Advertisement

Who said what at US Open media day

football23 August 2024 22:05| © AFP
Share
article image
Nick McCarvel and Iga Swiatek © Getty Images

Who said what at US Open media day on Friday ahead of the final Grand Slam of 2024, which starts on Monday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in Flushing Meadows:



Order of Play | Win with World Sports Betting | Watch Live on DStv


"Well, for sure last year I felt I had many things to defend, like World No 1 position, all my points, and also the title itself. I felt like I have a lot of baggage on my shoulders.

"This year it's a little bit different. This year I'm just trying to focus on what should I do tennis-wise to play the best game possible.

"My expectations are not like so high compared to last year. So I'm going to try to focus on getting everything step by step and not put too much baggage on my shoulders."

– World No 1 and top seed Iga Swiatek on how she's approaching the US Open.

"This year, I'm staying close to Central Park. I'm going to use that for sure and try to relax and have more nature because that's basically the only place in New York you can get some nature."

– Swiatek on how her impressions of New York City have evolved.

"I know how bad he wanted that one, for sure. It was an incredible effort, incredible effort. You've got to tip your hat off to him ... stats-wise, I think he's been the greatest player of all time for a while now and obviously now he just cemented it. Crazy. He's like 45 and he's still winning every tournament."

– American Frances Tiafoe on 37-year-old Novak Djokovic's emotional singles gold at the Paris Olympics.

"I think there are some people in the tennis world that are just absolute pickleball haters, and that's fine. But for me, like, I don't really have an issue with pickleball. I like playing sometimes. It's fine. I don't see any reason why both of them can't exist."

– American Taylor Fritz on the rising popularity of pickleball.

"It would be frickin' awesome if I won a Grand Slam. I definitely allow myself to dream, I always have since I was a kid ... I think it would be a lot of, not like relief, but it's just like a reward for all the hard work. And being able to come through two weeks of a Slam, there are so many challenges you're overcoming in those two weeks. So I think it would just be a relief of being able to overcome those challenges."

– American Jessica Pegula on what it would mean to win a Grand Slam title.

Advertisement