'I never stopped believing': Diallo ready to raise level vs. Paul

Gabriel you are facing match points in qualifying now you're in the third round of the US Open how would you describe what this last week has been like for you oh man uh you know I'm speechless you know the fact that like you said in the second round I faced the two match point I was that of set in a break uh things weren't looking too good uh to be able to bounce back to not only win the match but then qualify and you know you know win two rounds it's uh it's pretty special and uh hopefully it can be the continuation of something special what have you enjoyed the most so far uh I would say the atmosphere you know in all the matches that I've played so far I've had pretty good crowd yesterday was something that I haven't experienced before uh crowd was you know really into it uh pushing us both me and my opponent to to to compete really hard until the last point and uh I think that we both both enjoy the the atmosphere on Court 17 yesterday you'll be playing in American next at the US Open so the crowd probably won't be on your side in this match but talking to Cedric Koffman your coach at Kentucky says it'll be no problem considering what he dealt with in the SEC what's an what's an example of something you had to deal with in college tennis that will help you for this I mean you know uh some stuff I can't even say on camera on uh on television but you know it's just in the in college tennis more well everything is allowed basically uh so you know they can talk to you during the point I've had you know some fraternity guys uh looking my name up and then telling saying some information about me like in the middle of the point like during the point that we sitting right behind me and you know they were just talking in my ear the whole match but you know I think now it's a little bit different the crowd is you know obviously not as Rowdy but you I think it should be fun tomorrow uh we're playing on on a nice stadium and you know I've I've heard a lot of fellow Canadians so actually when I walked on court yesterday uh few people I think maybe 10 or 15 people started chanting the national anthem so you know the Canadian national anthem so you know I think there's a lot of Canadians so uh should should be a fun one so you're facing Tommy Paul number 14 seed you actually have a winning record four and three against top 30 players what do you like about the chance to go up against one of the game's best players I I mean I I think it's on you know like you said on paper I don't have much to lose but you know I I just try to take my game as much as I can to them obviously they maybe don't know much about my game which uh I believe I'll have a maybe little bit unique game because I play very aggressive I try to you know put as much pressure as I can but obviously I can maintain the rally and and take the rallies and matches to distance nothing seems to phase you uh we saw you getting heckled in the in that first round match you you had the cramping uh but I wanted to ask you about that match against Arthur Feast at the end of the second set tie break like he goes to a a high very high level that tweener shot amazing what are you thinking after that set how do you kind of get back yeah well yeah the the momentum definitely you know after that shot uh went his way and you know he hit a great pass the point after and then won the tie break and held actually held at love and I went down love 30 on my on my surf so I was like was nine I was one I won one point uh in a span of 10 points I only won one point so you know I tried to stop the bleeding in that case you know obviously a three out of five it can go you know there's so many ups and downs so you try to when the momentum is not going your way you try to weather the storm you try to stop the bleeding as much as you can and contain it and uh that's what I managed to do to do and luckily I think winning that that game at one Z he was up one zero and I was down low 30 bringing it back to one1 was was big what have you heard about the support you're getting from back home I don't know I my phone's been blowing up a little bit so I try to I try to just close it and and stay stay present but yeah the support I definitely felt the support you know of millions of messages from you know friends family members and it's it means a lot to me and it motivates me to tomorrow try to to give everything I have on on forward and uh whatever happens I'll be I'll be very happy with uh with what I'll be able to do tomorrow you've played a lot of tennis this summer uh that was your 20th hardcourt match of the of the summer uh against Feast uh we see you have tape on on the leg of course uh how are you feeling physically how much do you have left in the tank um I feel good physically I have my physio with me my strength coach and my I have moral support So now is not the time to uh you know to uh feel sorry for yourself maybe physically of of course you know like you said I've been playing a lot so the body is not like when I started the summer but I feel I feel good and yesterday I felt very good especially in the fourth set when it was time to to press on the gas pedal and tried to to close it out so you know we we did a good job today recovering and uh hopefully get ready for tomorrow I mentioned 20 matches on the hard course this summer 17 and three it's a lot of winning in this last stretch of tennis like what what's your confidence level like right now yeah this is good you know where it should be it should be high you know obviously I qualified and won two rounds I beat two guys top 100 uh I won a Challenger in the beginning of the summer and you know the I've been very consistent with the level that I brought match in match out so you know the the the confidence as high as it should but you know I'm aware of that tomorrow I'm facing the hardest opponent I faced I will face uh so far this summer so I'm gonna have to go another gear and uh and try if I want to give myself a chance to win yeah Tommy Paul might not know a lot about you what do you know about Tommy Paul Ian he's been on the terar this year you know I think he won uh he won Dallas and then won Queen so you know he can play on all surfaces he's a great mover uh he loves to dictate so you know obviously his ranking uh rank King doesn't life 14 in the world or 15 in the world he's you know one of the best players in the world so uh it's going to take a lot out of me to to give myself a chance to win so we're we're we're talking to you while you're driving uh back from the from the facility where you had a practice and you spent some time there what's an off day look like for you right now uh I slept in a little bit like woke up at maybe 9 9:30 had a late breakfast in in New York with with my team uh and then just had a light practice uh a lot of treatment uh Fair Credit to my physio as well and uh you know drink a lot of fluids uh do my normate tech boots which I brought with me and go to bed early and wake up tomorrow and ready to attack the day with your phone blowing up I'm wondering has any message surprised you have you heard from anyone you did not expect uh I don't know I I mean I I don't think I've even read a quarter of the messages that I got but uh yeah I mean I'm sure when the tournament's over I'll have a little bit more time I'm gonna try to reply and open as many messages as I can so maybe I can text you in in two weeks you know if any message is surpris me what are you most definely I mean definitely having Sugar Sammy at the in the first round was pretty special and we've been messaging a little bit back and forth he's been following in my run so far so I would say maybe him as of right now it's I mean it's pretty tough to be I guess finally I just ask you you know what are you most proud of this has been an amazing amazing run and it's still going but like what are you most proud of when you reflect on this this last stretch uh I would say you know the way I competed I never stopped believing in myself even when it didn't look like uh the chances were in my way in my favor you know I competed and uh you know I'm super proud of myself for always giving myself a chance to to win the match and uh also very proud of the effort that my team has been putting around me whether it's my tennis coach my strength coach my physio my parents my girlfriend you know showing tremen tremendous amount of support throughout the summer uh you know it does obviously doesn't go unnotice and G gives me a lot of fuel to keep going Gabriel I hope the traffic's okay as you work your way back to the hotel right now it's okay but we'll see New York we never know never know but New York loves an Underdog Story and you're giving them a great one right now so congratulations on the Run good luck in the third round and we look forward to talking to you again thank you thank you for having me