US OPEN

September 11, 2026

Karen Khachanov

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/K. Khachanov

6-3, 7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Karen, great tournament, great run. Your thoughts on what you accomplished over the past two weeks?

KAREN KHACHANOV: I mean, look, there is always -- you know, you have to look at the things in different perspectives. If I would know after not great American swing of tournaments that I would play and go deep in the US Open, I would definitely sign for that.

But at the same time, you know, appetite comes with the food. Look, I acknowledge that it was a great run, great tournament, but at the same time, it's a little bit, you know, disappointed obviously because I had my chances. I had my chances in the both last two sets, and I didn't take them. So that's it. Go home.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Karen, if you could have your time again when you had those chances, what would you love to be able to have done differently? I mean, obviously win the points, but is there something you regret?

KAREN KHACHANOV: Look, no, I don't have regrets. At the same time, it's no point to be thinking, oh, I should have done dropshot, and then you do dropshot, and then you miss dropshot or the guy catches it, and you say, no, I should have gone for it, you know, go for the shot.

I chose to play the way I chose to play. I trusted my shots. I trusted my decisions. Maybe I rushed a little bit in some situations, you know, but at the same time, I'm playing against opponent on the other side. So it's not like I'm playing just everything depends on me.

Then it would be pretty easy if every time it's only depends on me. He let me play. He was kind of pushing the ball in the last few rallies. I felt it, yes. I could have stayed in the point longer. I could, but I chose the ones both that I felt comfortable to take a risk and to -- not risk. Let's say to play aggressive. That's it.

I made some, let's say, mistakes, but I made some beautiful points as well. Look, he won three more points in my entire match. That's what I saw afterwards. What to say? He won the important ones.

Q. Did you do anything today that surprised you? The time he took to bounce the ball before serving, did that get in your head at all or not?

KAREN KHACHANOV: Look, he didn't do anything different from what I was expecting, from what we were preparing with my team, with my coach. We know each other really well. Sascha mentioned this before also.

We even play a little bit similar, in a way, I would say, but he has bigger serve, bigger first serve. Higher percentage also, I would say, overall.

But, yeah, I mean, the way he bounces the ball, look, it annoys not only me, of course, a lot of players, because it takes so much time, really. You don't know how to prepare for the serve. You are, like, ready, and then it's another 12 bounces, you know, so you again do split step. You kind of try yourself, but every point like that.

At the end of the day, if it's within the rules with the time between points, I cannot say anything against that, because it's within the rules, you know? If he extends the time, then gets time violation, so it's pretty simple as that.

Q. That having being said, Karen, I was watching that clock quite closely, and a lot of times it was going to zero and the bouncing continued. Would you like to have seen a little more action taken by the umpire?

KAREN KHACHANOV: Look, I'm not the guy who would, you know, ask umpire to look at it. I don't like to do that. I don't like when opponents are -- I think in some situations they mention to me even that I am honestly, I think, averaging 12 seconds or 15 seconds every point.

Maybe after some long rallies it could happen that I was very close with the time in some other tournaments, and then, you know, the player is, like, crying or saying like about that.

I think it's a job of umpire to notice and to be more aware and actually take the action. So it's up to him; not to me.

Q. Do you still believe that you have a Grand Slam final, maybe a title, in your future?

KAREN KHACHANOV: I believe. I strongly believe, definitely. If I wouldn't believe, I think I wouldn't be here right now as well, you know?

Because like I mentioned, after some disappointing tournaments, even challenging half year, you know, I'm here in the semifinals. You know, it's not like just to say how amazing I am. It's to say that everything is possible. And I have to try to bring this level and this consistency more often, let's say.

You know, this is the goal for me right now, you know, and then I will have a shot. I believe so.

Q. What is next for you? Do you have any plans for the $1.45 million that you earned for making a semifinal?

KAREN KHACHANOV: Look, the plan right now is pretty simple. I'm flying tomorrow back home. Also, this trip was quite long, because I started in Los Cabos in the end of July. I think it's almost seven weeks I didn't see my wife and my kids. No, actually, my wife was with me for the first two events, but now we didn't see each other. So I miss them a lot.

In general, yeah, to rest for sure for four or five days maybe and then make a plan with the team which tournaments I play next in Asian swing and China.

And about money, I didn't have any plan yet. I think maybe in my situation, my age, I would say I'm still young, but you know, maybe I should be a little bit more conservative, no? Like start to keep the money, not only spend them, no? So maybe that's the goal for me now (smiling).

Q. When you've achieved as much as you have and the age you are, is it at all difficult for you now to go to, say, Asia and carry on again because it's so relentless?

KAREN KHACHANOV: Yeah, look, but at the end of the day, how to say, I'm not, let's say, in a position like Novak Djokovic or Rafa or Roger, who won so many slams, and even when they were younger, they were playing much more events.

I think your ranking system and everything counts and everything is important. I'm hungry to play. I want to win more titles. I want to play, you know, Masters 1000s more and better, you know? It's not like I have under my shoulder 30 titles like these legends, you know, so that's why for me it's pretty clear that it's more sense to play.

But at the same time, of course, I have to be mentally and physically ready, because after a Grand Slam, you see what it takes. You know, it's been really long trip just in New York.

I arrived on Saturday the week before, so it's like almost -- tomorrow is three weeks exactly. Then every day to be focused, you know, every day like you do your routines, practice, match, this, that.

It's tiring, obviously, so that's why you know what it takes to play deep in a slam and especially to make final or win it, you know.