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WIMBLEDON

June 30, 2016

Gilles Simon

London, England

G. DIMITROV/G. Simon
6‑3, 7‑6, 3‑6, 6‑4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It looked like you were really coming back into the match and he was able to turn it around again. Just explain from your perspective what happened.
GILLES SIMON: Well, I feel, as you say, it was a bit long for me to really get into the match today. I was like one set down, break down. Then I finally found a better reason.
But in the end Grigor played really good in the key moments, tiebreak in the second set and the end of the fourth set. I had the feeling that I was more confident on the court in the third and in the fourth also. But in just five minutes he played like really good. Not missing, defending well. Being really precise in offense, also, and was just too good to finish the match.

Q. Pretty tough sort of second‑round match.
GILLES SIMON: Well, it was a pretty tough first‑round match also, when you are seeded and you play two guys that were in the top 10, one guy who played the semis here not long ago.
Yeah, you can have a better draw, that's for sure. (Smiling.) But in the end, that's how it is. I mean, in the slams it's always kind of funny. You can play like really different players. But it's not a real problem. I was playing good enough to beat him today. I had a great record against him. I just feel I missed a few moments in the match, and in the end he played great. He played very consistent match today, and it was just not good enough from my side.

Q. All the problems with the rain, has that affected you at all?
GILLES SIMON: Well, I hate to play when it's raining. I never understood when they forcing us to go on the court when the court is slippery. I understand. It's just not acceptable for me.
But, no, we stop like 1‑0 and then finally today we just stop like few minutes. No, it was more in the game part. Just simple example, it takes me one set and a half to start to return his serve and then I return it like every single time. That's too long. If you start to give him trouble in his serve after one set and a half, it's a bit complicated. Yeah, I have to find solutions before.

Q. What concerns did you have about possibly getting hurt because of the conditions? What did you say to the umpire?
GILLES SIMON: I feel the day I'm going to get injured on slippery grass, I'm going to sue everyone in the stadium, because it's just ‑‑I mean, we try to understand what is happening in both parties, like tournaments and players, but in one point yesterday it was just ridiculous.
I'm just going to tell you what the supervisor told me, and I let you decide how you feel when someone is telling you this straight into your face.
He told me, It's raining but the water is not going to the ground. Like it's really light rain and it's there and it stays in the air and it's flying away. So the grass is not wet.
And I have to answer that. So in the match you just see me on TV, like I'm pissed, yes, I'm pissed because I want to destroy him. That's how it is. It is just not possible to hear it on the tennis court. That's kind of reason you have.

Q. And when you said you would sue him, what was his response?
GILLES SIMON: No, but I just feel in one point the tournament ‑‑ and it's happening in basically every slam, so it's not just here. Here it's always about the grass that is wet. But, for example, in Australia when they force us to play when it's 44 degrees and the doctor says, Yeah, it's fine, they can go, I think the tournament just got lucky that nothing really serious happen once on the court for player, like someone breaking his leg on slippery court or someone feeling like really bad on the tennis court in Australia when it's 44.
They just try to push. They want us to play. And in one point we are just human, or maybe they are just really confident that we are that strong that we can play anywhere.
But on my side, I play, it's slippery. We all have a bad feeling we want to stop. And the problem is it's always on the tournament side. Always force you to play and you cannot say anything. You discuss. You say, Come on, the grass is wet. And then you have the famous water that is not touching the grass reason that force you to play. It's complicated.

Q. What do you think the players as a group should do about this?
GILLES SIMON: We gonna have more and more discussion about it, because it's not being against the tournament. Like we really understand when it's a terrible day for the tournament and there is no showing for the public and for everyone, like they stay long and they want to see the match.
But in one point it's just not possible. I think unfortunately we should stop. It looks like pretty simple ‑‑like you see the rain on grass, you say, Okay, we stop. That's basic. But it doesn't sound basic on the other side.

Q. The player council, can you talk a little bit about the players who are on now and what you guys are looking to achieve.
GILLES SIMON: Well, we're gonna have ‑‑it's a bit early to talk about that. We have our first meeting in US Open. We just had the last meeting with the previous council. I'm pretty sure we're gonna have a lot of things to discuss, a lot of different topics. But right now we didn't even define any priority or, yeah, which fight we want to pick as players, which one we want to improve. And this is gonna be the discussion we are having.

Q. There has been some talk about Andy going on the player council, and of course he's spoken a lot about being for equal prize money and you and some other guys are against it. Do you think that's going to be an issue?
GILLES SIMON: I don't see any issue. The players council is there to represent the views of the players, and on the players' side you have a very large majority that is against equal prize money and you have a few players that are in favor of. And Andy is just part of these players. We represent them. That's part of the discussion.
That's why‑‑ I mean, we are not making the players council to get 10 guys who see exactly the same on every single topic. It's pointless. That's good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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