Taylor Fritz said everything clicked in his game, boosting his confidence as he beat Mattia Bellucci. (AFP pic)
NEW YORK: Key quotes from the fifth day of the US Open at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows on Thursday:
“After a set and a half I just couldn’t feel well and was dizzy and seeing spots and couldn’t recover. I thought maybe it would pass, but it didn’t. It was abnormal a little bit, and there were no signs in the last couple of days and no signs this morning as well.”
— Disappointed third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime after falling to 50th-ranked Karen Khachanov in the second round.
“What I can say is after the first set I started to feel dizzy, kind of close to pass out, to throw up. I didn’t have any energy in the legs.”
— 13th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti after falling in four sets to Australian wild card Dane Sweeny.
“Being Flavio Cobolli … sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not. Today, I love to be Flavio Cobolli.”
— Italy’s fifth-seeded Flavio Cobolli after battling back from a set down to reach the US Open third round.
“I’m just me, Gael Monfils. I think I have been the same since I came on tour with a lot of joy. I think some people might like me, some not. Some people think I’m fun, some not. Some people think that I entertain them, some maybe not. So I’m all right with everything.”
— France’s 40-year-old Gael Monfils after falling to 20-year-old Learner Tien in his last Grand Slam match before he retires later this year.
“I don’t know if I would put it up there like one of the best matches I’ve ever played, but things were definitely clicking for me. I would nitpick a lot to come up with anything that I did wrong, because I felt like all the important parts of my game that make me feel like I’m playing good tennis and feel confident — it was all working for me.”
— American Taylor Fritz after dropping just two games in a three-set second-round victory over Mattia Bellucci.
“The scoreline, I wasn’t really paying attention too much in the second set but I do think that I was ahead and I kind of let it slip through my fingers. So I was trying to tell myself in the third set ‘Keep going and keep trying to take the opportunities.’”
— Japanese 13th seed Naomi Osaka, who let a 5-3 lead in the second set get away before beating Katerina Siniakova in three in the second round.
“I definitely think it’s cool to have a new demographic and I definitely think it helps grow the sport. But like with anything, any venue you go to, like if you’re being invited to a red carpet, you wouldn’t show up in jeans. I think it’s just follow the etiquette of the sport. That’s all.”
— Coco Gauff on the role of social media influencers at the US Open, where a few have caused disruptions during matches.