Say what?! US Open day four best quotes

After a match, the world’s best players serve up some gems in the press room. These are some of the best from day four…

“Oh, my God, no. I’m old (smiling).”
19-year-old Naomi Osaka does not consider herself one of the tour’s young stars

“Once I was practicing, right, and my whole practice – you know, there is that commercial that says, “If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma,” that’s all I could think about for the whole practice. I was, like, why do I keep thinking this? Then, like, during the breaks, all I could see was like that commercial where this woman was running in a field. I mean, it was a good practice. It’s just my mind wasn’t there. Like, I think it was just muscle memory and stuff. That was a weird day.”
Naomi Osaka’s mind can wander on court

“I don’t think they can deal with my hair.”
Naomi Osaka has no plans to visit the player’s salon on site

“My mum knows me the best, and Anabel has some experience on the tour, and both of them can help me.”
Jelena Ostapenko on being coached by both her mother and Anabel Medina Garrigues

GALLERY: Best photos of day four

“Yeah, I was kind of steam rolling.”
Jennifer Brady dissects her 6-1 6-1 win over Barbora Strycova

“Let’s say you have a door and you can open the door, and I was trying to open this door from the wall, you know? It was hitting the wall.”
Andrey Rublev’s analogy for the early stages of his career

“I won, so I should celebrate. There’s no need to be frustrated. It’s just that I didn’t play well. That’s all. I think maybe this match can help me in the next matches just to play better, feel better. Maybe this is the match what I needed in this tournament.”
World No.1 Karolina Pliskova is staying positive after a three-set second round battle

“It looked pretty easy, but it was not at all.”
Dominic Thiem reflects on his win over Taylor Fritz

DAY FOUR WRAP: Rafa rocks on

“I play tennis. That’s how you stay steady is you play tennis. I only can worry about myself.”
CoCo Vandeweghe on handling an unorthodox opponent

“I was like, Oh, that’s pretty cool, casually setting records today.”
Shelby Rogers on finding out she won the longest women’s singles match in tournament history

“This match wasn’t about the back, which is good. This is more just a grind.”
Roger Federer is not blaming his back for a five-set second round

“Things are going to look real weird.”
Roger Federer’s assessment of how the rankings will look at the start of next season due to the injury lay-offs of several top rivals

SMASHTALK: Can Federer win the title?