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ROLAND GARROS

May 31, 2017

Oceane Dodin

Paris, France

S. KUZNETSOVA/O. Dodin

7-6, 5-7, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Today you played well with her. Almost on an equal footing. The only difference is a few details. What are these details?
OCEANE DODIN: Well, of course, the serve. I didn't really know what to expect. I had never played against her. It was the first time. I knew she was putting a lot of spin on her balls, and it was difficult for me to adapt. The way the balls were bouncing was taking them when they were really high already. I was down 5-2 and then I adapted, I was back into the match.

Up to 6-5 I was playing well. And then a double fault. You know, that's the thing. Double fault at the wrong moment. She took the tiebreak. I gave her this tiebreak point.

Second set, I was more stable on my serve. I tried to change the things that were going wrong. Then unfortunately during the third set it came back again. I think I was up 1-0, 30-15 on my serve, and then three double faults in this game. So 1-All instead of having 2-0. Therefore she didn't doubt about her game. Then 5-3, the same again. I made a double fault, and she won this 5-3.

So my serve usually helps me during important moments but not for this match. It's the way it is. It's quite frustrating to lose with these details.

Q. Well, this is it. It's just off the courts, and would you say it was good for you to push her back to her limits, or are you frustrated? Because you thought you were close to a win?
OCEANE DODIN: It's both things. Of course I'd rather have the 6-3 in the third set rather than having another type of score, but it's frustrating. It's not that far. You know, 7-6, 7-5, 3-6, it's very, very frustrating, and even more frustrating here at Roland Garros for the time being. I think I'm more frustrated than anything else. Yet I'm happy.

But I have to take a little distance to see what's positive. I see the positive things, but I like to take more distance.

Q. Well, during the whole third set, the crowd, the audience on Court No. 1 was there to support you. They were very expressive. Did this help you?
OCEANE DODIN: Yeah, a lot. But I have never played with a crowd, a crowd that was so crazy. It was quite incredible. It gave me -- it did something special to me. It gave me a chill, a shiver. But then at a certain moment, you think, okay, you're going to go back home. I thought about this, and then 4-2, 4-3, and the crowd was there to help me come back. It's incredible. It's only here that you can play with such conditions, and I enjoyed it so much.

Q. We saw that you conquered the public. It's incredible. Were you trying to set aside some type of pressure? Because you laughed with people. Was it conscious or not?
OCEANE DODIN: It was both nervous and conscious. There was an incredible point. I thought I would never have won this point. It was a smash, 200 kilometers per hour, and it was not on the strings but on the frame of the racquet. I remained focused, but then I thought, you can't just pretend nothing's happened.

So I tried to smile as well from time to time to relax, to chill, because it was really close with lots of emotions during the match, so it was good for me to sometimes smile.

Q. We couldn't talk about cultural revolution, but you like playing your game. This time you played a few dropshots, a few dropshots that should give you more ideas for what comes next.
OCEANE DODIN: Well, yeah. When I saw that these rallies were too long, I was trying to cut them short, to surprise her. She was far behind the baseline. I probably didn't play 200 of those, but probably two, three dropshots? Maybe more? Okay, you say it. But I try from time to time, why not? You know, I probably won two out of three of these dropshots. Good percentage, I think.

Q. I'm sorry, I must talk about the difficult things. Your case will be examined by a disputes committee. You didn't say anything about this, what you feel about this? Is that something that bothers you? Are you afraid of something or not?
OCEANE DODIN: No, I have nothing to say about this. I have received the letter with the decision. It's in my home, in the southern part of France where it's warm. I can't tell you more about this. That's all I know.

It was not opened by anybody. I'll open it myself when I'm back home.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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