Key quotes from the fourth day of the US Open at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in Flushing Meadows on Wednesday:
"I can't tell you the last time I've thought about the American drought, other than being in these rooms. We have the defending champion this tournament. I think the player field has a lot of hot players right now. I'm kind of just running my own race and focusing on the next round. This is a tournament that I always want to do well in, that I would love to be contending for and in the second week of. But that has got to be one step at a time."
– US Open eighth seed Ben Shelton, on why he doesn't think about ending US men's 23-year Grand Slam title drought.
"I played the match 50 times already so I felt like I played a five-set match. We always say that tennis is mental, but this, I think, was another level of mental."
– Spain's Paula Badosa, who spent a near-sleepless night after she failed to convert multiple match points before play was suspended in her first-round match against Daria Kasatkina – then needed six more to put it away when play resumed on Wednesday.
"I'm new on the tour. There are going to be things like this because I'm new. Just try to learn from it so it doesn't happen again. First time can happen to anyone. We are human. Second time, it could be bad if I haven't learned from this one."
– 19-year-old rising ATP talent Rafael Jodar after crashing out to Chinese lucky loser Bu Yunchaokete in the first round of the US Open.
"I think I can appreciate the influencers coming and kind of showcasing the US Open experience ... But I do think that it's tough when you see videos like that when they're taking pictures and using the selfie lights ... I think when you have the other side literally interrupting matches, it gets a little tough."
– World No 3 Jessica Pegula after the umpire had to pause Naomi Osaka's first-round match to ask a group of social media influencers in a court-side suite to keep it down during points.
"I want to be the guy who you're going to watch the movie and almost 'til the end think 'OK, he's a bad guy. He's not good.' Then, at the last second of the movie you understand that he was the best guy ever."
– Mercurial Daniil Medvedev ponders whether he'd rather be the hero or the villain if the US Open were a movie.
"I feel like I'm kind of moving away from trying to be perfect on court. I know that you cannot be perfect, and I'm just trying to work with what I have right now. I can definitely say that mentally I'm way stronger than I was in the middle of the season, and physically I also feel stronger."
– Two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka on the state of her game as she goes for a US Open three-peat after a lackluster few months.