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U.S. OPEN

August 31, 2017

Coco Vandeweghe

New York, NY, USA

C. VANDEWEGHE/O. Jabeur

7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. If you get past the next hurdle, do you see the field clear on the way to the semifinals? First win on Ashe, did you feel it was coming this tournament?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Well, I mean, I only look one match at a time because there's not much reason to look much further than that if you can't get by the first round.

As far as looking ahead, I don't really do that. I just heard from I think it was Julian, my physio, he told me I was playing Radwanska next. I have two doubles tomorrow, so I got a lot of work in front of me.

To be out there on Ashe and feel the energy, the vibe of it, was a lot of fun. I had fun out there playing, competing. I think it definitely showed to everyone.

Q. We saw this weekend you were playing with Simona Halep on Ashe. I think you were beating her. That gives you confidence for the matches that are coming?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: No, I'm working on a lot of things in practice. Practice sets don't matter too much to me. I actually play pretty bad in practice when I'm playing other players.

There was a lot going on when I was practicing with Simona. The roof was opening and closing. They were still takes down Kids' Day. I wasn't putting too much into that practice as far as, like, Oh, if I don't win this, I'm going to do terribly at the tournament, and vice versa, If I win this, I'm going to do great.

It was more working on the things I wanted to do against Ali in the first round. That's how I was going to that practice.

Q. She's a pretty unorthodox player, a lot of dropshots, errors. How do you stay steady through that?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I play tennis. That's how you stay steady is you play tennis. I only can worry about myself.

Q. You gave great reaction when you won the first set tiebreak. How does emotion fuel you and help you, because you are an emotional player?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Well, it was an interesting tiebreaker. I think I was a little bit bummed out that I didn't get the 40-Love, 6-5 break. But, I mean, she hit some good shots and played well, to her credit.

To be down in the tiebreaker and save some set points myself, I think that was a little bit of frustration and excitement just kind of being let out, energy being let out in that moment. Also showing her that I won the important set here because it was a tight first set.

Q. How do you feel the court? Do you think it's slower than last year because of the layer of sand?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I think the biggest thing I noticed on Ashe was just the noise that's constantly going, more so than the pace of court. I think from year to year it changes, but it's very little.

I'm not a player that really kind of takes too much from, Oh, this is a super fast court, this is a super slow court. I've always been like that. Balls, whatever. I don't pay too much attention to that because you can drive yourself insane thinking and find an excuse to lose if you're thinking that way. So I've never really paid too much attention to it.

Q. Back to when it was Love-40, not closing it out there, how do you mentally reset not to let that cost you the whole tiebreak? Could you feel and draw from the New York crowd supporting you? Did you feel they were behind you?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Definitely. As I said in the on-court interview, it's hard to beat a New York crowd when they're for you. It's a lot to go against. That's what I was trying to make happen out there. I felt like I did.

But the only thing I did after not getting that was just kind of visualize where I was going to hit the first serve, where I wanted to hit it. It's like lining up for a free throw. You visualize your free throw, go through your routine, you shoot it, because you can control all of that. It's the same with a serve.

My free-throw percentage was terrible (smiling).

Q. Are you excited about the new Knicks' direction, the youth movement they're going in?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I'll be more excited when games are won. I'll leave it to when the actual season starts to save my excitement.

Q. You played Radwanska pretty recently in Canada. What do you think of that match?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Not much. I was pretty exhausted going there. I think it was going to cost me more in a fine to pull out than it was actually to get there and play.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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