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US OPEN

August 27, 2019

Nicole Gibbs

New York, NY, USA

S. HALEP/N. Gibbs

6-3, 3-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What do you think you'll take away from the last couple of months and this experience culminating in this big match?
NICOLE GIBBS: Yeah, I think I've always known that I'm a fighter. But to be through the journey I've been through over the past few months, to land myself on Armstrong playing against one of the best in the game, and going the distance, I think that really just reinforces it for me.

Yeah, I mean, I'm going to take a lot of inspiration from this, try to carry it forward into what's left in my year and my tennis career.

Q. What was the toughest challenge for you psychologically?
NICOLE GIBBS: Today or...

Q. In general.
NICOLE GIBBS: I mean, I think just kind of trying to figure out, you know, where tennis stood in all of it from the beginning, trying to figure out whether I should be concerned about getting back on court or just getting my health back under me. I think there was a balance to be struck there. It took me a little while to figure out, Okay, I need to take care of myself as a person first, then as an athlete.

I think that was one of the biggest challenges for me.

Q. What was your initial reaction when you were diagnosed?
NICOLE GIBBS: I mean, I was definitely, like, shocked. It was on a phone call. I had been told not to really worry about the biopsy. They thought it was going to be benign.

So I wasn't anticipating -- I was nervous about it, but I wasn't anticipating that it would be cancerous. So when I got the call, you know, the doctor on the phone was kind of like, Do you want to come in and talk about this?

I was like, No, tell me now.

He said, Well, it was positive for cancer.

I fortunately was already sitting down, otherwise I think I would have needed to sit down. Then I was just really disappointed that I was alone. I called my fiancÃ© right away and kind of fell apart when I called him. He's always such a comforting influence for me, but he was definitely pretty scared, too, at that moment.

Q. People talk about putting things in perspective. You just had a tough match. Is it easy to say, It's just a match? Do you say, I really wanted to win that?
NICOLE GIBBS: It's a combination. I'm definitely bummed out. At the same time I think I do have a new perspective, that it's not life and death out there. It's a privilege to be on a court like that against a player like that. I was just really trying to soak up the moment.

I was definitely looking up a lot more than I normally would. I always get made fun of on tour because I kind of keep my head down and I look up. Everybody says it's the Gibbsy stare-down. I was trying to hold my posture a little bit better, take in the atmosphere, take a slightly different approach to the way I'm thinking about my tennis.

Q. You've been very open and honest about struggles with mental health, mental illness. How has this experience changed? Why do you think it is prevalent for you and tennis?
NICOLE GIBBS: Yeah, a couple things about that. First of all, I've been doing really well over the past year and a half or so just with my mental health. I've talked about before being on medication for depression. I haven't been for the last year and a half. I found myself generally in a pretty good place.

Now, when I got the diagnosis, I was really concerned about where that would kind of land for me, if I would have a lot of anxiety or what exactly I would go through.

I would say that depression and anxiety as a whole have been, like, weirdly absent for me since this experience. Obviously you have the normal kind of reaction to whatever you're immediately going through, but I don't feel that I had any sort of, like, out-sized reaction to what I was going through.

I was kind of pleasantly surprised. I thought I might experience a lot more. And I think kind of what I've taken from that is that your mind kind of, like, shrinks and expands with whatever is in front of you. I think when there's a really big challenge or moment in front of you, you tend to kind of rise to the occasion or just adapt to what's in front of you.

Q. Given everything, the time off the court and all, where are you physically? What areas do you think you can still get stronger?
NICOLE GIBBS: Yeah, so I've definitely lost some weight. I feel a little bit maybe still under fighting weight for my tennis (smiling). That's definitely something I'm going to look into.

I think I held up pretty well physically, but could have held up a little bit better in the third set. I think I lost some depth on my shots.

Q. (Question about age eligibility.)
NICOLE GIBBS: I think it's really tricky because someone like Coco Gauff is clearly poised to have a really epic season, I think, and is clearly a top-hundred caliber player. So it's tough to kind of limit her from that sense.

But at the same time I think it is kind of a mindful rule to prevent these younger girls from burnout. Someone like Coco is already under such high demand. To put a full schedule and all of the media requirements that she's going through on a 15-year-old girl I think is a lot to ask.

I do think she's mature enough for the challenge, but I don't think every 15-year-old is. I think there's a conversation to be had about whether it's still prevalent or still the right thing.

Q. What effect do you hope it will have on fans, your performance, also all that you've shared?
NICOLE GIBBS: Yeah, I guess I just hope that there's someone who's going through a tough time that can take inspiration from my journey, feel like maybe they can turn it into something really positive the way that I hope I have.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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