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MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERS

April 12, 2016

Gilles Simon

Monte Carlo, Monaco

G. SIMON/G. Dimitrov

6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. So what is your feeling about the first round? Do you prefer this game?
GILLES SIMON: Yes, it was a lot better today. In the first round, I moved well, but I was not hitting the ball well.

Today I felt better in all my shots. It was a bit better from the baseline, from the general rhythm. It was better when I was being aggressive and when I was serving everywhere.

Q. So you feel very much at ease on clay already?
GILLES SIMON: But the problem with clay is that you should be able to do different things according to the different style of game of your opponents. There are many things you can do.

For what I had to do today, it was very good. But against other opponents, I might have to do different things. I'm not sure yet that everything is going to go well. But today was a lot better.

Q. Apparently the conditions are fast.
GILLES SIMON: Yes. The balls are very fast. I was wondering whether they were different balls than last year because I also believe they're faster. The balls are also heavier. In Miami the balls were lighter and were flying. Here they are different. They are heavier.

Maybe it's easier to control them, but there's a change. But I agree with you that they are faster.

Q. For the first two rounds here we had the feeling those two opponents couldn't hurt you. Is that what you felt on the court? Is it due to you or is it because of their game? You didn't feel in danger against them?
GILLES SIMON: I feel safer against Viktor than against Grigor. But if I play well, it is going to be very difficult for him. If I don't play well, and he dominates the game, he's very creative and can do a lot of things.

But today I was able to play quick, to play fast, and he was not able to hit the ball hard all the time, not as much as he wanted to.

Q. What happened to Grigor, according to you? Everybody was saying he was an incredible player. Maybe now he's not at the level that people expected. Some were saying that his coach pushed his physical training too much. What do you think?
GILLES SIMON: I believe he's a player who is able to do many different things. He's moving very fast on the court, when he's in defense or when he's attacking. He has many qualities.

Maybe when you have so many qualities, it's more difficult for you to build a game that is more efficient. This is my general impression.

When he came onto the tour, everybody thought he was able to do so many different things, but he was fragile. I still have that same feeling now. As far as I'm concerned, it's a good thing.

But we feel if one day he's able to put everything together and play safer tennis, then he might be a very good player because he has a lot of qualities.

Q. So for the next round, it might be Stan or Kohlschreiber or Coric.
GILLES SIMON: So there are three of them? Should I talk about the three of them? I don't want to do this.

So, what are you interested in?

Q. We want to hear about Stan.
GILLES SIMON: I'll tell the other two what you're thinking. I'll pretend it's going to be Stan.

I beat him once in Indian Wells. The one with the match point was in Shanghai. But in the French Open last year, he didn't blow it, on the contrary, he put all his weapons to good use.

So, as you've seen, in heavy conditions like in the French Open, I had no chances. So playing on a faster surface can be good or bad.

Of course, if I have a chance of beating him, it has to be on a fast surface. But he still hits very hard and he's still very difficult to beat. That is why he's better than I am.

Even when I have good conditions for me and I feel good, I can win against him. But it's 6-4 in the third set. When he wins, it's 6-2, 6-4, 6-3. That's the difference.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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