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ROLAND GARROS

May 21, 2016

Kristina Mladenovic

Paris, France

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. Was this week in Strasbourg good? It had been a little disappointing before that on clay.
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Yes. I played good matches. I had good opponents as well. Very tough matches. Finally, a semifinal before the French Open is good news.

Q. Francesca Schiavone first round. You're used to tough first rounds here. How does it feel?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: It's the same here as elsewhere. Statistically, yeah, it's tough. I guess I've gotten used to playing top-seeded players in the first rounds. I was seeded myself for the first time. I played Cibulkova before here in the earlier rounds.

This time around I know it's going to be a tough, tough match once again.

Q. Good morning, first of all. Being the No. 1 French player and playing in France, does that mean you have more responsibility?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Yes and no. I think I'm proud. It's quite a status. When I was younger it was a dream. It was one of my objectives. Playing at Roland Garros in front of the French public is certainly one of the dreams I've always had.

This is a major tournament with great players, so I know I need to be very focused. I will manage Roland Garros the same way I managed the previous editions.

Of course, yes, I want to do well. I want to please my public. I want to share great victories, great moments with them.

I think I'm ready for it.

Q. Do you have a preference regarding the courts? Suzanne Lenglen you were quite successful on. May be the central court this time.
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: No, no preference. I like all the courts here. I like Suzanne Lenglen. I've played more on that one. I've been quite successful.

Also on Chatrier. I played the mixed doubles final; I won here when I was playing as a junior.

So I really don't have a preference in terms of courts.

Q. Potentially Serena Williams in the third round.
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: I'm just going to play and go along. It's of course exciting to know first of all what will happen first round. And, honestly, I'm going to take this step by step. I know the first match will be a rough one, and I don't really want to project beyond that.

I'm going to take the first rounds very seriously. Francesca is Francesca. You know, she's not a minor player. She won't be impressed. She's won here. I know that I could very well be playing a very high level Francesca. She's able. She's able to play very, very well.

So first round, second round, nothing will be easy. Once again, I'm going to play it match by match. If I make it to the third round, then it may be Serena. Yes, that'll be a great match; the first opportunity for me to play her.

Q. You've had excellent results playing doubles with Caroline Garcia. Playing doubles and making very far into the tournaments, does that make playing singles more difficult?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: I have had that question many times, and I don't see why it should be a problem. I think it's actually the contrary. I started to make progress playing doubles. Doubles for me has always been great practice, great training. I made it very quickly into the top 20, top 30 in the big tournaments. When I was younger was the same thing, making further into the tournaments and playing very good players.

You know, there are a lot of very good single players who also play doubles. I won't give any names, but little by little I worked my way up.

Without going into detail, I think playing doubles has given me more experience. I have a solid track record winning some Grand Slam tournaments, and mixed doubles has been very good. It's more experience. It has helped me. I think there is a reason why I've managed big events like this one quite well.

Once again, playing doubles is great training, great practice to play singles. In my game I can put a lot of variety. It really helps me. Then I guess it's my personal career, and looking at my career, I'm very satisfied if you can win Grand Slam tournaments. Unlike men, we don't play best of five sets, so physically I'm ready. I'm young. It's always been part of how I've seen things. It has always contributed to my progress.

Then things are also going very well with Caroline, which is good. I think we're both the same generation, we're friends, both French. I really want things to work well for her as well.

In the past I've played with other partners and we were quite successful. This time I have this good project with her and it's really working well.

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