US OPEN

September 2, 2026

Rafael Jodar

Press Conference

B. YUNCHAOKETE/R. Jodar

6-2, 6-1, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Could you explain how you were feeling on court and why you weren't able to bring your best today?

RAFAEL JODAR: He played better than me, and that's the reason why he won today.

Q. And physically?

RAFAEL JODAR: Physically good. Yeah, that's it. That's how the match went. He played better than me, so he deserved to win today.

Q. From your perspective, though, yes, he played well, but did you feel a lot worse than you normally do in terms of your feel on the ball and the way you were playing today?

RAFAEL JODAR: Well, that's -- I mean, I tried to give my best today. It wasn't meant to be today.

Yeah, I have had a good season overall, so yeah, it's going to be, yeah, some time to recover and to think about this tournament and what, you know, I could learn from that.

Q. Tough one today. You waited a long time to play this match and then also had to deal with the rain delay. How did you kind of manage the midmatch break today?

RAFAEL JODAR: Just the best way possible. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, because I was waiting a lot yesterday and today, as well.

But it is what it is. We cannot control the rain, so it's difficult for both players.

Q. It's your first year, and you've played a lot of matches. Does it accumulate for you in terms of are you getting tired at all throughout these months? Because you've gone deep at a lot of tournaments.

RAFAEL JODAR: No, no, it's not getting tired for me.

Q. Tough one. I'm sure you've probably seen online throughout the year some people, like, talking about how your shoelaces break and things like that. I'm just wondering, are you more aware now of how you'll just be perceived online depending on what you said?

RAFAEL JODAR: What's the question?

THE MODERATOR: It had to do with delays during matches.

RAFAEL JODAR: The shoelaces didn't break today. So the question? What is the question? I don't know. I don't know the question.

Q. Sorry, I'm sure, like, when you're shoelaces were breaking, I'm sure you noticed a lot of people were talking about it online. I'm wondering, are you worried that if you talk about your physical condition, if people might think you're making excuses, basically?

RAFAEL JODAR: Doesn't make sense.

THE MODERATOR: We can go to the next question. Next question? Any other questions in English?

Q. I think from the outside, a result like this looks a big surprise because of your form this year. For you, how do you sort of accept a loss like that?

RAFAEL JODAR: Well, match has just finished, so I don't really know, yeah, what can improve and what I should do for the next time.

I mean, I'm new on the tour. It's going to be -- there are going to be things like this because I'm new. Just try to learn from it so it doesn't happen again.

First time can happen to anyone. We are human. Second time, it could be bad if I haven't learned from this one.