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ROLAND GARROS

May 31, 2017

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Paris, France

R. OLIVO/J. Tsonga

7-5, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. That was a very short amount of time on the court today. Do you think the match being suspended didn't help you after that kind of big moment where you had just broken him last night?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: I mean, after that, I can say it didn't help me. I wish it can be different, of course, and it can help me. Yeah, it was difficult to come back.

But anyway, I gave what I have to give, and that's it. You know, he played solid. It took some time for me to be a little bit more precise. He took two, three points, were too much.

Q. Did he surprise you with the level of his play?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: No, I knew it was a good player on clay court. He did some good results in the past. He's young. He's angry. It's his first Roland Garros, so for him it's something huge.

Yeah, he took his chance, and he did it.

Q. Where will you go from here? Will you start your grass court season a bit earlier than planned? What are your plans?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Naturally I will take some time for me, and I will prepare myself to the grass. Yeah, that's it.

Q. Want to get a quick reaction on the Maxime Hamou incident. What do you think about it? Have you spoken to him?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: I don't know exactly what happened. I heard this morning something happened, but I hadn't heard about it, so I don't want to explain myself.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Did you expect you'd suffer so much? You'd find it so hard? How do you explain the fact that you didn't play your best tennis?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: I was expecting a tough match. The first rounds are always difficult. You need to find your bearings.

My opponent was playing his first French Open. He was full of energy. He really wanted to do his best, and it showed.

It's true that I didn't have the best feeling yesterday or even today. I never really found the right pace.

Unfortunately, that meant I couldn't play well enough to win. I fought with the arms I had. I gave my best all the way to the end. Even today when I stepped onto the court, I tried to get back into the game. I gave my best. Now I need to focus on the rest.

Q. How do you rebound? How do you come back after an interruption where potentially you're just one game away from defeat? How does it work mentally? How do you fire up the engine again?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: It doesn't really change. It's a bit like a new game we're starting except that you have a little bit more information about the opponent, because yesterday I didn't know much about him at all.

The only thing that you can do is to try to analyze what happened on the previous day, and to do your best. But things are very fast, so the fact that you come back after a couple of games, someone who has a great backhand can fail. Someone who has a -- it depends. Anything can happen. Obviously I would have preferred to win the first game.

Q. Do you think the week in Lyon may have had effects on the difficult start? Because playing just before the French Open is tough for some players.
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: No, I don't think so, because I felt really fit. That's the way tennis works, in a sense.

There were other years where I didn't play very well for the whole clay season, and then I got to Roland Garros and played well. Last week I played well in Lyon and not so well here. That's the way tennis goes.

Last week remains a positive experience for me, so I'm going to use that as basis for the rest of my season.

Q. Was your warmup not slightly different this morning compared to what you usually do?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Well, yes, I warmed up this morning. I always try to do the best I can, even when I'm just warming up.

So I didn't really change my habits. I have served a million times. When you warm up, you just need to be physically ready, so I tried to focus on that to try and be really ready.

Q. You were saying earlier that you didn't really have a sense for the game neither yesterday nor today. What did you lack, a bit of mobility? What are you saying when you said you didn't have a good feeling?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Well, the feeling, the ball didn't really leave my racquet the way I would have wanted it to, and if I knew what went wrong, I would have changed it.

The ball didn't seem to go exactly where I wanted it to. That's it.

Q. For a player of your level, it's pretty tough to lose in the first round, and these types of defeats probably make you want to get back to the court and win more matches. But then you have just a baby, your partner is here. I suppose a defeat will be a more relative thing. Do you think it will be difficult for you to get back on track?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: I'm not a beginner. I have been playing tennis for a number of years.

Tennis runs in cycles. There are victories. There are disappointments. I think the most important is to remain as stable and consistent as possible in terms of emotions, because when you're working, if you work well, you're always rewarded at some point. If it's not today, it will be another day. Last week I won my first-ever clay tournament. And today I lost at the French Open.

It's the paradox of tennis. What I'm interested in is the future, and I hope I'll play better in the next tournaments and pick up a couple of trophies, because there is still a lot to be done out there.

Q. You said that yesterday you managed to gather a lot of info about this somewhat mysterious player. How did you think you were going to play against him if things had lasted longer? Anything you have identified?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Well, obviously not (smiling).

Well, I had my little plan in mind, but as I was saying, when you're coming back with just this tiny bit left to go, things go very quickly. When you walk onto the court to do something, it's not because it's not working immediately that you stop. What I was trying to do, I didn't really have time to show what it was going to be.

Q. Do you really have a schedule of weeks? What do you expect from your brother? Do you think he's going to toughen up in training? Are you going to enjoy traveling with him? Because of course it's not just work. It's also sharing things together.
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, it's both. Both are very important.

We are going to put a couple of things in place. My bro's going to give me a hand on a daily basis, because he'll be with me all the time where I live.

So it's going to be great.

Q. (off microphone.)
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: He's my brother. We stick together.

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