Voices from the US Open: Day 13 - UBITENNIS

Voices from the US Open: Day 13

By Staff
7 Min Read

TENNIS US OPEN – Our Giulio Gasparin has selected the best quotes from Day 12 of US Open at Flushing Meadows. Words from men’s semifinalists.

US Open: All the interviews, results, draws and OoP

Saturday 6th September could be remembered for a long time in the history of tennis, as for the first time since Australian Open 2005, none of the “big three” advanced to the final stage of a Slam tournament.

Kei Nishikori upset world number one Novak Djokovic and, later in the day, Croat Marin Cilic took down Roger Federer in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

“Just for the performance today from, I mean, first point to the last, I was absolutely playing the best tennis of my life,” said the Croat. Considering the huge occasion I was playing in, I mean, for the second time in a semifinals of a Grand Slam, it just can’t be more special.

“Considering also that, you know, even I was a set up and break up, you know, the crowd was rooting for Roger to come back. You know, it wasn’t easy to deal with that, but I felt that my serve helped me a lot today.”

Following his ban for a controversial case of doping in 2013, Cilic came back this year showing probably the best tennis of his life.

“I felt that very similar to the Berdych match,” he added. “I adjusted pretty well to the wind and to the conditions we were playing in.

“It was a different game from different ends. With one end it was wind in the back, so it was a bit easier to play from that side. Most of my breaks I made from that end.”

He also gave credits to this surprising result to the first “normal man” to win a slam in this moment of big champions.

“Well, it’s a bit of a changeup year considering all the past years that these top four guys were making to the final,” he said. Wawrinka opened the doors for us from the “second” line, and I think most of the guys have now bigger belief that they can do it on the Grand Slams.

The Swiss champion could not but prize his opponent and did not look for any excuse for his loss.

It’s fairly simple: I think Marin played great, he said. “I maybe didn’t catch my best day, but I think that was pretty much it in a nutshell.

“I was feeling good, you know. I was feeling fine. I just think if I could have stayed longer with him in the first set, you know, I felt like there was a proper match going on.

“But I think him playing with the lead he played with, you know, no fear and just full-out confidence, which clearly everybody at this point sort of has in the semis of a slam.

I think he served great when he had to.

He also gave his opinion about this change in depth that seems to be happening also in men’s tennis.

“I think it’s exciting for the game, you know, to have different faces from time to time,” he commentated. “At the same time, I think people still enjoy seeing the guys they have seen for a while or often in the big matches. But I think it’s definitely refreshing to some extent.

Everybody who gets to this stage of this kind of a competition deserves to be there because they have put in the work and they hoped for the break, and this is it for both of them. I hope they can play a good final.

The Japanese player showed to be in the form of his life, physically, as he survived another long match in his semi-final as he passed past Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3.

“I think that two days — last couple of days helped so much,” he said. You know, it wasn’t easy playing two five sets and four hours’ match.

“It was even tough for me to play today. Especially third and fourth I couldn’t really put effort for every game. But I tried to concentrate with those important points. Especially last game, you know, I tried to get more energy and tried to concentrate again.”

He is a new face in such stages of a slam, but Nishikori had always showed great skills in the past.

“I was ready to play, you know, these kind of players always,” he said. “Especially this year I have been playing really well. I went to final in Masters once and, you know, I have been beating those top guys already.

“But I knew I was a little bit nervous, getting nervous, you know, first time semis here. But I think the confidence helped for today’s match.”

It was definitely an upset for the world number not to be able to play one more final in New York, but he gave full credits to his opponent.

“It was not easy to play in these conditions,” he admitted. “But also he had more hours spent on the court. So it’s no excuse.

He played some great tennis. I congratulate him for the effort. He was the better player today.

To the question about what changed in his opponent’s game to make him so competitive these past two weeks, he said: “I think he wasn’t using forehand as well as he does now.

“His backhand is very solid. One of the best double-handed backhands from all over the court. Really aggressive. He’s very quick, so he gets a lot of balls back. Uses every short ball to attack. I think now he’s all-around player.

On Monday, we will have a new slam and US Open winner, the second first timer of this 2014.

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