	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ROLAND GARROS

May 27, 2015

Benoit Paire

PARIS, FRANCE

B. PAIRE/F. Fognini
6-1, 6-3, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. The first thing I'd like to ask you is, how did you experience this match? Because there are two strange sets on Fognini's side. How would you analyze this match?
BENOIT PAIRE: Well, for me, it's just a match like any other match I wanted to win. It's my second round here in Paris, so whoever I would have played, I would have started the match wanting to win. I had a good start. After the match I talked to him. He said he suffered slight food poisoning. He couldn't sleep very well, so probably he was diminished. I felt the ball very well. I was very present on the court. There was a pretty good atmosphere. So I made my life easy by starting very fast and very strong. He was not feeling well in the beginning. He tried to come back in the third set, so that put a bit of pressure on me. But I'm happy I made it in three sets. I didn't dig in too much physically. So I'm very happy I'm playing a third round.

Q. We saw you talking to the umpire before Fognini walked on the court. What did you ask him?
BENOIT PAIRE: Well, I just wanted to know what was going on, because I was on the court, had been on the court for a long -- I was under Lenglen. He was under the Chatrier, he was looking for me under the Lenglen. So I told security people I was under the court already. That's just a small problem, and it's not his fault.

Q. And there was another problem with the fight in the crowd.
BENOIT PAIRE: Yeah. I almost stepped in, but, no, no, it's true that in the crowd there were two people that started fighting. (Laughter.) It was a bit of a mess. I was focused on my match. I knew exactly what I had to do. As I said, I knew exactly what I had to do, and the weather was good. Everything was perfect for me to play a beautiful match. So now if there is a problem in the crowd, if there is a donkey walking across the court, I don't care. I want to play my match. I will play my match against Berdych or Stepanek next time. I'm very happy today.

Q. Three months ago you were still playing futures. You reached the third round today at Roland Garros. That's a big difference.
BENOIT PAIRE: Absolutely, but if I did play futures, it's because I wanted to live such beautiful moments, because I felt that my game was not at its best level, but I had to build up in terms of confidence. So I had to go through futures, then challengers, and it's something beautiful. It's wonderful, because I have not played for eight months last year. I had this knee injury. I didn't know what the outcome would be. I was a bit scared, because it took a bit of time to sort out the problem. But being here, playing the third round at Roland Garros, I'm very proud of myself. I'm not the kind of guy who would boast about things, but I'm proud of myself today, because I took time to come back. I went to win points and increase my ranking, playing challengers and futures. I'm so happy I'm playing the third round, and I want to do even better. I want to make it to second week. So I'm not going to stop here. I won to Fognini and Gastao Elias, and I want to win versus my next opponent.

Q. Beyond this beautiful performance, beyond the fact that you managed to hit the ball perfectly, were you happy that there was a lot of buzz around this match with two players with a strong character? I mean, did you prepare in a particular way for this match because you had a very strong opponent?
BENOIT PAIRE: Well, yes, of course. I talked about this with my manager, because this is why I work with him. He can guide me. I had to forget about everything outside the match. I know Fabio. I know that you always have to be careful, because Fabio can wake up all of a sudden. He can have wonderful shots that will make the whole difference. So I was very happy I won in three sets, because had he won the third set, you never know what to expect. He was moving much better as we were playing. He was feeling the ball much better, and I had to be very careful. So that's what we talked about with my coach. The thing was to be strong for a longer period of time than the opponent, and this is what I did today. Even when it was difficult in the third set, I remained focused. That made a difference today.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297