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ROLAND GARROS

June 5, 2018

Yulia Putintseva

Paris, France

M. KEYS/Y. Putintseva

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. What were the keys to this match today? What do you think made the difference in the end?
YULIA PUTINTSEVA: I think it was pretty solid match. She played great. I played good, too, just the matter of a couple of points that didn't go my way today and went in her way. That's how ended up in tiebreak. I think it was just two points' difference.

And in the second set was the same. Just one good shot from her here and one bad shot from me there, and then the set was over.

Q. It was a very high-quality match.
YULIA PUTINTSEVA: Thank you.

Q. Can you comment on how much each of you has grown as a player since the last time you played two years ago?
YULIA PUTINTSEVA: I mean, last time we played it was two years ago in Tokyo. It was different surface. It was hard indoor.

Yeah, I mean, it was a great match. It was good quality, good shots.

I think if she plays, keep on playing like that, she can go all the way here.

Q. When you asked the chair umpire to come down near the end of the second set? What was that about? You were unhappy with one of the calls?
YULIA PUTINTSEVA: The one where the ball was out on a serve?

Q. Yes.
YULIA PUTINTSEVA: Yeah, I was unhappy because the serve was out, and he said that we need to complete the mark. And he decided that the mark from the tennis ball should be, like, from basketball or something (smiling).

So I don't know where he was completing and what he was completing, because I think if we watch on the Hawk-Eye, the ball is totally out. But it's really close sometimes.

Q. Madison has talked for a long time how she didn't like clay before. It was her least-favorite surface. Playing against her today on clay, what do you think about her game on clay, and could this be a good surface for her kind of game?
YULIA PUTINTSEVA: I think, here, the clay is pretty hard. It's more like a hard court than a real clay court. So it's a little bit different in the game, because there is not so much clay on it like in some tournaments.

I mean, she played great. She was spinning the ball. She was kicking the second serve. So it's pretty good.

I mean, she -- I cannot say that she's, like, totally hard court game. She can play on clay. She's spinning the ball, so it's pretty good on clay.

Q. This was a very good result for you, and your ranking is going to go up quite a bit in the next rankings. How happy are you with this progress, and how do you try to continue it after this?
YULIA PUTINTSEVA: Well, of course, I'm happy right now. I'm more happy than at the start of the tournament, because I lost so many close matches this year and of the last year, which was tough mentally, and physically, too. Because when you lose those matches, you start doubting in yourself, start doubting in your team and many things.

So for this tournament, if I -- I was talking to my coach already to maybe come back, play those ITF tournaments, because I might be out of top 100 and then might not be in main draw of US Open.

And I was talking, like, maybe I need to play some 50, 60,000s after French Open and maybe to stay more in the clay after Wimbledon.

But, in the end, it turns out pretty good for me. I won four good matches here. It's pretty good that I'm back in a better position and that I can still be in main draw of big tournaments and sometimes in quallies, also. So it's good.

Q. Against Strycova you seemed to get a lot of energy from winning long rallies, pumping yourself up. Big momentum shift it felt like. Against Keys, is it tougher because she plays much shorter points than some of the other players you play here? Is it tougher to get your rhythm or confidence in the same way?
YULIA PUTINTSEVA: I mean, it was a different game with everyone. Like, the first match, it was pretty much same like yesterday. It was a little bit tough rhythm, because I played Konta. Konta was more, like, attacking and shorter point. And then I played Brady. Brady was also, like, similar. And then Wang, she played, like, long, long rallies but the same rhythm.

And then Strycova, she also plays long rallies, but it was obviously broken rhythm because she's also slicing, lobbing, and dropshotting. So it's different.

And today we had some good rallies, like, long rallies, too, but it was different speed, as well.

So it just was the different game with every player here, I think.

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