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BNP PARIBAS MASTERSOctober 28, 2014Gael MonfilsPARIS, FRANCE G. MONFILS/J. Sousa THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please. Q. You play John Isner next. When you played against him in NewYork you had the majority of the crowd on your side, it seemed like. So what do you think it will be like in your country in it was already so good in his? GAEL MONFILS: I don't know. What do you think (smiling)? Q. Pretty good for you, I'm guessing. GAEL MONFILS: So we will see tomorrow. Q. The other question I have is about Davis Cup. Do you think it's strange that the Davis Cup final will be four men who live in Switzerland playing against Switzerland? GAEL MONFILS: What do you think? Q. A little. GAEL MONFILS: So it is. THE MODERATOR: Questions in French. Q. About the Davis Cup, do you have any special memory that stays in your mind about Davis Cup as a spectator? Anything? GAEL MONFILS: Well, in fact, I got interested in Davis Cup later in my life. When I grew up I was able to see older videos, maybe, but when I was young I didn't really watch. Q. Well, Davis Cup is a team event. What does it mean for you? Friends? GAEL MONFILS: Yes. My buddies are there. I used to play when I was young, but now I play as a grownup in Davis Cup, and I believe it's very strong emotions, strong ties. Q. Do you have the answer you were waiting for after that match? GAEL MONFILS: Honestly, yesterday I was saying I was not playing for other people, but today I really played for the other people. I know it's not hurting as much, so I really tried to stay focused. I wanted to show that everything was all right. But honestly, I would have preferred not to play, because I was able to be reassured. Already I had only three days' practice after five weeks off and I was able to win, so that's a good thing. But I believe I did it to reassure everybody, the journalists, the crowd, family, myself. Q. What is the issue, the organization? You talked with Guy? GAEL MONFILS: Yes. Guy insisted for me to play. We talked with Guy. But I don't have much practice under my belt, so I had to force it a little bit. After five weeks without playing, without stepping on to a court it's tough. I'm happy with that game today. Q. So what are you going to do now? GAEL MONFILS: Well, I am a competitor now, so I'm going to try to do my best now, even if I don't have a very good physical condition. I'm in a strange position because I didn't practice. I didn't prepare well. So I have no basic physical condition. Q. Maybe the risk is that you're going to get caught in the challenge of this tournament. GAEL MONFILS: Well, that's what I was saying. You know, every time I go on court it's because I want to win. Why would I go on the court? Of course now I reassured everybody, so now what? Well, this is really a pity. This is why I don't like to start a tournament if I'm not feeling 100%, but we'll see how it goes tomorrow. Q. Yesterday you seemed very determined. You said, I don't want to play for myself. I want to play for the team. So what did Guy tell you to make your change your mind? GAEL MONFILS: There is a lot of pressure on everybody, I think. So I'm staying quite cool. It doesn't cost me much. But there is a lot of pressure on everybody, as I was saying. So I'm saying that I'm feeling good, but I know people want to see it themselves. Q. So why does Guy want to see you feeling good? GAEL MONFILS: It's not only Guy. I'm talking about him, but there are many other people involved too. In fact, the result was not very important here. The important thing was how I was going to behave on the court, how things would go, and I think it's okay. Q. The fact of playing several matches is important, no? Because you were going to play just Metz and then go directly to the Davis Cup final. GAEL MONFILS: I don't agree with you. Playing more matches here is not a reason, because I might lose tomorrow and I would have played only one match. What counts is the preparation. 90% of players need to play matches so they can have a benchmark and they can play at the best level, but I'm part of those 10% players ‑ or even less than 10% ‑ who just need to feel good physically, and practice is enough for me. The pressure I have here in Bercy will never be the same than the pressure I will have in Lille. I beat Sousa. Even if I win again tomorrow, is meaningless. It's an anecdote. The real work will start next week. We'll start to play on clay, and that's when the pressure will come, the real pressure. Then you'll have to feel good. So we don't talk a lot about that, but we really are lucky in our team. Even if we take the larger team with six players, we are all good players. I believe there are very few teams who can have this. You know, in practice, I can practice with Jo and then Benneteau and Gilles. All week I have five players to play with that are all part of the top 30. This is priceless. So the preparation for us is extremely good. The quality of practice and the quality of game during the practice is very high. So just winning a match here doesn't mean much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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