	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 26, 2016

Timea Bacsinszky

Paris, France

T. BACSINSZKY/E. Bouchard

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. First of all, what about this match? You did get off to a tough start, and then you were a better player. What can you tell me about this match?
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: I couldn't get my bearings on a big court. There is a lot of space around the court. Even though I warmed up 30 minutes in the morning, I couldn't get the groove, and she had different tactics in comparison to the last time I played against her.

She expected me to put a lot of variation in my game, so I had to find another game plan in order to get the upper hand. I was down 3-Love, but I was not really concerned. Not worried. Because she was not head and shoulders above me.

It was just a matter of adaptation. And when I managed to change my game plan, my tactics, my game intentions, things went differently, and I managed to hit balls inside the court. So I got the upper hand slowly but surely until the start of the second set.

In the second set, I mean, she had a slump, and then I managed to make the difference. I was ahead. I was really focused until the end of the match, even though she staged a comeback.

She was down 5-Love, and she managed to play lights out, and her balls were deep and I missed some shots.

There was a sort of lack of precision on my part, but I can build on my fitness whatever happens in the first round, in the second round, in the first set, in the second set, I know I'm well prepared to play a third set.

For women there is no fourth set or fifth set, but I would have been ready anyway. So if the match goes the distance, I know that I can sustain the challenge.

At 5-4 in the second set, 15-40 on my serve, I thought it could be complicated, but I believed in my abilities. I know that I'm a fighter, and I knew that I would have found the solution. Even though I had lost the second set I would have found a solution in the third set.

Q. You have said that you changed your tactics at the start of the second set. So what was your game plan?
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: Last time I played against her, I changed the pace. I changed the tempo with more variation. Last time I played against her two-and-a-half months ago, it was on a hard court with high bounces. It was quite hot. The court was different.

Today it was different. Clay was slow. So I played against her on big center court, so there was a lot of space. But she expected me to have a lot of variation in my game. She expected me to deliver lots of dropshots, so the first dropshot that I hit, she managed to chase it down. So I said to myself, Let's change the tactic.

What is good is to have lots of game plans under your belt. At the start of the match I wanted to open the court to attack and to hit the ball deep, because at the start of the match, I mean, I played short balls.

So when you hit the ball deep in the court, normally you are not attacked. So I tried to change my game plan. So it was a matter of knowing who would take the upper hand first, especially on clay. Then I wanted to make the most of the short balls in order to deliver some deep shots or dropshots.

Q. It's only the second time that you have played against Bouchard. What can you tell us about Bouchard? At the start of the career, she was playing lights out, but in the second set she staged a comeback, but you managed to close out the game. What can you tell us about the game?
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: Of course, I mean, she was ranked fifth in the world, and she was young on tour. Maybe she was not able to manage all the things around tennis.

We are all different players, so she got good results, so in the race she was among the top players. That means that she has good tennis, and I think that she will be able to build up more confidence if she wins lots of matches. But she can increase the way she plays.

So when she was ranked fifth in the world, I mean, she got her best results in the Grand Slam tournaments. Two semifinals, one final, I think, and she was defeated in third round of a Grand Slam.

I expected a tough match today. So in the first round, I did not expect her to win easily against Siegemund, so she's fighting back. She's coming back. And we will have to take her into account for the future.

Q. You got off to a bad start. It was the case as well against Soler Espinosa. Any explanation?
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: No explanation. For me a match is long; sometimes I'm ahead and at other times the opponent is ahead. But there are lots of things that can happen during a match. As I told you, a match is very long.

In a set that lasts 45 minutes, it's quite long. So it doesn't matter how I start the match. What matters is to win the match and to be performing well.

I'll try to repeat that performance.

Q. I have another question about the Food Festival. I'm just joking.
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: Are you sure? I mean, I like press conferences that are different. I mean, we have been talking about forehands.

Q. Mentally, psychologically, I'm talking about your opponent, I mean, what did you think of her psychologically?
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: Oh, that's a good question. It's quite unconventional, this type of question. You should put the question to her. I don't know if she's delivered her press conference. I mean, I can tell you about my feelings. I don't have the power to be in the minds of other people. I'm working on it, but it's very difficult to have this power.

So you need to introduce me to the person who can read in the minds of other people. But I will give you an answer.

But I will give an answer about me. Most of the time I pay attention to me. I don't pay attention to the opponent. It's very difficult to focus on yourself, and if you want to focus on the opponent and what is happening around is very difficult. It's not easy to concentrate yourself.

So I wanted to be focused on the game, on the balls, on the game intentions. That's all.

As far as I'm concerned, I didn't think about what I would eat after the match, and I didn't think about the Food Truck Festival.

I said to myself that the match will be long, and whatever happens I will put her in a difficult situation. Long rallies, long match. I wanted to avoid long rallies, so I managed to rectify the situation at 5-3, I would say.

But that's it. These were my intentions. So I was not in levitation during the match.

Q. Niederreiter was in your box. Any source of inspiration from him?
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: I don't know him very well, by the way. Switzerland is small country. Through the social networks, you can exchange your views with other Swiss athletes. With Nino Niederreiter, Swiss-German, Thomas Weisel was there for my first match.

So it's cool. It's great to have however many personalities, personalities are from sports or from another field. It's great to have them, especially when they want to watch a match and to watch my match.

I was a little bit late for this press conference. Why? Explain to you. So before taking a shower, I met this person, and I thought that we would talk four or five minutes, and at the end of the day we talked 20 minutes, and it was with two wrestlers. I didn't know them very well, so we discussed 20 minutes only.

There were so many topics, I mean, to talk about regarding the source of inspiration now. So when you have an unconventional sportsman, it's a source of inspiration for me. So I would like to thank him and he will turn up on Saturday, so I hope that I will be in a position to talk more with him.

Q. You played the semifinals on this court against Serena last year, so how did you feel stepping back again on this court emotions-wise?
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: Well, the past is the past. Last year it was a great year. I learned a lot from last year, but each match is different. Each situation is different. The temperature was totally different to that of last year in the semifinal, and the opponent wasn't the same.

At the start, I mean, I didn't manage well the size of the court. I made a request to play on a big court, and even though you are seeded 8th in the world, you are not always authorized or entitled to play on a big court.

So it was a matter of adjustment. I had to get my bearings at the start of the match.

But first win on Chatrier court, this is something that will be etched on my memory. And I hope that I will play again on this court.

Q. Some players have decided not to play for Rio.
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: I have not understood.

Q. Isner, Lopez, four or five players have decided not to take part in the Olympic Games. Can you understand them?
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: I mean, as I told you, each player is different. I'm not going to pass judgment on their decisions. They decide their career themselves. I'm delighted to take part in the Olympic Games, but if they don't want to play in Rio, it is their choice. It is their priority. That's all.

It's a matter of priorities. It depends on the importance that you attach to a tournament. For example, Radwanska, she's decided not to play in Rome. Is it a good choice? Is it a bad choice? It depends on the player. It depends on Radwanska in this case.

It depends on the plans that you have for the weeks to come. And the same goes for the Olympic Games. There are some pros and cons. There are lots of tournaments. It's very difficult to establish the right schedule.

I have heard that Dominic Thiem is playing all the tournaments. But if a player makes a decision, I mean, we have to respect the decision. It's a matter of schedule. It's a matter of priorities. I'm not in a position to tell you whether it's good or bad. I don't have any opinion on that.

Q. Back to the center court. You have said that when you are on center court, you said that there is a lot of space, a sort of void. What do you feel? What changes versus the other courts?
TIMEA BACSINSZKY: On center court, I mean, there is a lot of place. You have to step back. And even to step back from tennis, by the way. But there are lots of -- basically the echo is different. There are lots of people watching the match. More noise. I could hear the seats. It was like aluminum or iron. I'm not going to reproduce what I heard. I'm not going to come up with another pun.

But I have not played lots of matches on center courts, because of my ranking, because of the quality of my game I play on some courts but not big courts. There was a feeling of void but it's a matter of adaptation, but I trust myself. I know that I can adapt very well. So I'm not worried. So what matters is to adapt yourself to the center court. That's all.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297