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ROLAND GARROS

May 23, 2016

Stan Wawrinka

Paris, France

S. WAWRINKA/L. Rosol

4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Obviously a tough first round. Can you just walk us through it and tell us how you pulled off the win in the end.
STAN WAWRINKA: Oh, yeah, really tough match today. Conditions was really slow and heavy. Was typical first round, for sure.

Didn't play my best tennis, in general. A lot of mistake. But he was playing really well. He was going for his shot. Didn't miss much until he start to be a little bit tired in the fourth set and fifth. But before that I was always under pressure. He was going for his shots all the time. He was not missing much.

The fact that the first round I'm looking a little bit for my game. The condition wasn't easy to play free with what I wanted to do.

Q. Were you aware that no defending champion had ever lost in the first round at Roland Garros?
STAN WAWRINKA: No. And it's still not the case, so it's good (laughter).

Q. Just secondly, just wondering, you know, last year you also sort of had some controversy or trouble beginning of the tournament, and now this is sort of a little bit of trouble beginning of the tournament. Is that, in a way, not a bad thing to get through?
STAN WAWRINKA: It's a good thing to get through, but it's never, never the best to start with five-set match and not play your best tennis. You always want to play good tennis and win matches in three sets.

But today I'm really happy with the way I find solution. It's really good victory, good win for me, because it's first match. He was playing really well. Wasn't easy for myself to get into the match. I find solution, so now I have a chance to keep improving for the rest of the tournament.

Q. What were the emotions of stepping back out on that court today about a year after winning the trophy?
STAN WAWRINKA: Was great, but was (indiscernible). I came back to play a match, not to enjoy and think about what I did last year.

For sure when I enter the court I had all the memory from last year, but after that, I was here to beat Rosol today and to play a first round in tough condition, heavy condition, court condition, so I was focused on my match.

Q. A bit of a random question, but I know you're on Snapchat. I'm wondering what do you like about it? How different do you feel it is from other social media? Especially because you don't necessarily get feedback on it the way like on Twitter where you can get negative comments and stuff like that?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, it's just a different way to give something for the fans. I think it's a little bit more easy and more quick to give something. You don't need to post a picture with a comment or a good picture and like Instagram or Twitter when you think which picture you're gonna put here. You can just basically -- you can give a little bit what you did during the day. That's quite easy to do it, and it's quite fun so far.

But again, I do it because I enjoy to do it. The day I don't, I will stop.

Q. You spoke about finding solutions. In the fourth set when you were serving 2-2 down 15-40, what were the solutions you found there to hold your serve?
STAN WAWRINKA: The fact that he made two mistakes also good solution (laughter).

I think was one of the only point he start to be a little bit tight. The second break point, I think he missed a normal shot that he didn't miss all match, and that's it. I was trying to stay there, to keep there. I had Love-40 the game, two games before on his serve, didn't took the chance.

I knew, I know also how I am, more the match goes better I'm going to start to feel, I'm not going to go down physically. He start a little bit less fast, a little bit less reaction, and make a big difference because it start to give me time to put my game on.

Q. Do you have any idea or impression about your next opponent, Daniel?
STAN WAWRINKA: A little bit. I saw him play a few times a little bit, but I didn't know what happened today. I think the other pull out or got injured during the match. I don't know. I saw he retired. I don't know. We'll see. I know him a little bit, yeah.

Q. Do you think you've learned anything from the last time you came back to a major that you were defending? You have done it once before. This is the second time. Is that something that you can draw on?
STAN WAWRINKA: Not really. I think in Australia I was the same feeling. It's, for me, it's not a big deal to come back after winning. I come like it's a new tournament, it's a new Grand Slam, it's a new year. It's not like, oh, I won last year so I need to do it well again.

No, it's just a new year. I'm trying to do the best I can. Last time was in Australia, I was playing really well, I made semifinal. This year, so far I'm really happy with the win today. Hopefully I can start to really play well the next match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. This was a tough match for you. Do you think the weather was maybe one of the reasons of it?
STAN WAWRINKA: Well, it wasn't easy, but it was the same for both players. I arrived quite late, but that's not the reason why I didn't play well. There were some years when I arrived very early.

Generally speaking, the first round is never easy. You need to follow your play. He didn't give me much time. He was extremely aggressive, missed very few points. He kept me under pressure permanently. I kept running after the score. You can't really relax, you know.

Q. According to you, what made the difference in spite of the five sets?
STAN WAWRINKA: Well, I think mentally I fought hard. You know, at the middle of the third set up to end, I was really tough with myself. I really tried to physically be good. I know that physically I'm stronger than he is, and I knew that he was going to decline a little bit. That's exactly what happened.

I took that as an opportunity. He gave me a little bit of time and a little bit of leeway. As soon as I was able to take the lead, then it became a lot easier and simpler for me.

Q. The impression you gave is that you were calm. You looked at Magnus several times. He doesn't show much emotion. Does that help you? How does that make you feel deep inside?
STAN WAWRINKA: Up to a set even and I don't think I was very calm deep inside. Maybe I was a bit too negative with myself, with how I was playing, not very satisfied. But in the third set, the middle of the third set, I started to, you know, I calmed down. I didn't show anything. I was trying to be really tough with him, and eventually that's what made the difference.

Q. Less training courts this year. What do you prefer? Do you like to train here or would you prefer to go to the Jean Bouin facility to train?
STAN WAWRINKA: So far I have been here for only two days. So it's been quite simple. I haven't been able to see the new courts yet. I was told they were great.

Last year, for ten days the days I wasn't playing a match I went to train on the smaller courts. It was great.

Q. You played Lukas Rosol three days ago in Geneva. Do you think that that's maybe the reason why he was prepared so well or do you think that he just played as usual?
STAN WAWRINKA: I think he knew what he was going to do. He's typically very aggressive. Puts a lot of pressure. That's what he did today. Today he played very well compared to some other games where I have seen him.

He left me very little space to move, and he fought very hard. He was very good on a lot of the balls. Dropshots, for example, were very good.

I was very happy to pick up this fifth set in spite of the cold. We had a great atmosphere, and that's also very, very wonderful.

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