US OPEN

September 5, 2026

Alexander Blockx

Press Conference

A. BLOCKX/F. Cobolli

6-7, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Alexander, congratulations. Moving on. Impressive four-set win today. Your thoughts?

ALEXANDER BLOCKX: Yeah, I think it was a great battle. The first set I think we both played a really good set. Yeah, Flavio took his chances. He went for it, and it paid off for him at the end of the first set.

I think I kept fighting as hard as I could every point, and eventually the break fell on my side in the second set, and then I felt like the whole momentum switched up. I got a lot of confidence.

I saw that he was a bit down mentally in the third set, which helped me get even more energy from that. But I knew once he came back from the toilet break after the third set, I knew it was going to be a new match again.

I think both showed some incredible tennis towards the end. Yeah, I was fortunate enough to eventually get the win, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You've now experienced the main draw in all four Grand Slam tournaments. New York is supposed to be a special crowd. This year people say it's a bit noisier than even previous years. What are your feelings about it? How did you get through this?

ALEXANDER BLOCKX: Yeah, I mean, they are not wrong. Today was really noisy. I felt like at the beginning it was quite okay, and then towards the end, the crowd was really loud, especially on his side.

Then, yeah, I tried to get a bit more involved into that as well to get my frustration a bit out in that kind of way, and I think I got even more pumped up after those moments. I think that really helped me, yeah, to be even more aggressive in my game.

Yeah, I just took the positives out of it. Apart from that, I really enjoyed playing here, yeah.

Q. You've had a number of fine weeks lately on the tour the last few months, and then obviously you lost a couple recently in Cincinnati. Talk about your learning process. What did you learn from playing him recently, and what have you just been learning in the last few months that's helped you come up the rankings?

ALEXANDER BLOCKX: Yeah, I've had some tough losses lately, but yeah, I've learned from them. Today I think I managed to handle those moments better than I did a couple of weeks ago.

Even, for example, against Flavio in Cincinnati that we played, I think we also played a great match. Just towards the end, yeah, I still don't know what happened back then at the end of the match. I think I just froze a bit.

Yeah, lack of playing, lack of, yeah, I think matches that I've had recently in those moments. I think that's just something I took with me and handled a lot better today, yeah.

Q. How much is seeing players that you've grown up with or played with maybe around your age or a little younger, like Learner Tien and Fonseca, has seeing them been motivation or inspiration for you?

ALEXANDER BLOCKX: Yeah, definitely. I think it's always nice to see the guys who grew up with you doing well in the big stages. Yeah, I'm happy to have a small part of that, as well. I hope we'll have many more years that we can share those moments together.

Q. What does this win today mean to you?

ALEXANDER BLOCKX: Definitely a lot. My goal for this tournament was to get to the second week of the Open. I've reached that now, so yeah, I think I'm playing good tennis. Each match is getting better. Yeah, it means a lot.

Q. What are your thoughts about the next match and the opponent?

ALEXANDER BLOCKX: Yeah, I was quite surprised, to be honest. I actually noticed during my match, like, on the scoreboard that Francisco beat Taylor. I was, like, yeah, a bit shocked, because Taylor was leading two sets to love up a break, as well. You wouldn't expect him to lose in that scenario. Yeah, tennis can be weird sometimes.

Yeah, still, Francisco is also an amazing player. We've played once before. That was on clay. Now, conditions are completely different.

We are both really confident, I think, playing good tennis, so it will be an exciting match.

Q. The players, whether it's for injury or because they lost early from the top 10, 15 are out already.

ALEXANDER BLOCKX: Sorry, I didn't hear the beginning.

Q. A lot of the top 10, 15 players are out already of the tournament because of injury or because they lost early. What do you think is related to that? Is it because it's a long season? Is it because the density inside the top 50, top 100 is higher than it used to be?

ALEXANDER BLOCKX: I think definitely the season is long. I think all the guys who performed well in the preparation tournaments have it more difficult here.

As we saw, Arthur Fils playing amazing in Montreal and Cincinnati, and then, yeah, I don't know, maybe he was a bit tired already.

Same with Flavio. He had a deep run in Cincinnati. Maybe he could have been more fresh if he lost earlier, but you don't know. You cannot predict that.

I think it's definitely we're all human. We're not robots. Yeah, every week is difficult.

I think especially in the Grand Slam, it gets even more physical. It's the last one of the year, and I think, yeah, it's just mentally you have to be -- you really have to stay in it.

Q. Do you have a favorite surface?

ALEXANDER BLOCKX: To be honest, right now I like to play everywhere. I've had an amazing season on clay. I think I really found my game there.

I enjoyed grass a lot. I think I can really play my game there, really aggressive, big serve.

Yeah, now this week on hard court, I'm feeling great, too. Yeah, I can say clay is my favorite, but I like to play everywhere, yeah.