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ROLAND GARROS

June 2, 2017

Thierry Van Cleemput

Paris, France

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to keep this quite brief. We will start with some questions in English, and then we will take some questions in French. I just would remind you that obviously Thierry has very kindly come in to give us an update. He is not a doctor so medical questions might be quite difficult. We will start with questions in English, please.

Q. Did David have an MRI exam? If so, what were the results? Do you know the nature of his injury?
THIERRY VAN CLEEMPUT: (in French) Well, the MRI, he had an MRI, that's true. We didn't know much, to start with. He twisted his ankle but not in a lateral way, not sideways. It's quite impressive when he walked out of the court. So we thought immediately we're not going to say anything.

That's true he had an MRI, and the news are reassuring. There is no tearing of the ligaments and no bone that's been torn or broken, either. That's the only thing we can say. We can't say much more. There is an edema, and in 48 hours we will see how things go on.

So the doctors were incredible with him. They contacted David's doctor. They agree as to the procedure to follow, and we decided to have emergency treatment to start with so that he can come back as quickly as possible.

Q. I didn't quite get the answer because I don't have the ear thing. I just wanted to ask you, is there a chance you think he will be able to play Rosmalen?
THIERRY VAN CLEEMPUT: (in French) Unfortunately, I can't answer. As I have said before, we know there is nothing serious due to which he wouldn't be able to play for a long period of time.

But as we speak, we can't tell you when he's up and running again and when he can play tennis. So we will have plan A, plan B, plan C, and unfortunately that's all I can tell you. I don't know which plan we are going to choose. It's way too early to tell.

Maybe on Monday when Dr. Joris has discussed with him, we'll see. This is a treatment strategy. We are going to start with drainage, and we'll see how the edema reacts, and we'll see. I don't know if with Rosmalen, that's possible. It's in a fortnight.

Will he play on grass? I don't know. I can't answer this question.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. I suppose that everybody was frightened to start with. What about David? What about his mindset? What did you tell him?
THIERRY VAN CLEEMPUT: Well, it's more than fear. It's fright and emotions on the court. I hadn't even seen he had fallen. I was looking at the ball, and I saw he was down for a long period of time. That's when you think that this is very serious pain. He couldn't even put his foot on the court again, on the ground.

Then when we removed his shoe and sock, we realized that that was the end of it, finished. He had two big edemas on the right side and left side. Well, you know, that's when emotions reach a peak. But then you have to be cold-minded. You have to keep calm. It's an accident. It's an injury. He twisted his foot in the tarp, and that's all I can say.

Of course we were afraid. Of course we were frightened. I must tell you, and I think that Kathleen Molinari [phonetic] decided to stay calm, and she was right, to wait for the MRI.

And now I think that the clouds are going away and there is going to be a silver lining.

Q. You're saying it's less serious now. Why do you say that? Why are people saying this? Can you explain?
THIERRY VAN CLEEMPUT: Well, we thought maybe the bone would be broken or torn or the ligaments would have been torn away. So that's more serious. It takes more time to recover. But this is not the case. It's not the case. For the time being, as you probably know, we have a final protocol, but you can have your final protocol only 48 hours after the accident.

So we want to set aside these assumptions. Now we will have to see how serious the injury is and how he can recover. But, for the time being, we're optimistic, which is not bad, we will do our best so that we do a good job and everybody has done lots of things here at Roland Garros, but also in Belgium, for David to be up again. I mean, not 80%, not 90%, but 100%. This is our objective.

Q. I suppose you know your short-term plans. What do you want to do?
THIERRY VAN CLEEMPUT: Well, in the very short term, we are not going to be back this evening. As I said before with Dr. Montalban and Dr. Joris, they are going to have emergency treatment here and today. We have all agreed on that. As we speak, David's going to go there immediately, and then we will go back to Belgium. We will continue with the same plan and Dr. Joris will do his utmost. He knows what he has to do.

But the speed? I have no crystal ball, I can't answer. But in the short term, he'll be back in Belgium, and that's where he's going to be given care.

Q. You said his foot was trapped in the tarp. Are you a bit angry with the organization of the tournament because his foot was twisted in the tarp?
THIERRY VAN CLEEMPUT: I can't really answer this question. Of course the objective is to have optimal safety for all players on the courts, and I suppose here at Roland Garros the staff is professional enough. Of course they have asked themselves all of these questions. I don't think that this event will be followed by no consequences. There will be consequences. The decisions will be to have a safer court.

Q. What about David's mindset? Of course what's happened to him is terrible. What would you say? How do you feel?
THIERRY VAN CLEEMPUT: I don't know. We parted before the MRI. He was in total pain. It really is hurtful. Since he was in pain, he was worried. I have not seen him again. Gerald was with him. Nobody can translate feelings. This is not logic. We are never prepared for such events.

Our logic this morning we were enthusiastic, we were thinking about the match, and yesterday evening we were having a good laugh together, which is what we do in our team. We try and focus very much on the next objective and take it easy. Nobody had planned this accident. This is a cold shower.

Think about this, think about our mindset now. And then I don't know how he feels now. I suppose that now that we have got reassuring news for him, he's going to have more smiles on his face.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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