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U.S. OPEN

September 2, 2016

Daniel Evans

New York, NY, USA

D. EVANS/A. Zverev

6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Would that rank amongst your best wins?
DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, it was probably the best one, the situation and circumstances, late, difficult mentally. Yeah, to come back in the fourth and get on top was good.

Q. You seemed to accelerate as you got towards the finish, more aggressive, get it done.
DANIEL EVANS: It wasn't so much I wanted to get it done. In the third, I was a bit passive. He sort of took control. It was pretty evident that's what he was going to do for the rest of the match. Needed to stay on top of him.

Q. Appeared to be a lot of distractions out there, movement. Quite difficult to keep focus?
DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, it was tough again. I played on that court the other day, so I sort of knew it was going to happen.

Q. Seemed to be not too happy with celebrating line calls?
DANIEL EVANS: It was a tough match. It was nothing personal against him or anything. Yeah, just fired up, as was he, I think. Was nothing bad. I don't have any sort of anything against him. I wouldn't think he's got anything against me.

Q. Do you think he got distracted by the line calls?
DANIEL EVANS: He had one bad one, I'll give him that. The rest, I would say, were normal calls.

Q. He's an emotional player. You looked very focused out there. The crowd seemed to be pull a little bit for him. How did you keep so focused?
DANIEL EVANS: It's the only way I could really win. I needed to focus all the way through, especially in the fourth where the momentum was definitely with him.

Just stayed focused, eyes down, ready to go, yeah.

Q. Do you think it's the most focused you've been in your career? In the first set you were down 2-5, came back to 5-All. Double-faulted. Bounced back straightaway.
DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, I needed to get a good start in the fourth, just try to get on top again. I sort of felt it was slipping away a bit. I did feel that. It was pretty important to get on top again.

Q. A lot of money to win here. Is that any kind of incentive?
DANIEL EVANS: No, only you guys mention it. A lot of people tweet about it. I don't really know. It is a big amount of money, but I don't have a look at that sort of stuff. It's more the points, sort of looking ahead to what the points can do for me. Obviously it's a good chunk again so far.

Q. You play Wawrinka next. A major step up in class.
DANIEL EVANS: Hopefully that will be on Court 4, yeah (smiling).

It's going to be good fun. Yeah, obviously a bit like Wimbledon. Had a good win and then played Federer. It will be on a good court. Look forward to it. Never hit with him, never played against him. It's going to be interesting, yeah.

Q. With that said, first time in eight years three British men in the third round. Can you talk about British tennis at the moment, general feeling between everyone.
DANIEL EVANS: I think everyone's obviously doing pretty well at the minute. It could easily have been different. Kyle played Gasquet. I played Ram. We both could lose those matches. Would have sat here with only Andy again.

It just happens in certain tournaments, doesn't it, where you get through. Other tournaments, none get through.

Like this week, there's a feel-good factor. Me and Kedders have got tough matches now. See what we can do.

Q. Do you think the way you're playing you could cause him problems?
DANIEL EVANS: I played pretty well tonight. But he's a big step up in class. I've got to go out there, just like Wimbledon, believe I can win. But I'm pretty realistic about it. I'm nowhere near favorite to win that match.

Q. It's pretty hard to play the top players. How much pressure do you feel to play a player like Zverev, to feel you should be winning the match?
DANIEL EVANS: I didn't think I should win today, to be honest. Obviously he was a better player than me at the minute. He was favored to win that match. A bit of an upset. Obviously a good win.

But I still believed I could win the match going into it. Just because he's favorite doesn't mean I don't think I can win.

Q. You said if he did hit it like he can hit it, he'd hit the racquet out of your hand. How hard was he hitting the ball at you?
DANIEL EVANS: I did think that he could just hit it through me. There was a chance he could just put it, yeah, hit the racquet out of my hand. Big serve, big forehand. He didn't actually do that that much today. I returned pretty well. I don't think he felt comfortable hitting off my return. It was definitely one of the things which helped me win.

Q. One point in the last 12, 15 minutes when you've been on this positive trajectory, one specific tournament or moment where the switch flipped, you thought that you can really do this?
DANIEL EVANS: There's not really been one point. I mean, the Asia trip was pretty big. I didn't really like it there. I sort of kept busy by winning matches. I did pretty well out there. Sort of that kept me busy by winning the matches.

Yeah, that trip, I was dreading going there, to be honest. I hadn't been there before. The second tournament was awful. I didn't like it.

Q. Which one was that?
DANIEL EVANS: Busan. Yeah, it was the middle of nowhere. I didn't like it. Yeah, I made final. That give me a lot of confidence. It wasn't that bad that I thought it was going to be. Wasn't that good either.

But that week definitely helped that I was pretty comfortable and came through.

Q. You're going to be up near 50 now. That's going to get into pretty much any tournament you want. Has that been a particular aim so you're in the field for Masters Series tournaments?
DANIEL EVANS: To be in the Masters is where the good points are. So, yeah, hopefully main draw of Paris at the end of the year was a small goal once I got through against Ram. So we'll see what happens.

Q. You constructed some really good points out there. Both of you were patient. But you were also aggressive. Was that a strategy that you came in with?
DANIEL EVANS: Yeah, like I said, he could have hit me off the court if I give him a chance. It was my sort of game to go at him. That was the game plan from the start.

Q. I think you said the other day you were about ready to go home. I assume having won here, you're not ready to go home.
DANIEL EVANS: Not yet. Yeah, I'm ready to go. But a few more matches hopefully. Still got doubles, as well. I'm enjoying it. Hopefully not here just before Davis Cup so I get to go on holiday.

No, it would be a good problem.

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