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US OPEN

September 6, 2019

Patrick Mouratoglou

New York, NY, USA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What do you make of Serena's opponent, Bianca? You do a lot of analysis. She seems to kind of have everything, a lot of variety. What do you make of her game?
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: Yeah, as I said before the tournament, I had been asked who are my two underdogs, and I said Bianca and Medvedev. So I'm not surprised she's there. I expected her in final, and I think she's going to be No. 1 soon. I mean, not too soon but in the future, because she has everything that's needed to be No. 1. A lot of respect for her.

As you said, a lot of tools in her game. Like a really complete game. She has the whole package. Like the game's amazing, I think: the physical, the athleticism, and the mental.

She looks incredibly confident. She feels like she's where she belongs. That's the impression she gives.

Q. Serena has talked about the importance of just being injury-free and that is allowing her to play her best tennis. Is it that simple or something specific she's been doing over the last...
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: I mean, it's important, no? Yeah. I think, yes, I understand that she speaks about that, because the first problem she had was not an injury, but her body transformed to become a mother. You don't come back to your previous body, which is the body of a professional top athlete, overnight. It takes time. So that was the first goal, to be completely in shape and able to perform at the highest level physically.

And on that way, she got injured several times, especially in the lower part of the body, which is very annoying because you can't do anything, basically. You can't do sports and it delays a lot the moment when you'll be able to compete again.

And she played through this injury. I mean, people were disappointed about her results, but I think her results were incredible considering that.

Now, before Wimbledon, like two weeks before Wimbledon, 10 days to be precise, finally got rid of her knee problem and she was able to run without thinking about her knee. So now it's several weeks in a row, so I think her fitness just went up and up, and I think her movement now is better than I have ever seen since she became a mother.

Q. Since you predicted Bianca and Medvedev, I want to know if you predicted also Berrettini in the semifinal?
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: No (smiling).

Q. Since I don't think you did, can you tell me what you think about it? And what is your prediction before Berrettini plays versus Nadal?
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: So again, what's the question?

Q. Tell me, what is your...
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: My impression?

Q. No. First of all, what do you think about Berrettini, how much you were surprised, what do you think about him, and what do you think he would do tonight versus Nadal and playing indoors?
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: Well, if he plays indoors it's good news for him, for sure. I think what he's done this year is incredible because nobody expected. I mean, I have heard many players say that, like, How come this guy does this?

I think it's a good example of someone who invested on his strength rather than trying to improve his weaknesses. Because he improved, his weaknesses became not as bad, because his strengths became very, very powerful: serve, forehand. He's moving, for his height and his weight, he's moving incredibly well.

He showed a lot of temper, an incredible motivation and temper and fighting spirit. For me, when I saw the match against GaÃ«l, he wanted it, like, so bad. That's why he finally ended up winning.

His chances against Nadal are very small, but there is always a chance in tennis. If he plays indoor -- I mean, the good thing for him is that Rafa doesn't like to play that type of players, players who serve well and have big forehand, but it's difficult to imagine Rafa not to win the tournament now that the two others are out, to be clear.

Q. How much do you think that trying to get that No. 24 weighed on Serena during these recent three Grand Slam finals she's played in? Is the amount or the way in which you and she have talked about that changed over time?
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: Okay. So when you play a Grand Slam final -- I know you never did, and I never did, either -- there is a lot of emotion. So there is a lot of emotion for everyone, including, of course, Serena and all the champions.

When you play for a record like this one, there is even more, which is fine. It's called pressure, and I think Serena had to experience a bit of pressure in her life. And you can't think that she's not good dealing with pressure.

But you have to realize that to be able to deal with pressure, you need to feel strong. If you feel weak or not as strong as you wish you would, it's more difficult to beat the pressure.

When you don't move well, you can't be as confident as you should be, because if your A game doesn't work, you don't have any other option, and for me that's what happened.

I think it's totally different situation now, because now she can move. If she needs to play the rally, she can play the rally. We have seen that I think a few times during the tournament. So there is no panic if she misses a bit more than usual. No problem. There are other options of play.

You cannot even give her a plan B when she cannot make the plan B. So I feel she's so much more confident now because she knows she's ready. It's like going into an exam and feeling you're not ready. It's difficult for us to realize, because she was in three finals so you feel she's ready. But she was in the three finals because she's the best competitor of all times, not because she was ready.

Q. Yesterday Serena said you know better than to coach her.
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: She said this? No.

Q. Do you know better, or would you...
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: Do I know better what?

Q. Would you know better than to give her any signal if she's down? Serena said yesterday in her postmatch, we asked her about you saying that you don't regret it and that you'd probably do it again.
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: Uh-huh.

Q. About last year's thing. She said you would know better than to actually coach her or signal or anything this time. Do you? Would you?
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: I don't understand the question. Sorry. Can someone say it a different way?

Q. Okay. No. We had asked you about the incident from last year, and you said that you don't regret it.
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: Yeah. I said that, yeah.

Q. And that you would do it again if the situation arose.
PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: It's not going to happen, so I won't have to do it again (smiling).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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