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U.S. OPEN

September 6, 2017

Juan Martin Del Potro

New York, NY, USA

J. MARTIN DEL POTRO/R. Federer

7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How bad was the worst you felt a couple of days ago and how were you able to, tonight, beat Roger Federer?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: I think I recovering well. I did what the doctor says, all the treatments, and tonight I play just free. I don't have nothing to lose against Federer, so I did my best game of the tournament tonight. I play very smart game during the whole match.

Is so important to me beating him another time in this amazing tournament.

Q. Was it more difficult tonight or two days ago against Thiem?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: No. To compare the tennis game, tonight was really tough match, but the other day I felt so bad. My physic doesn't want to fight a lot. Of course I beating Thiem, then beat Nadal means a lot to me. Hopefully I can be ready for Rafa.

Q. You won a slam here and then you had a terrific run this year with the crowd really behind you. Could you talk a little bit about your love of this tournament and what's special about it to you?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Yeah. It's amazing to see the crowd like this. Against Federer is not easy to show the fans love. You know, he's local around the world, around every tournament. Tonight people want to see a great tennis match. The people wants to win both, both player, I think.

To me, it's great after all my wrist problems, come back and see how much the loves from the fans comes to me is great.

Q. Your backhand seems to be getting stronger match by match. Your backhand seems to be as confident as I have seen it in the past and setting up a lot of those opportunities. How are you feeling about the backhand?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: I'm feeling good. I think my backhand is improving every week.

Tonight I made my best backhands on the tournament in the important moments of the match, and it was in the set point of the third set, and then to break his serve in the fourth, and I hit my best backhand on the tournament tonight, which is a good signal for the future.

Q. What kind of physical and mental tools does it take to get this far in the tournament and eventually hold the trophy?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Well, now is still a harder match after tomorrow. Physically I'm not in the perfect conditions, but when you play semifinals on the Grand Slam, everything can happen. So you must be ready for the chance and playing against Rafa in my favorite tournament, I will try to enjoy the atmosphere, the game, and I know if I play my best tennis, I could be a danger for him.

Q. You started speaking about Rafa. How would you describe the history that you have with him and your feelings about him?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Well, after tomorrow is gonna be a different match than the past. He's the No. 1 player of the world, and he's playing so confident this tournament.

He's a lefty guy, so he has chance to find easily my backhand. So I don't know what's gonna be my strategy for that match. But for sure I will try to make winners with my forehands and don't run too much, because my legs are tired (smiling).

But will be interesting match to play.

Q. Personally, how do you feel about him?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Well, I'm glad for him, because he deserve to be the No. 1 in the world. Personally, I like to play against him when I'm in good conditions. But it's not the case at this moment, so I will see what happen.

Q. As you were saying about not feeling as if you were in the best conditions and your physicality being a question, but when you are on that court, it's an entirely different look. What sort of factor, how much of a factor is the crowd?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Yeah, because when I get into the court and I saw Roger playing the biggest stadium of the tour in my favorite tournament, is like pleasure for me to be there. So I try to play tennis and enjoy the tennis moment, and doesn't matter how bad I feel before the match.

After tomorrow, against Rafa, it's going to be the same. I will have the chance to play against him semifinals in my best tournament and I just trying to think about tennis. And that's it.

Q. You are the only player now to beat Roger Federer at the US Open, outdoor and indoor. Close matches. Would you compare to setup of conditions? What is the difference from the technical side?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Well, I think the indoors conditions are perfect. You don't have wind, sun, anything. And I remember our matches in Basel, and I played great against him in the finals. I think tonight I serve almost perfect during the whole match.

If I have to take any surface or any conditions, maybe I will take indoors again.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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