00:02yeah i thought that was so loud
00:07yeah i thought it was a very positive week for me in cincinnati and
00:11i feel like i really picked up my level there um and had
00:15quite a few tough tough matches so yeah i thought it was
00:19uh great for me coming into this tournament and a good week for me to have
00:23and um yeah a lot of good battles out there
00:28posted an afternoon in central park over the weekend i'm just curious when
00:31you're here and have to deal with all the
00:32attention and expectations how much does it mean do you have those moments where
00:35you can kind of be a little bit more anonymous and just have like a quiet
00:38time ahead of this big tournament yeah that was yesterday and it was my
00:42first day off here so that's why i chose to do the
00:45chillest thing that i could think of and just uh relax on the grass in central
00:50park and yeah it was a really great way for me to reset and kind of recharge my
00:53batteries right before the tournament um but yeah i'm sure that we all have
00:57really busy weeks here i had quite a busy week but
01:00i love it and uh um i feel like it helps me kind of
01:05distract from the tournament and the pressure is having
01:08different things to to do and work with brands so
01:11yeah i had a really great week mixed with a lot of different things and i'm
01:15feeling good going into it
01:18hi mando welcome back um i was curious how you're feeling coming in to the u.s
01:24open as a returning finalist does it bring more
01:28excitement are you like more fans or more pressure like
01:33how are you feeling and dealing with it obviously you
01:36dealt with it earlier at wimbledon as well but yeah no i'm feeling great uh this
01:40is my favorite tournament to play so i'm always really excited and
01:43i look forward to this one the most and i'd say yeah the fans have been uh
01:48really great because at my practices i feel like i'm getting even more energy
01:52and um every time i step out i feel like
01:55it's such a great atmosphere so yeah it feels great to be back
01:58i mean sorry i'm always sitting like right in the line of the
02:03um i'm sorry for kind of a silly question but i'm
02:07wondering if you're aware of how um the fan edits of you online
02:10in your expressions during matches um they're very good but
02:15are are you are you aware of it what are your thoughts on it like are you
02:19naturally that expressive in life like i feel like i like make a lot of faces but
02:23maybe i wouldn't if i had a camera on all the time
02:25yeah no i see them and uh i feel like they're just
02:29on my friends for you page sometimes my friend is like i
02:32saw you across my instagram like 50 times today i don't know why
02:35so yeah no i definitely see them and they're
02:39very entertaining and very funny um but i didn't always think that
02:43because i've definitely always been very expressive and
02:47um an emotional player and like make all kinds of faces that i didn't even know
02:52my face could possibly make but yeah when i was 17 and i played in the french
02:57open like in the semis um i was uh going through the whole range of
03:02emotions and i was making all kinds of faces and the next morning i woke up
03:06and i saw like all the pictures and i was mortified and i told myself
03:10oh my god like this is awful i can never like make these faces again
03:14and i'm never gonna do it again but here we are today i just i can't help
03:19it it's it's who i am and um yeah now i'm able to find like find them
03:26entertaining and hilarious but at the time when i was a teenager i
03:30really thought that that was quite awful so did you ever did you make it
03:34like a full match without like just it would take so much concentration to be
03:37like keep your face straight i think it honestly depends on the
03:40match like i think those close matches really
03:43bring out that more emotional and expressive side in me and
03:46i don't think there's anything wrong with it i feel like when i try to
03:49hold off or uh kind of be more closed off in matches then that just
03:54sends me into a whole nother direction i don't want to go in and i feel like when
03:58i'm able to let that emotion out and reset it's actually really helpful
04:04amanda of course you took time off uh to rekindle your love for the sport i was
04:09wondering what would be your advice to
04:11younger kids who you know either experience burnout or
04:15don't love the sport as much as they used to when they played it their entire
04:18lives what kind of advice would you give to
04:20those kids yeah i think that's a really great
04:23important question um i think it depends the situation
04:27you're in obviously uh i think maybe stepping away for some
04:31time maybe if it's just two weeks or maybe a month or maybe longer than that
04:36depending on you know the situation you're in or
04:39how extreme it is uh so i think a break is
04:44number one um and kind of reassessing okay do do i want to continue with this does
04:49this still make me happy um and then figuring out like your values and
04:54your goals that's kind of something i always i always look at or just
04:58journaling figuring out you know the pros and cons of staying or
05:01um stopping i think the most important thing is to really sit down with
05:05yourself before sitting down with others and
05:08taking advice from kind of everybody because i feel like everyone has an opinion
05:13at the end of the day but what's most important is really taking the time to
05:17figure out you know with yourself uh what you really think because that's
05:22the most valuable opinion so yeah i'm really big on uh just reflection and
05:27being self-aware but obviously as as a kid that can be tough
05:31um and i think making wise decisions is the most important thing if
05:36the kid is surrounded by like a team or parents i think uh
05:39you know always trying to push push push and
05:43kind of shy away from you know what the player
05:47the athlete is going through is not not a good way to go about things and at
05:51the end of the day like you want to see an athlete thrive and
05:53have fun and enjoy what they're doing and if you don't see that then
05:56obviously um there's there's something that needs to change
06:01uh but yeah for me i think it's just being honest and
06:04having those communicate having like a good communication with the player and
06:09having them be able to be honest about what they're going through
06:12last two questions in the back and then my question was answered okay last
06:17question thank you um i'll follow up to that what do you do
06:23now on and off the court to like make sure that you're still
06:27enjoying yourself like what do you infuse in the practices
06:31i know you've painted in the past like do you still paint while you're on tour
06:35um like i paint a little bit i actually bought like this
06:39watercolor kit a few weeks ago so i was doing um a few random things here and
06:44there while i was in my hotel um but no i think just not taking myself
06:48too seriously and kind of trying to have um variety in what i do day to day and
06:54not have things look the exact same every single day and
06:57knowing um you know there are things that i can look forward to or
07:00say like yesterday i was in central park on my day off um and just having like a
07:05good balance in my life is something that really helps me
07:08um but yeah and also just not taking things too seriously especially when
07:12you know there's so much conversation about stress and pressure
07:15i think at the end of the day i just i want to have fun and
07:19i want to be able to enjoy my tennis and just see how far i can go
07:22okay thank you very much thank you thank you
07:25you
07:26you
07:27you
07:28you
