NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 7, 2023

Alexis Galarneau

Press Conference

F. CERUNDOLO/A. Galarneau

6-2, 4-6, 6-4

ALEXIS GALARNEAU

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. Tough match, but could you sort of sense the crowd getting behind you as you, like, picked up through the second set, and did you sense that you're becoming one of the faces of Canadian tennis here?

ALEXIS GALARNEAU: I definitely felt support out there. I just had to hit a few good shots, keep good energy, and I knew they would try to get behind me.

And, obviously, I hit some pretty cool shot at the end and that helped a ton.

Q. You said at the draw ceremony that you were going to judge the week not based on actual scores but on your level. Do you feel that you met your expectations this week?

ALEXIS GALARNEAU: I think so. It took a little bit of time to reach that level. But starting from second set, I think I was really getting much better, feeling better also on court. Playing on center, I was getting my ease.

And, yeah, I think, you know, I met my expectation. Obviously, I would have liked to win today, but I'm going to learn a lot from this.

Q. I guess are you a player that you find you learn more from wins or do you learn more from losses, and what maybe did you learn today?

ALEXIS GALARNEAU: I definitely learn more from loses. I think when I win, you know, I kind of surf the wave and maybe don't analyze as much as defeat. Because I think I get more emotion from losing a tough battle like today.

So I think I'm definitely going to learn a lot from today, including, you know, maybe keep getting better physically, keep learning about what my patterns are best, and stuff like that.

Q. And just to follow up, taking a player like Cerundolo, taking a top 30 guy to 6-4 in the third, what kind of confidence does that give you for the rest of the season?

ALEXIS GALARNEAU: Yeah, a ton. I knew I had the level, but, you know, to bring it again on center court in front of the Canadian crowd, I think I can be proud of that.

The next step is to take out a top 30 player. So hopefully next year or even this year, I will get more chances at top players like this.

Q. My question is about the mindset of the top players and that kind of mindset that players bring to a slam. And that sort of special mindset is something that you are more with recently and that you can get with time until reach the level of top players. Thank you.

ALEXIS GALARNEAU: Yeah. I think that's one of the difference between top players and players that are top 150. I think that mindset is, you know, not panicking. I think Cerundolo today showed that. He didn't panic. He stayed the course. He ended up serving much better towards the end when it counted. So I got to give him credit for that and also learn from experiencing that.

Because on my side, it's frustrating, but that's how you have to deal with it.