Elena Rybakina reveals that she didn’t train to become a pro tennis player until age 17: “All my injuries are a result of becoming a professional tennis player at a relatively late stage of my career. Not many people know I started practicing professionally around age 17. Before that, I only practiced in groups.. I didn’t have a private coach. I also went to school and had to balance it. My fitness level couldn’t be at the highest point. So I think a few injuries I am now experiencing are coming from the past.”
Alexandre Muller describes the differences of facing Djokovic and Alcaraz: “Alcaraz gives you a little more air and I felt that I could play games. But Djoković gave me the impression that if he wanted to hit me with a triple 6-0 he could have done it. Novak doesn’t give you free points and doesn’t give you anything.”
Jessica Pegula says WTA Tour is not as difficult as Challenger Tour: I honestly think it’s harder on the Challenger Tour. Everybody wants to win so freakin’ bad and they’re trying to get out of there. In the Challengers you may play on a bad court, an outside court, there’s coaching going on, bad calls, rain delay, you have nowhere to go, some little clubhouse, you can’t get a practice court, so all these things kind of even it out.”
Daniil Medvedev was asked by a reporter why tennis players yell at their team after missing a shot, as this habit doesn’t happen in other sports: “I don’t really have an explanation. I would generally think tennis drives people crazy. Tennis players drive themselves crazy. There are days when you practice and every shot goes where you want it to go. From time to time everything feels well. And then there will be days when you slept well, you wake up well and you step on the court you can’t hit a ball in the court and you get frustrated. Then one moment when you miss say maybe ten let’s say, you’re going to be looking at your coach and what’s happening? It happens to me. Say I miss a forehand long. So usually when you miss a ball long you have to cover the ball a little but more (top spin) so it goes in the court. But sometimes you think you did it and then you ask your coach, Well I did it, what happened? And then there goes this argument, talking. So I think it’s because of this, yeah.”
Novak Djokovic on US Open uniqueness: “I love it. It’s great because every Grand Slam has its own charm in a way. Here’s all about entertainment, fun, good energy, good vibes. If you can feed on that, you’ll have a lot of fun. Arthur Ashe definitely have most exciting, loud, energetic night sessions.”
Stan Wawrinka after winning first match at US Open since 2019 vs. Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets on Grandstand: “It’s always gonna be special to be back playing here. I really love the tournament. I love the fans, the people. It’s always an amazing atmosphere, so thank you again.”
Carlos artwork by Ted Dimond
Alexandre Muller · Carlos Alcaraz · Jessica Pegula · Novak Djokovic · Stan Wawrinka · US Open
Doug Day · August 30, 2023 at 12:53 pm
Scoop, where’s Dominic Stricker? This kid has Stans body with Fed’s swiss movement!
Scoop Malinowski · August 30, 2023 at 2:11 pm
People are talking Doug about Stricker’s body type and questioning his fitness. We’ll see if he’s fit enough and perhaps he’s some kind of tennis wizard with a traditional typical tennis body.