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BNP PARIBAS MASTERS PARISNovember 6, 2016Pierre-Hugues HerbertNicolas MahutParis, France KONTINEN-PEERS/Herbert-Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 THE MODERATOR: Questions in French. Q. You came back into the match beautifully, but in the beginning of the tiebreaker, it was not so good. Maybe the efforts you had made to come back cost you the beginning of the tiebreaker? NICOLAS MAHUT: Well, the bad thing was also the beginning of the match. We were behind the score from the start, and that was bad. But after, indeed we came back. In the second set we were able to be ahead. But the super-tiebreak is always something very special. They continued to play well, and they were a bit lucky here and there with some shots. In a super-tiebreak where every point is important, it made it tough. Q. You said the tiebreaker was also depending on luck. Wouldn't you prefer to have a normal set in a final? Even no ads? NICOLAS MAHUT: Well, you can't do that. You can't change the regulations or the rules just for the final when you've been playing the whole competition differently. Several times this tiebreaker was at our advantage during the year. Not today. People are used to it. It's part of the show. Today we were not lucky, and generally it's quite balanced. We can say our opponents today were superior to us during the whole match, anyway. I believe also that the super-tiebreaks help for the scheduling and the TVs are happy because the final is not delayed. Q. What happened in the beginning of the match, then? NICOLAS MAHUT: Well, it's because the conditions were very different. It was colder, and I was surprised. I identified where it came from later on, but I was surprised in the beginning. So it was a bit of everything. The conditions were a bit different. There was a bit more tension. That explains that we were behind. They were serving hard. They had a good percentage. They were up at the net immediately. There was not much room for us for passing shots. Q. What is your plan before London? How are you going to prepare for that? PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: Well, we're going to have a bit of rest if we're going to London. We are going to London on Wednesday evening, so we will have two days off now. Personally, I'm going to practice on Wednesday. I don't know what you're going to do. We're gonna have four days to prepare for London. NICOLAS MAHUT: Three days. It starts on Sunday. PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: Yes. This is going to be a major goal for us in London. Q. You need a sparring partner for preparing for doubles. How do you practice? NICOLAS MAHUT: Well, Monday, Tuesday, we're not going to touch our racquets. We're going to practice once on Wednesday together and once we're there we're gonna practice. PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: We have sparring partners. They play extremely well, and they will help us as sparring partners. I was talking seriously about our sparring partners. Q. You're frustrated, we can see that, that you were not able to win this major title in front of a crowd, home crowd. NICOLAS MAHUT: Yes. That's exactly right. What we experienced yesterday was exceptional. Playing on center court in front of a full stadium was great and almost like a Davis Cup tie. Today was good, too, but we lost. So it's been two finals in a row we lost, and we are starting to become a bit frustrated about it. Q. Last year you didn't go far in London. This year you have better expectations. How do you assess your team compared with the other teams in the Masters? PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: I think... NICOLAS MAHUT: Dodig and his partner hasn't played last year. PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: We beat them in Australia. NICOLAS MAHUT: We played all those teams over the past two years. PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: We know all the teams quite well. The teams are all very good and all the matches will be very tight. We'll have to be up to par, and we'll start to -- we will try to start better than today and last year. I think we want to start with a victory in London. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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