NEW YORK -- Sam Querrey leans back, slouches in his chair and kicks his legs out -- long legs, at that, part of his 6-foot-6 frame -- and he settles in for an interview Friday night in Media Interview Room 1 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.
If he seems relaxed, comfortable, at ease, well, it's because he is.
Maybe more so than at any point in his career.
The player who was once labeled The Next Great American Tennis Player, perhaps prematurely, is in a good place. Not just because the fourth round of the US Open, where he'll play No. 23-seed Mischa Zverev after rebounding from a one-set deficit Friday to beat feisty Radu Albot 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round.
Mentally, emotionally and physically, the 29-year-old has found a groove. Coming off his best performance in a Grand Slam tournament -- a semifinal run at Wimbledon that was the deepest for an American since Andy Roddick finished runner-up in 2009 -- Querrey has found the peace that has eluded him at points in his career.
"Right now, things are clicking for me; hopefully it's not a little stretch here," Querrey told ESPN.com after the media session ended Friday night. "Like, hey, good Wimbledon, good summer, good US Open. I'm 29, but 41 out of the 128 guys here were 30 or over. I hope I can have not a stretch of four months, but a stretch of four years."
For now, he's focused on the near future, and what a near future it could be. He couldn't ignore it if he tried.
With several of the game's best sidelined by injury -- No. 2 Andy Murray and his hip, fourth-ranked and defending US Open champion Stan Wawrinka and his knee, No. 5 Novak Djokovic and his elbow -- and a spate of early upsets, the field is wide open. Just six of the top 15 seeds remain. Gone are Alexander Zverev (4), Marin Cilic (5) Grigor Dimitrov (7), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (8) and Nick Kyrgios (14), among others.
"It feels like maybe 2001, 2002, before these guys started dominating, when you had a handful of different major winners," he said. "I feel like there is a crack right now. Maybe it's just a moment, who knows? These guys could all come back next year and be right at the top again."
Querrey and his coach, Craig Boynton, are doing their best to tune out the noise. The Wimbledon run turned up the volume, and this early US Open success has done little to quiet things.
"It's impossible not to look at the draw; it's all anyone asks about," Querrey said.
He's trying to focus on his game, which he said, feels better than at any point in his career. Fifty percent of his recent success has come from practice with his coach -- the spacing of his forehand, the refinement of his serve. The other half, he said, is just confidence.
"I feel like I can make difficult shots, and I feel like when I need a first serve and I'm down break point, it's there," he said. "I'm assuming that's what Federer and Djokovic feel every day. It's helpful."
It hasn't always been this way for the Thousand Oaks, California, product, who tore through the junior ranks and turned pro in 2006. He's battled confidence issues and questions about his fitness and commitment. But, he said, with tennis going well and "a great girlfriend who travels with me, and my mom here, too, and great friends," things are lining up nicely for Querrey.
"When I come off the court, win or lose, I feel a lot better," he said. "There have been times in my career where I've walked off the court and just hated tennis. Right now, I'm in a state where when I lose a match, I walk off feeling I did the things I worked on in practice, I've got another tournament next week, and I'm still in a good mindset."
It helps that things are going so well on the court. Confidence begets confidence, and Querrey is brimming.
"I feel like I'm playing at a different level than I've played in the past,' he said. "Every part of my game feels better now. The best of my career. Before Wimbledon, I was on the tour for 10 years, had good results, was in the top 20, won nine tournaments. But it's hard to break through, if that's what you want to call it, to be top 10 in the world.
"Only a handful of guys can do it."