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MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERS

April 18, 2017

Adrian Mannarino

Monte Carlo, Monaco

A. MANNARINO/J. Tsonga

6-7, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Jo said it was a good match. He said that you were good on clay, that you deserved that win.
ADRIAN MANNARINO: It is an important victory for me, beating Jo in a big tournament. Although he's not at the top of his form.

I'm very satisfied with the match. I had the right attitude. I was able to play with what I worked on during my preparation before this tournament. I was happy with that.

Q. We didn't expect you to win, maybe also because of the surface, but also because it was Jo.
ADRIAN MANNARINO: Well, I never expected to beat Jo. I certainly don't expect to beat him on clay, that's right. But I tried not to think he was on the other side of the net. I just focused on what I had to do. I tried to use my qualities the best I could. It worked well in the end. So good for me.

Q. What happened during your preparation? Apparently it was very good for you. It seems something happened.
ADRIAN MANNARINO: I think mainly I played well during the last two tournaments on clay last year. I just lost to Thiem, who was above everybody else. In the French Open, I won the first round, but then I played Raonic.

Of course, that happened a long time ago, but still it helped me be confident. I know that the semifinal in Nice was one of my best results last year. I came here thinking I was able to make good results.

Before, after playing for half an hour on this surface, I was fed up already.

Q. How can you explain the change?
ADRIAN MANNARINO: I understood that I needed to make efforts, and I accepted that. You can't hit early and play volleys as you do on hard courts. The surface here is more demanding.

Also I played well in Miami. I wanted to keep it up. That helps you to make the extra effort you need. I'm lucky because Jean-Christophe Faurel has been helping me during my preparation. He's here with me now. I had been alone for the most part of the year until now. I am happy to have someone with me.

I can talk to him about the game. He helps me feel confident, even outside of the court. I can bring that confidence on the court, too.

Q. Maybe you lost confidence because you had several losses in first rounds. How were you able to overcome that?
ADRIAN MANNARINO: Well, of course, when you lose matches, you start having some doubts. I lost in Australia, in Sofia, in Memphis, although I was up in that match. But those matches were tight. I was not thinking I didn't have a good level. I just thought something little was missing for me to be able to turn the around. I accepted that sometimes I didn't have good feelings with my game, that I had to work.

In Miami, before the tournament, I was thinking, You're going to play bad. But in spite of that, You will need to win your match. I said, However you play, you need to win.

Thanks to that attitude, I was able to win some matches, even though I was playing poorly. It helped me. It was good because it had been four months by then that I was not playing well in practice. When you are not putting a single ball in, it's difficult to have a good start in your matches.

But because I was able to hang in there, and because I had worked a lot physically, it gave me more confidence. Of course, in the gym, working hard is not the same as working with a racquet. At least I thought that physically I would be able to stay on the court for a long time. That helped me.

This is good for your spirits. It helps you win more matches in the following tournaments.

Q. Beating the top French player, is there an extra satisfaction there?
ADRIAN MANNARINO: Yes. When it happens, it's always good. But I know very well I was not playing Jo at his best level. I think it was the right moment to play against him. Or maybe in Indian Wells, at a time when he was expecting a happy event.

So here I was able to take my chances. These chances you're taking are those that help you change your season and make it better.

Q. (Question regarding a previous match loss.)
ADRIAN MANNARINO: That was a good lesson. During the match I got injured. That was what frustrated me. You can't really talk about a change after that match.

When you make efforts, it doesn't pay immediately. After a while, it does. I was able to continue my hard work. I was rewarded today.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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