US OPEN

August 31, 2024

Jannik Sinner

Press Conference

J. SINNER/C. O'Connell

6-1, 6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Jannik, your thoughts on the match.

JANNIK SINNER: Yes, happy about the performance today. Obviously it's day by day I felt like that my level has been better, so happy about that. Let's see what's coming the next round.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Wonder about the psychology for you over the last couple of days, obviously seeing Carlos lose and then Novak lose and how that impacts you emotionally coming into a game like this, seeing your rivals lose.

JANNIK SINNER: No, it shows that, you know, this sport is unpredictable, no? Whenever you drop a little bit of your level, you know, if it's mental, if it's tennis-wise or physical, at the end it has a huge impact on the result. Both opponents who they lost against, they played some incredible tennis. And it happens.

So I just watch on my side what I have to do, you know, that I guess I have done also in last period of time, and then we will see what I can do.

Yeah, that's it.

Q. Carlos, you have played him many times, just how tough is it to play him? What makes it so difficult, just thinking about how big an achievement it was for Botic the other night?

JANNIK SINNER: Yeah, well, it's first of all, very tough, no? It's tough to get the ball past him. He's moving so good. Also the serve has improved a lot. You know, he plays with a very high percentage of first serves.

You know, he can mix up the return position. It's very dangerous when he plays the forehand when he has time. So there are many, many great things. Obviously, you know, he has been No. 1 in the world and winning multiple Grand Slams, so it's tough to find weaknesses from these kind of players.

And also mentally, no? He's a huge competitor, very tough to beat. All things considered, whoever wins against him, it's a great, great win.

Q. Tommy Paul is up two sets to one, so for the moment, assuming he's your next opponent, what have you learned from your matches with him, and how would you describe the challenges of playing him?

JANNIK SINNER: Yeah, big challenge. He's great mover. He has improved a lot in the last period of time. It's going to be a tough challenge.

He plays some great tennis, especially here in America, so it's gonna be a tough match for me. But hopefully I'm ready to compete in the best possible way, and I'm just looking forward to it, no?

These matches are very exciting to play and I'm happy to be part of this. So let's see.

Q. Jannik, with today, Chris had never played on that court. He said it was intimidating at the beginning, and he also said that the way that you played today, he felt clueless on the court and that he felt suffocated. Do you agree?

JANNIK SINNER: Well, I know my first experiences also on this court. It's a bit different, you know. The stadium is massive.

But, yeah, today I felt like that I raised the level in the last couple of matches, no? Today I felt better on court and trying to play with the right tactical match, and I executed in a very positive way, which in the outcome we saw.

He's very dangerous player. When he serves great, it's tough to break him. You know, he has a good slice. I tried to push him more on that side and then trying to move him around a little bit, trying to be unpredictable. Yeah, I'm very happy about the way I played today.

Every opponent is different, so let's see what's coming in the next round. Hopefully I can continue with this positive mindset, and then we see how it goes.

Q. Novak always talked about when he was No. 1, when you're in the top 10, you can never really let down. You've always got to be improving every day, otherwise you're getting worse. Wonder what your mindset is along those lines.

JANNIK SINNER: Yeah, I agree with that. If you want to stay in the position where you are, you have already to improve. If you want to improve the ranking also and the way you play, you have to improve even more.

There are always players who push it to the limit who you understand where you have to improve. I think that's the best part, because, you know, this is all part of the process we have to go through. Yeah, we try to do that, me and my team.

You know, there are some things where you agree, where you don't agree, but it's a good process to make, which means that I care as a player, that I want to get better, and also the coach does the things that maybe sometimes you don't want to hear, but, you know, in your mind, you know that this is going to help you. I think this is good for us as players, and it's also nice to have different players who push you to the limit. So it's good.

Q. Following up, if you had to say two or three things that you have improved this year, what are they? What is the one thing that Darren Cahill most brings to you and your tennis and your life?

JANNIK SINNER: Whew. The movement, I have improved, the physical aspect. And also the serve I feel like I have improved, especially the second serve. So I feel like these are the three things.

What Darren always tell me, he's very good, because he understands the position where I am in and the problems that I had throughout this period, and he's a person who understands that, and he still gives you confidence, but he also wants that you work. You know, it's a great mix of many things. There is not only one.

So for me, I feel very good with him, with the mix of Darren and Simone. They are two different coaches, completely different, but they work very well together. They have big respect to each other, and this is great to see.

It's also difficult to find two coaches who are different but still working very good together. I'm lucky to have this kind of team, and we try to push forward.