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U.S. OPEN

August 31, 2018

Dominic Thiem

New York, NY, USA

D. THIEM/T. Fritz

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

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How are you feeling about the way you played?
DOMINIC THIEM: Yeah, it was a really tough match. He played very well. I mean, already last year was a close match against him in the second round. Obviously we hopefully improved in this one year. I expected a tough and close one again, which it was at the end.

I started a little bit too slow, then pumped myself up with maybe not the best ways, but still I pumped myself up.

At the end it was really funny and also strange with the rain delay. Maybe that I broke him again to 6-4.

Q. Fourth round is not new terrain for you. How much will you draw upon your experiences from the past? How hungry are you to move beyond the fourth round?
DOMINIC THIEM: I didn't have any good experiences yet in the fourth round, so I don't rely on them (smiling).

Yeah, it's always something special for me to reach the second round of a slam. Let's see who I play. But one thing is for sure: I will give everything to maybe make the first quarters here.

Q. If it's a match against Kevin, talk about that potential matchup.
DOMINIC THIEM: Yeah, he's one of the hottest players on tour right now. Last four slams, he made two finals. Out of the big servers, he's, I think, the one with the best baseline game and with the best return. You are under pressure basically the whole match.

Yeah, there's a reason why he's I think No. 5 now. Why he has so much success, because he's just playing amazing.

Q. How long did it take to get over the match last year against Juan?
DOMINIC THIEM: Juan was appearing again after I missed 5-3, 30-Love.

But no, I mean, it was tough of course, but it was also only a lost tennis match. Nothing worse should happen, you know. It was painful for one or two days, but then I moved on. I mean, life goes on. It was, of course, very tough, but at the end only a tennis match.

Q. A general question about tiebreaks. When you go into a tiebreak, is the mentality, the way you play each point, different to other games?
DOMINIC THIEM: Maybe a little bit, yeah, because it's that important. I mean, of course, you play a tiebreak point differently than you play a point where it's, I don't know, 3-1, 40-Love. A tiebreak is always important, especially if it decides who goes up 2-1. It's a huge difference.

The other thing is that a tiebreak is always close, because it means that both players played really good the set, it's 6-All. It's not easy mentally.

Q. Is there a danger you can be too cautious, too careful in a tiebreak, not attack enough?
DOMINIC THIEM: Of course there's a danger. There is this danger. There is the other danger that you want too much because you're maybe afraid, you don't want to play a rally. You have to try to find the balance, good balance for the tiebreak.

Q. Watching you this week, it seems like you are more aggressive on returns, standing a bit tighter to the baseline. Has that been a conscious thing you're trying to do on hard courts?
DOMINIC THIEM: Of course. I have to on hard courts. I have to move closer to the lines. First serve I think, especially against a really good server like Taylor, it's impossible to return far back. Second serve, I try to mix it up a little bit.

But in general, of course, I'm practicing to come close to the baseline, especially on this surface.

Q. Big stars like Nadal and Federer, they always play on the big courts. You have to move around. How big of a disadvantage is it, or advantage for the other guys, to have always a roof, always play on the big courts?
DOMINIC THIEM: Yeah, I mean, they deserve this. They are the best, so they deserve the best courts. It's not really surprise. I think nobody's angry about that. It's just like how it is.

I mean, we have to fight all the way through to get a chance to play on these courts and get used to them.

Q. Is it very difficult to change from court to court, different conditions?
DOMINIC THIEM: It is, yeah. I mean, the biggest difference is Roland Garros, in my opinion, the center court to the other courts. Here I only played one and a half sets in my life, so I don't really know how it is. In general, the center court is always bigger, a different view. So, yeah, you need some time to adjust to it.

Q. How are the courts playing this year? Same as previous years? Some people are saying they're a bit slower maybe.
DOMINIC THIEM: I would say they are like previous years, yeah. I didn't find the huge difference.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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