US OPEN

September 12, 2026

Alfie Hewett

Press Conference

A. HEWETT/T. Oda

6-0, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Two totally different sets. Your thoughts on your accomplishment today?

ALFIE HEWETT: Yeah, it felt like a long time coming, to be honest. It's been 18 months since I've won a singles slam, which has been a tough one.

I've had quite a few losses in big finals, so to just sort of turn that around today and make it go in my favor, especially in the way it went, as well, very, very happy.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You must be wondering how you're going to beat this guy.

ALFIE HEWETT: A few times (smiling).

Q. How did you do it?

ALFIE HEWETT: Yeah, a lot of hard work. A lot of soul-searching at times, a lot of reflecting. To be fair, the Wimbledon pumping was, yeah, a tough one to swallow. I definitely came away from that one with a lot of regret and took some time off and had a hard, long look in the mirror about maybe who I wanted to be on the tennis court and how I wanted to show up.

Today I didn't care about the outcome. It was about being a little bit more like Alfie and showing the fight and showing the grit and the desire to go out and play a bit more fearless. Yeah, today I think the performance showed that.

Q. Incredible accomplishment. When someone like he has won so much and has been so dominant for 18 months or whatever, is it almost a bigger challenge mentally believing that you can beat him, and how did you mentally start to believe again that you'd beat him? And that first set, just what went on there?

ALFIE HEWETT: Yeah, I think belief is such a big thing. Obviously there's a lot of tennis reasons as to why scorelines go the way they go.

The three main areas is you have to serve well, you have to try and be as aggressive and attacking as you possibly can on your returning games, but that's probably against the biggest and the best server in wheelchair tennis, so it's not easy to do. And then once you're in the rally, you've got to play fearless tennis, and you can't just get the ball in the court and try to build a rally situation. You have to try and finish it as quick as possible.

I've always felt like I've been quite fearless in my game off the ground and in my returning. Maybe my serve has been the area that's been a struggle over the last couple of years, and I think that's what's at times let me down in big moments and big matches against him especially.

Yeah, the mentality in my whole game but definitely with my serve has probably been my biggest delight I think about today, because there was a few wobbles, especially in that second set with my serving, but I persevered. Actually, I think towards the end, it was back to how it was in the first set.

You know, you always have to believe, right? If you go out there and don't believe, you stand no chance at all. It's how quickly that belief gets sucked out of you sometimes when you're in those moments against him and the scoreline goes against you. That's what I didn't enjoy about Wimbledon was how I didn't really fight and dig deep and believe in myself even in tricky moments, which isn't really like me.

That's probably a few wounds (smiling).

Q. How do you explain what the first set was? I mean, that was incredible.

ALFIE HEWETT: I said today I just wanted to be possessed. I wanted to let him know that I wasn't going to roll over and I was going to be strong in my presence and be strong in my character today.

Yeah, it was an incredible set of tennis. I probably executed everything I'd like to have done, which it felt a bit strange, if I'm being honest, after the first set, because we hadn't really planned for it to be like this.

So when the second set was 4-1 down, it was, Ah, this is a bit more normal, which is a weird thing to say, but I actually felt more comfortable then. And it was all about just trying to ride the storm, and if there was a window of opportunity to find a way back into that second set, then I had to take it. I did that at 4-3, and then it was very close until the end.

Q. An awesome win. How does this one -- obviously it's been a little bit since you've lifted the singles trophy here in a Grand Slam singles, but I mean, you've won here before. How does this one feel different? You won doubles yesterday. You're back here again.

ALFIE HEWETT: Yeah, perfect week, really (smiling). Doesn't get much better than this, so it's a nice way to finish the slam year.

You know, the doubles has been a lot of fun this year. We've won a lot. So at times it's been quite frustrating that then when I've made a singles final, I'd lose, my bubble's been burst, but not this time.

Q. We just talked about this with Niels and Sam, about how they always just keep meeting each other, and they've played each other a million times, and you and Tokito have played each other several times, as well. How does that remain, like, a challenge or fun or exciting or even just not fun to know --

ALFIE HEWETT: It's definitely hasn't been fun at times, that's for sure. Yeah, it's a rivalry. It's an exciting one. I wouldn't want it any other way.

I know that there's a lot of other men's players that are hungry and motivated and have got that desire to want to make a final and win, but I think at the moment the level that we're producing on a tennis court, we just keep pushing each other to be better.

Yeah, he's made me such a better player. One day I think once we're both retired, we might sit down and talk about it all. The things that we're doing in practice, the level of detail that we're looking into to try and be better, yeah, it's very high. It's nice to then get the reward when it all comes off.

Q. After a tough match against Tokito, how extensively have you analyzed or studied Tokito's play after Wimbledon?

ALFIE HEWETT: Yeah, I mean, obviously analysis is a very big part of reviewing performances anyway, so we would do that with anyone regardless of who it is, especially after a loss.

But there's a lot of things that I think are on my racquet that can determine the outcome of a match against Tokito, and there are things that he will do that are unstoppable, it's unplayable, and you have to accept that he's got a level that can just blow you off the court at times.

But there's a lot of things that you can also do to stop him from doing that. There's one thing having a game plan, but then there's another thing actually executing the game plan and being confident in it and doing it on a regular basis.

That's been the frustrating thing recently is I sort of know what it looks like, but I haven't been able to play like it. When you don't do that, you don't give yourself an opportunity. Yeah, nice to do it today.

Q. We've talked a lot I feel like over the past week and year about this being the 50th year of wheelchair tennis, the anniversary, but you're also starting the next 50 years and next generation. And with Matthew winning the junior title yesterday, I guess, not just looking back, but looking forward, what does this mean to you and the next generation?

ALFIE HEWETT: It means a lot, right? One day I'll be giving -- well, hopefully I'll be giving a trophy to someone in 20, 30 years and looking at the level of wheelchair tennis and being glad that I'm retired.

It's so important, because people like Brad obviously, they paved the way for us in the present to have this sort of career and be professional and be able to do it as a full-time job. It's amazing what the people along that way have done.

I feel like we have a responsibility to now continue that and push it in an even better direction and trying to get more people playing. You know, someone like Matt, who is doing amazing things in the juniors circuit, I'm sure if he continues on that pathway, he will have a good senior career as well.

It's certainly about trying to get more people playing, and if you get more people playing, then ultimately there will be a better group of players in the future. It's exciting.