Super Saturday drew another massive crowd to Melbourne Park, and they were treated to some brilliant tennis.
What was said after the match at the press conferences though?
Iga Świątek was dominant in her win over Emma Raducanu, but pointed out that at the end of the day, tennis isn’t everything in her life.
"If you're just focused on tennis, then it suddenly becomes life-or-death kind of thing. It's not like that. It shouldn't be like that. It's just tennis. It's just a game," the five-time major winner stated.
For her part, Raducanu wasn’t hiding away from the result.
"I mean, today the score-line was obviously quite harsh. I feel like I look back and know exactly what I need to do, and I take it as feedback. I'm very clear on kind of what happened out there. The score-line reflects one thing," she said.
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Emma Navarro admitted she’s totally fine staying out on court for 3 sets.
"I work really hard on my fitness, on my ability to go the distance and stick in there for as long as it takes," she admitted. "I always tell myself that before I go out on the court, Don't be afraid to stay out there for as long as it takes. I'm really not afraid to go two, three hours, whatever it may be. I mean, of course I'd rather win in two. I kind of love the grind of three sets."
Alex Michelson is another of the Next Gen making a deep run here, but he admitted becoming a pro wasn’t really on his radar.
"A couple of years ago, never thought I'd be a pro," he confessed.
"Just not how I was raised, not how I looked at tennis until I was maybe 17. My whole childhood, I'd always watch tennis and think, ‘Oh, that's sick, these guys are playing in the best stadiums around the world'. I never really considered that an option for that to be me," he said.
His favourite player growing up, was another guy who’s made his way into the fourth-Round.
Gaël Monfils upset fourth-seed, Taylor Fritz, but as always, gave a healthy dose of perspective when asked if he dreamed of winning the tournament.
"Win? No, you know, to be honest with you, is not even a dream to win the tournament. My dream is to be old and with a lot of kids and healthy," said the Frenchman.
At this rate though, more kids might have to wait, as his wife, Elina Svitolina, walked on the same court straight after Monfils, and also beat the No.4 seed, Jasmine Paolini. Separating tennis from family is important though.
"When we go back home, we completely switch off from that. We just enjoy our time as a family, as a mom and dad with our daughter. Yes, it's really unique connection that we have. I'm really happy the way that we've been dealing with these things," she said.
"It's really a great day for us today, beating top-four players and playing great tennis."
Daria Kasatkina spoke about the fast-pace of the tennis tour.
"You don't have time at all. As I said, in tennis in general, we don't have opportunity to celebrate our achievements at all. That sucks actually, because it doesn't matter. You won a tournament, any tournament. It's a big achievement. No break. You have to go play next week. It's tough," she stated.
"It's like we are putting a lot of pressure on ourselves because it's like it's never enough because you won something. You are thinking in the moment it's a good result. But then in two days you lost first-round. Everything is bad again."
Elena Rybakina had a win, but an injury could derail her campaign to win the title.
"It's not so good since it's lower back. But hopefully, we can do everything possible in this one and a half day. But for now, it doesn't seem too good, to be honest."
Eva Lys is the first female Lucky Loser to make it to the fourth-round at an Australian Open. As she alluded to, it’s a dream for her right now.
"It definitely doesn't feel real for me right now," she said. "I don't know when the realization will kick in. It's definitely just an amazing situation to be in, especially knowing that I was lucky loser."
"I think I found a picture of me sleeping the day I got in. I was just trying to spend the time at the venue, trying to do something because I didn't really know what to do with my time. I was just preparing for my flight the next day."
Alex De Minaur had to battle hard, but the Aussie doesn’t know any other way.
"Before I walk on the court, every time I make a pact with myself, a promise to myself, that I'm going to compete till the very last point no matter what," the No.8 seed.
"Look, if I went two sets down, it wasn't going to change my attitude or my fight or my belief. I was still going to compete till the end."
Ben Shelton is looking forward to his next match against Gaël Monfils, admitting he has watched plenty of the veteran's highlights over the years.
"There's this one highlight tape I feel like everyone has watched on YouTube that's just nuts. For me, it's probably the greatest tennis highlight tape of all time. It's Gaël, just a lot of athletic plays," the American explained.
"So for me if there's one guy in all of sports you're, like, that guy has the greatest mixed tape….for me, it's Gaël Monfils."
Jannik Sinner is through to the second week, and feels as though he’s improving all the time.
"Felt like today was maybe the best match in the way of how I tried to play. I made some still more mistakes, but it's okay. I felt like I was hitting the ball a little bit better than in the previous rounds," said the defending champion.
"I'm quite happy. Of course, I want to raise my level in the next round match, but let's see."
After being booed upon entry onto Rod Laver Arena after her antics three days ago against Destanee Aiava, No.10 seed Danielle Collins bowed out to Madison Keys.
The 2022 Australian Open finalist took the chance to fire shots at Channel 9 presenter Tony Jones, after he called Collins a "brat".
"I love this old guy, Tony Jones," she said.
"Sorry, everybody in the room that’s over, like, 70. I just love how he called me a brat. It’s just so Gen Z and Millennial right now."
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