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ROGERS CUP WOMENAugust 5, 2014Eugene LapierreMONTREAL, QUEBEC THE MODERATOR: Questions in French. Q. Did you already experience a day like this, with this power failure? EUGENE LAPIERRE: Once, a long time ago, but it didn't last more than half an hour. We discovered pretty soon that someone just had hit the wrong button. But never like this, no. I wish no one would experience this. I wish this to no one. Q. The loss of Eugenie, does this change any plans for the tournament? Is it really disappointing? EUGENE LAPIERRE: Of course, it's disappointing. But I believe the most disappointed person is Eugenie herself. We could see when she came off the court. We would have wished to be able to support her a bit further in this tournament. As for the tournament, it's already a major success this year, thanks to the vibes she brought to the tournament and all the fantastic results she had before the tournament. We have already broke the record of 175,000 spectators for the week. So now it will be up to the other great world players to make the show. Q. Can you tell us what you felt seeing that match? She seemed nervous on the court, but were you, too? EUGENE LAPIERRE: To be honest, I didn't see the match. I was talking with Hydro‑Québec trying to solve the power failure and set the schedule for tomorrow. That kept me busy for most of the match. I did see the third set. I didn't see the Eugenie I knew during the past month. She was not playing the same, and her opponent seemed extremely motivated. She was able to raise her game when she saw she had a chance. Many times I thought Eugenie would be able to come back in the match. Q. Do you have a precise explanation about this power failure? EUGENE LAPIERRE: Yes. The president called me in person and said there was an important problem with a word I didn't understand. He told me a word I didn't quite understand. But I knew because of that problem, he told me they had to power load shed which resulted in cutting off the power 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there. We were supposed to have a shedding for 20 minutes, and it lasted, it lasted. He kept saying, It's not going to be long before it returns. But finally they discovered they have two lines to give us electricity in two areas. One of them had failed. When after the shedding they put the power on again, the remaining line failed, so there were no lines left. They have to repair this, but it will take all night. So they did bring a gigantic power generator, and I congratulate them for that. Given the circumstances, they were very helpful. Q. Can we say today we had the worst scenario possible? Everything went wrong. Did you ever really have a day like this? EUGENE LAPIERRE: You're absolutely right. We expected today would be an historic day. We had our countrywoman coming back home as a favorite of one of the greatest tournaments in the world. So many unlucky things happened that spoiled it all. It will be an historic day, but not for the good reasons. All this spoiled the celebration. THE MODERATOR: Questions in English. Q. Stacey Allaster was saying earlier this week you're on the way to a record. Maybe you can clear up that it will or it will not be a big gigantic financial hit? EUGENE LAPIERRE: It's a record here already. We know we're going to be surpassing the 175,000 spectators as it is. Financially we have already hit our target actually yesterday. We're thinking it would be very nice to have Eugenie go further. It's probably not going to be as good. But I think if the other players that we have play good tennis, Sharapova, the Williams sisters, Ivanovic, Azarenka, they're not only good tennis players, they're entertaining tennis players. I think the fans will have a good show for the rest of the week. We still have a few tickets to sell, and I'm sure we're going to do even better. Q. Strange day. You lose your power. You lose one of your top draws. The only good thing was the rain only lasted for about 10 seconds. Talk about your emotions during the day. EUGENE LAPIERRE: That's you, always finding the good side (laughter). Q. Can you talk about your emotions during the day. EUGENE LAPIERRE: Yes. As I said earlier in French, it was for many us of us an historic day that for once a Montréaler coming back home, it was something to look for. That's what people had been talking about for the last few many days, the fans, the media, ourselves. It was good. It was today. It was to be something grand with a full stadium, our 20‑year‑old coming back home. Instead of that we have bad luck, power shortage, all sorts of problems, starting the match late, things going bad, then Eugenie doesn't play a good match. I saw a bit of the match, the third set mainly.  I didn't see the Eugenie Bouchard that I've seen play in the last few weeks and months. Mind you, the other girl played an excellent match. She was hitting, from what I saw in the third set, some really powerful forehands. So everything went wrong. It's going to probably end up to be an historic day, but not in a good sense. Q. Does Hydro‑Québec take the blame or the credit for at least restoring what little light you had there for the evening session? EUGENE LAPIERRE: They responded very quickly. I don't think you can blame Hydro‑Québec. You have to see what they do after that. They were quite quick to respond and analyze. They were giving us a play‑by‑play as we went over the afternoon. It was not always good news, but they were there. The president called me to explain what was going on, what we could expect. It's exactly as it was described. Q. Have you thought about moving the last match to tomorrow and put an end to this disgraceful day? EUGENE LAPIERRE: No. It would disrupt the schedule very badly. We're not that late. The players want to play. They don't want to play two matches tomorrow. Nobody wants that, unless there's rain and you can't play. But, no, no, they want to play. Well, for the diehard tennis fans, it's a pretty good match out there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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