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ROLAND GARROSJune 2, 2015Stan WawrinkaPARIS, FRANCE S. WAWRINKA/R. Federer THE MODERATOR: Questions in English. Q. I'd like to know what kind of satisfaction you're feeling in this moment, and on court and if you had some tears in your eyes and they are different from the tears you had in Monte‑Carlo. STAN WAWRINKA: In Monte‑Carlo? No, I'm really, really happy, for sure really satisfied with the way I played today. I was like always really, really nervous when I play Roger, especially in big moment like in quarterfinal of Grand Slams. I wasn't really feeling good this morning and before the match, but I also know that's when I play my best game, in general, because I'm so focused in that I have no choice to play well. The conditions was really tough. I don't think no one was happy with the wind. But it's quite clear what I have to do when it's conditions like that and when I play Roger. I need to play really heavy. I know that when I play good tennis, when I play my best tennis, I can play so heavy from both sides that it's really tough for the opponent to play. That's why Roger was struggling today. It's because I was playing so well. I'm really proud for the match I did today, especially in three sets. Q. Tears? STAN WAWRINKA: No, not at all. Q. There's a stat out there that it's the first time that Roger hasn't managed to have a break of serve at a Grand Slam match since 2002. So considering how windy it was out there, how particularly pleased are you with your serve? STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, it's great, for sure, but for me it's not only the serve. It's my game in general. I was so, so confident with the way I was playing. And I know when it's against Roger and especially when it's windy, the one who start to hesitate a little bit is going to struggle. He's going to have problem to play, because he have to put pressure for sure with the condition, and the balls especially are a little bit more heavy than normally. It's better for me, for my game. I can be 25 meters behind and still put so much power that he really can't control what he wants to do. No, today I'm just happy. I'm a little bit surprised to win that match in three sets and the way I did, but it's a great feeling. Q. Roger said that he felt clay was going to be your chance of a first slam, and Australia came along. Do you have that view, that clay was always going to be a really good chance for you? STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah. I always feel good on clay. I know in the past for me clay was really my surface. I knew that was only less player that was scared to play and more chance to win matches. Since fear, now I don't think the same. I always am very happy to play on clay because I feel strong and it's easy for me. But it's not like I have more chance to win a big tournament on clay than on hard court. Q. Can you look ahead to your match with Jo? He just finished. I think you did that on purpose. STAN WAWRINKA: Sorry? Q. I think you did that on purpose because you walked in as soon as he finished. Can you just talk about that match? STAN WAWRINKA: Maybe. (Laughter.) It's going to be exciting match, for sure. Jo is a really strong player. He's been struggling a little bit since Toronto last year with injury and up and down tennis, but in French Open, in Grand Slam, he's always there, always playing really well. He already play a semifinal here few years ago. I saw him quite a lot this tournament. I think he's quite happy and strong mentally. He's quite relaxed on the court, more than normally. He's just going and try to win and not doing too much. Yeah, it's going to be tough match, for sure. Q. Will it be like a Davis Cup atmosphere? Will that help you? Will it just help focus everything? You know what the crowd is going to be doing, don't you? STAN WAWRINKA: We'll see. When I played Simon on Lenglen. I got booed by the crowd. It doesn't really affect me. I don't have any problem. I just think Chatrier is different things. We played two times with Jo here a few years ago. Was always five sets. But the atmosphere, it's not the same. You have so many VIP loge and people in general all day at lunch trying to see on TV or they stay really, really quiet. So doesn't matter for me. I'm going to play my tennis. That's it. Q. About the crowd, I mean, today you faced the whole crowd against you, as usual when you have to play Federer. Tsonga, Federer, different thing? Similar? Different because he's French? STAN WAWRINKA: Completely different, for sure. Federer is because everybody loves Roger. He's the best player ever. In every country, the people always cheer for me. It's always special. A lot of respect from the crowd and the public. Tsonga is going to be different because he's playing in France. Again, for me, doesn't really matter. I don't think you can change the results. I don't think that is what's going to make me win or him win. It's just going to be a new match. He's playing at home with the crowd for him, but that's it. THE MODERATOR: Questions in French. Q. What about these semis? Is this taste a new taste for you after what happened last year in the and in the past six months? STAN WAWRINKA: [] well, reaching semis for the first time in a Grand Slam is something special. You know, and it's in Paris. For me, Paris is a different tournament. Of course I won juniors. It was my tournament, "my favorite tournament." This year I had confidence. I was playing better. I had two tough months, but otherwise, all in all, I'm solid. Look at my results, the ones I have had since the beginning of the year. I was not panicking. On the contrary. I had quite a bit confidence when I was on the courts. Q. You said this was your best match for a Grand Slam on clay. This is what you said on the courts. Could you tell me more about these shots? They were always within the lines. Secondly, you said it's impressive the weight you put in the points, but your chopped returns, what about these? Very impressive. Was that the key? STAN WAWRINKA: What was your first question again? Sorry. Oh, what I felt. Well, no. Well, the problem is, you know, given the level I have reached for two years now, it's always special feelings when you're playing against the best world players in general. It's either I play really well, and then it's more difficult for the other player. Then you have the impression that he's not really in the match, not focused enough because I play really heavy. Or, you know, we play poorly due to the other players, like Roger, he's the strongest to break the rhythm and the pace so that you do not play your own game. You have the impression you're never playing this match. This is what happened in Rome with Roger. Sometimes, even when you are controlling the match or you're following the match 1‑All, one set all, you're not really in the match because you can't feel what you want to feel. I was ready for this today, but I think it was better than what I thought initially. That is, I managed to deploy my game from the word go. I thought the conditions were good for me. I know I'm a big hitter. I know when I win more and more matches I play a lot better and I'm more relaxed. Today was the wind, the wind that was not helping anybody. But then you know the wind helped me, however, because with the wind I didn't have to think too much. I didn't have to change things in my game. You know, the more windy it is, the more you have to play simple. Play simple. Mainly when I was hitting strongly it was the case. There were many rallies when, you know, without windy would have looked for the angles or somewhere else; whereas here, you know, I was trying to hit strongly on his backhand and wait for the right moment to hit a winning point. But for me, you know, the thing that really satisfied me is that I could do this in three sets with no drops in my pace, no moments when I hesitated. Of course, in my head I was hesitating. I was a bit nervous. I was thinking, No, it's not going that well. But then in terms of my game, I followed my plan. I was always there. I managed to push him back and back again. I'm quite happy with what I did against him for once. You know, my returns, as you were saying, okay, that's a sliced blocked return. That's one of my best shots. It's been the case for years. I do this against Berdych quite a lot. It's depending on the player. I have been using this trick for a year now. My spin, when my spin returns, this is what I do a lot. Well, it depends on the player. You have to vary your shots. But, you know, what I did in Rome against Roger is that I was in between. I wanted to hit stronger. You know, just like what I'd have done with Nadal, but Roger varies his serve a lot. He's always on the court. If I'm too much behind the baseline he's going to eat me up. You know, my objective today was to eat up some of his time on his first serve. Q. I had the impression that you need to have ups and downs in your season so that you come back stronger and stronger. STAN WAWRINKA: You mean yo‑yo? Q. Yes, this is what I meant. But, you know, you fall and then you don't play well, and then all of a sudden you're back. Even though when you practice you practice hard and you play well. But maybe, you know, this is it. You want to kick your own butt. STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, that's true, I do this when it's going poorly, when I'm down in the hole. But without these moments ‑‑ I would like it as well without these moments when I'm down. But as I have always said, that's the difference between me and the Big 4. That is for 10 years they have always won everything. Everything. Now for maybe two years they don't necessarily reach semis, but look at what they did in the past five years. They always reached semifinals. It's amazing. Now, just ask Jo. He was No. 5 of the world. He played finals and semis, and we are the followers. We are trying to defeat them, but we can't hold to this best level that we can reach throughout our whole season, throughout all the tournaments. This is what's difficult in tennis. And this is when, you know, you can defeat the Big 4, and that's why they are different from all the other players. Q. (Off microphone.) STAN WAWRINKA:  I just try and reach the moments when I'm high, not low; and therefore, if I'm, as I said, in the hole, when I'm playing less well, you know what I do? Rather than crying, I kick my own butt. Sorry for the words, but this is what I do. I don't want to be down, because, you know, my objective is not to not have wins. I want to improve. I want to always find the best things that I can find to progress. Of course I dream to be able to play all the tournaments the way I played here, and also the Australian Open this year and to reach this level, but for the time being I have not found the solution or the key. Q. We are talking about the Big 4, and this is something you said a year ago to us. You said, They are always good; whereas you have the ups and downs. We asked the question to Roger, Rafa, Novak, and the three of them said, That's because Stan has won the Australian Open. He's digesting it. It's happened to us before. They said, Don't worry. He's in the club. He's one of us. Is that something you felt? I can remember the three of them really said the same thing unanimously. STAN WAWRINKA: That was so kind of them. And here again, you know, since the Australian Open I won a Masters 1000, a 500, semifinals in Australia. Yeah, good wins. I have done that. But I'm so far away from them. Now, maybe for the past two years I'm closer to them, yeah, because sometimes I can defeat them on the big tournaments and I win some tournaments, as well. But they have been doing this for 10 years. That's reality. Look at their results and the thing that's changed is the last two years. Now, sometimes Nadal loses during the round of 16 or Roger in quarterfinals or semis. Before they were always in semis or playing finals. But look at their results. They are so good. Anyway, when I'm on the courts I want to beat them. I know I can do this. I will do my best to do this. But look at their careers. They are totally different from mine. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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