US OPEN

August 30, 2025

Denis Shapovalov

Press Conference

J. SINNER/D. Shapovalov

5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Denis, well played today. How do you come out of it feeling? Because you've just gone toe to toe with the best player in the world. How did you feel about it?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, for sure, it's obviously a tough loss. Like you said, he's No. 1 for a reason, first of all. Yeah, I had my chance. Was up in the third set. Obviously he played great to come back.

Yeah, honestly it's a good step forward for me. Obviously it's been a journey, a road to get back from my injury to be producing this level again.

This is the goal, just to have this level more consistently. You know, I know I'm able to play this brand of tennis, this level of tennis. In a way, I'm happy. Obviously sad, as well, that I lost. But it's definitely a good step forward for me.

Yeah, hopefully I can try to play this level more consistently.

Q. To get to one set all and 3-Love and then it to go away quite quickly, I noticed you were getting quite upset at that point, back and forth with your coaching team. Is that an ongoing process? What is happening in your mind when that happens? Is that something that you feel you probably need to change?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Honestly, I wouldn't say that I got too upset today. I started maybe to struggle a little bit more on my serve. I felt that it went away a little bit at that moment.

Yeah, I guess, you know, I was just trying to find a way to kind of get it back to the way it was, especially in the first and the second set.

Honestly, I think mentally, to be honest, I stayed pretty good throughout the match, and I've done really well. I would say this entire season I've grown a lot mentally. It's a big reason why I'm able to produce this level, and it's a big reason why I've been able to win three titles in the last 12 months.

I'm able to facilitate a certain level throughout the tournament, on good days, bad days. I'm able to figure out a way to produce that level that, you know, that unfortunately wasn't the whole match today, but was a big part of the match.

So for sure, like I said, you know, before, I just want to try to keep going and try to have this as my consistent base.

Q. Outside of Carlos, very few players have gotten near Jannik at the slams of late. What do you think it was that you were able to do to live with him and be better than him for a lot of the match?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: Yeah, I wouldn't say better than him. We were going toe to toe. It was a very close match. A lot of games were very close.

I just think I've shown before and, you know, it's great that I'm able to show again that I do have a big game. I am, you know, I don't want to say a threat to players, but when I am playing well, it's not easy to play against me. You know, I was playing with a lot of variety. I was mixing things up pretty well against him.

Yeah, I mean, I was trying to make it as difficult as possible while still trying to implement my game and try to play aggressively.

But of course, like you said, he's No. 1 for a reason. He dealt with it really well. He fights extremely well. Yeah, he did a tremendous job to turn it around, you know, down 3-0 in the third there.

Yeah, I need to learn from my mistakes today, try to almost, yeah, stay even more solid. Hopefully with these matches, I'll be able to do that even better going forward.

Q. No man has defended a title here since 2008. Do you think he kind of will do that? Do you think he's the favorite? Did you see anything today that changed your mind at all?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: I mean, it's really tough to say. There are so many great players in the draw, and, you know, you definitely have to probably give it to him, him or Carlos, you know, the two favorites. Obviously they've played I think almost every finals together the last few months.

Most likely, you know, the chances are it could be one of them too, but to be honest, there is a lot of great players. I mean, I was able to put pressure on Jannik today, so, you know, who says that another player can't do the same?

Q. You said earlier that you grew up mentally, like, in the last couple of months, I guess. Did something push you to grow up? Did something help you to do it?

DENIS SHAPOVALOV: I think I'm just getting older, getting more mature, trying to go about things the right way. Yeah, just trying to understand also what helps me, what doesn't help me in the moment. Sometimes I do need to get a little bit more fired up. Sometimes I just need to not stress about the situations and the moments in the match and just play point by point.

Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely learning to do that much better. You know, like I said, when I took that break for my knee injury it wasn't just physical, but it also helped a lot mental.

You know, there's a lot you deal with throughout the years as a tennis player, and it was good to have that break to kind of reflect on, first of all, what I had gone through, but also what I still wanted to achieve in the sport and how to get there.

One of the big things for me was to have more titles and to become consistent at the top level. I'm very happy, you know, that me and the team around have put in the work to try to get there as best as possible.

Yeah, you know, I mean, it was a very positive few matches for me. I didn't have an easy draw going into it, and just very happy. Obviously pissed and upset that I lost today, but very happy with the way I lost and with my efforts, for sure.