played anymore in the juniors.
05:17And we played in Challengers, played in Next Gen.
05:19That was the last time I played him.
05:20And, I mean, most of the time it's been battles.
05:22And I remember one time, it was the week I broke top 100,
05:25I played him, and I didn't miss a ball.
05:27And, like, we talked about it actually not too long ago.
05:29We were laughing about it.
05:30Like, I couldn't miss a ball that day.
05:31And sometimes you have to do that to beat a player like that.
05:34So, yeah, it's going to be interesting.
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