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U.S. OPEN

August 28, 2017

JC Aragone

New York, NY, USA

K. ANDERSON/J. Aragone

6-3, 6-3, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Just being in the main draw, was there any nerves? Did you feel comfortable?
JC ARAGONE: Getting through quallies definitely helps get the nerves out, for sure, getting a couple of matches under your belt. I wasn't too nervous out there. I mean, obviously a little bit. You know, if you're not nervous, you're not an athlete. That's all part of it.

Yeah, I wasn't too nervous. I was just trying to enjoy my first-ever main draw of a Grand Slam, to be honest.

Q. Was your blood pressure raising? Any injections today? What was it like before you went on and during the match? Did you feel okay physically?
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, my blood sugar was all over the place. I had to leave during the match one time to go give myself an injection. But that was easy. I mean, they called the doctor.

Q. When was that?
JC ARAGONE: After the first set, I think.

But that really wasn't too much of an issue. Physically I was feeling a little banged up. My back locked up a little bit at the end, like, in the middle of the first and second. That was tough. I just saw the doctors here. I think I should be fine.

Q. The massage, that was not related to anything? It wasn't related to the blood sugar situation?
JC ARAGONE: No, no, that was more -- my back was just locking up and I needed to see the trainer.

Q. Any Virginia teammates out there?
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, there was a lot, actually. We had, like, four guys drive in yesterday. I think they are at Thai's match right now. There are a couple former guys, one that came from Cary and the other one that lives here in Charlottesville. We had a pretty good support group out there.

Q. Seems like you were right with him there. I think the eighth game in the first set, you held, had a couple of aces to save break points. He got that break. Was that a turning point? You kind of got a little bit deflated after that. It was like an eight or nine-minute game?
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, that 4-3 game, I was up 40-15 or 40-30. If I would have closed that one out, you never know. The next game I was up 40-15, double break.

He served really well, to be honest with you, on pretty much every big point. Yeah, you never know. You get a little momentum there. If I'm able to hold and maybe break, you know, the match swings a little bit, you get a little bit different match. But you never know. He played well.

Q. This experience of qualifying for the main draw, what has this been like to start? You weren't originally in quallies. Just this whole experience.
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. I'm getting texts right now from American Airlines. I was originally supposed to be on a flight to Orlando today, Monday, I'm just not going to get to.

Really, I wasn't expecting this. You know, it came out of nowhere. I had different plans originally, and I was very fortunate to get in and make the most of my opportunity. Now I'm sitting here talking to you guys.

It's been kind of a big change of plans, and I guess in the best way possible.

Q. Will you go out and watch Thai?
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, hopefully after this I will run over there and see how he's doing. Last time I checked it was 1-All.

Q. Where were you when this was happening yesterday?
JC ARAGONE: I was going to go train in Orlando for maybe 10 days before I have to come back for the collegiate tournament.

Q. This is cooler, though? Playing here was more important?
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, definitely more important. When I called, they wouldn't let me cancel my flight. I was, like, it's fine. Just leave it.

Q. A little more money in your pocket now?
JC ARAGONE: Exactly.

Q. What about people from Chase that you were working with last year as an intern? Did they come out, fellow interns or bosses?
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, pretty funny. A lot of them came out. I didn't really get to talk to them that much just because after the match, they kind of escort you out and you have to do your showering and do your thing.

I did see a couple of them out there. It was great that they were able to take off work. You know, clearly they are not doing all their jobs, apparently, because if they're here -- somebody's got to take care of the office (smiling).

Yeah. Well, I did well this week, made a lot of money. I don't think I'm in their $30 million liquid assets to join their team. Hopefully one day.

Q. Do you feel good about how you played? Anderson is a former top 15, top guy. Do you feel good about how you played today?
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, I felt really good. He's pretty locked in the last couple of weeks. The guy hit 22 aces today in a three-set match. It's not that bad. I felt like he played the big points better. Literally every 30-All point, he'd come up with an ace or winner.

I didn't get a good look at everything. He did well, controlling what he could. I fought as hard as I could, given the circumstances, and given with my back.

But, you know, there is a lot of positives to take from this, and, you know, hopefully I'm back next year. You never know.

Q. When you say your readings were all over the place, do you feel like -- does that affect you? Or is it something you never know it's happening?
JC ARAGONE: No, it definitely affects you. It's like anything. When you're low, you feel -- it's like when you guys haven't eaten for hours, you feel kind of dizzy, and, you know, like you're going to pass out or faint.

But that wasn't the case today. Today I was a little bit high, and it's like anything. If you have too much of something in your body, it's not normal.

So I was able to manage it well, and thankfully the doctor came out and we were able to get it under control.

Yeah, in a perfect world, it would have been great to be like you guys out there, but that's just not the case.

Q. You don't want to be like us.
JC ARAGONE: No, definitely not. It feels good over here.

Q. For now, the financial world will have to wait?
JC ARAGONE: Yeah. My original goal was to give myself a year. I mean, I'm still sticking with a year because I have been 10 weeks on the road and that's been the hardest 10 weeks of my life. I will leave it to the one-year goal. I see myself playing a lot longer.

Q. What's your schedule? Your ranking, it's going to be pretty high or higher, I should say. Are you going to still try to play challengers or quallies? Might get some wildcards based on your notoriety here?
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, the USTA has been super helpful the last couple of weeks. I have definitely played a lot of challengers and bigger events coming up to this.

You know, it's completely different of an atmosphere it is. I'm kind of missing the futures tour. I might go back and play a couple futures in my hometown just to get more matches under the belt and get back into it after I take a couple days off and try and get the body back in shape.

Q. Do you feel like with the attention you have received with regard to your condition, do you feel that can be an inspiration to other people that have that condition? I mean, it seems like there are a lot of people that come out of the woodwork who have a similar condition to you and are very inspired by the fact that you're able to perform at such a high level.
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, no, I mean, I have definitely received a ton of Facebook messages and stuff from people thanking me, kind of giving them hope for their families. That's been, for sure, kind of amazing and eye opening.

At the moment I'm talking to a lot of different diabetes organizations trying to, you know, be almost like the first tennis player to be sponsored by them, become an ambassador.

I know they have -- Nick Jonas is a pretty big diabetic support, but you just don't see many athletes like that. So I feel like it's kind of an untapped area where I can kind of help, you know, athletes that, you know, feel like they are a little down because of this condition.

So for sure that's something I'm in the middle of having a conversation with different types of organizations and see if we can make something work, because I would love nothing more than kind of promote my condition and, you know, teach people that it's really not that bad and it's not going to stop you from succeeding in life or achieving your dreams.

Q. That's all very new, the spokesman and the organization...
JC ARAGONE: Yeah, this week definitely helped, but, yeah, I started talking to them as soon as I graduated college, because with the NCAA rules they wouldn't allow me. Even though I tried before, there is a lot of rules with that.

Yeah, I'm definitely trying to be involved, see what I can do and see if I can help out as much as I can.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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