	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

October 30, 2018

Benoit Paire

Paris, France

M. FUCSOVICS/B. Paire

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. You start well and then something seems to have happened.
BENOIT PAIRE: I lead 4-0, then 4-3, 40, then a game point. It's just at the important points I didn't play them well.

Of course you can be nervous when you have the game point in all the games and you can actually wrap it up 6-Love in five minutes. I still had opportunities in the second set.

But yes, it's a problem, but the season was so long and so tiring. I'm trying to do my utmost. This is why these two last weeks I tried to relax a bit, to rest a bit in Bercy. In Moscow, I won there, but I came back quickly. My goal was to be fresh for this tournament because it was important.

And I did two qualification matches which were good, and the problem is that on the major points I didn't manage them, and then on the serves I didn't serve well and I was broken twice.

But most of the time I had the upper hand in the match and it's a pity, but it's the last tournament of the year. There are a lot of players. I see a lot of players lose and they seem to be happy to lose to come back home.

I've had a lot of problems as well myself. I gave my utmost on this tournament. I would have liked to go further of course. But I'm still happy with what I did.

Q. The season may not be over. Do you know more and are you prepared or are you going to rest?
BENOIT PAIRE: I don't know anything. I would like to be part of the team. I would like to be part of the training practice. I want to rest a little bit. Maybe go on holiday for a few days because I need to rest a little bit. This season was very tiring. Every time that I arrive in Bercy, I'm exhausted. But also I have an injury on the back. And this is why I didn't have the results that I wanted. So I need to have some time off. A few days off.

I'll party a bit, as well. I'll make use of the fact that I'm single. I'll go on the beach. I want to be okay. And if there's a training session and I'm called to go, then I would be happy because I would like to be part of the group for the final. It's the goal, I hope to be part of it. I hope to have news soon.

I did what I could to be part of it, I think. But now I need to have a few days off. Because Davis Cup is end of November, and then we go back on the beginning of December. So we need a bit of time off. I'm going to go away for -- I'm also registered for Mouilleron-le-Captif. I'll try to play as late as possible if I'm going there. But for the moment I just think about having some rest.

Q. How can we actually take full use of being single?
BENOIT PAIRE: I can't tell you what I'm going to do, no. I'm laughing. (Laughter.) Over the last tournaments I actually died my hair. I was with my friends. I went out. My parents came as well. It's a delight for me to have them near by me. I will just go out one night or two and try to cool off, because it's important for the players to relax a bit at the end of the season.

Of course if there's the Davis Cup, it's very important and it's very dear to my heart so I will try to do my utmost. But in the meantime, I would like to have a few days off to attend the training session if I'm called for this.

Q. During the last French Open, we talked to Daria Kasatkina regarding what men she prefers. She said that she liked men with a sense of humor and beards. (Laughter.)
BENOIT PAIRE: Well, Kasatkina, here it goes.

Q. And then we asked right away about you, of course. And she said, Well, one should see about his sense of humor.
BENOIT PAIRE: Well, I need a sense of humor. I'll send her an SMS. (Smiling.)

I love this player. She had a wonderful season. I love her game. She's outstanding. She stands out. I will certainly contact her (winking).

Q. I'm not single and yet I have problems. So what about your projects for 2019? You're not going to stay on your own.
BENOIT PAIRE: No, I'm going to leave with Morgan Bourbon from Mouratoglou. I will leave with him, because of course he's not here, but I wanted to wrap up this year and go back from scratch with new foundations. He was just with Jean-Charles to discuss with me and him, but I would like to -- I have no injury left. My back is better. So I could do a better training. Something that I couldn't do this year.

And if I play tennis like I played today, I think I can do wonderful things next year. And I hope that I will have a better ranking. My best ranking was 18. I hope to do better this year. I want to play well in all the tournaments. We've discussed about this. And I think I will do a wonderful season 2019. I'm looking forward to it.

But for the moment I'm thinking about holidays and then preparing, physical training will be afterwards.

Q. For the Davis Cup, isn't it difficult not to know?
BENOIT PAIRE: Well, it's the way it goes, you know. We know that. We are fully aware of how it works. We saw that Loic was here. There was a supervisor. So we are waiting for calls to know what to do.

If I'm not part of the team I would be disappointed, I would be sad, but I will still encourage them. I have always said time and again that I would like to be part of this team. I was there at the semifinals and I would like to be there for the finals, especially for indoor clay. I really hope to be part of the team.

Q. Do you think that Yann is a bit like Didier Deschamps, that he likes his group, and that's why you hope to be part of the team?
BENOIT PAIRE: When someone watches the way I play tennis, they see that I play well. After the semifinals it was a bit complicated because I was exhausted. I used a lot of my energy. But they see that I play well in tennis and if I have everything on my side, then I can have achievements. If I were in the captain's shoes and play against Cilic, that would be a nice challenge. He's used to hard surface. I can do some drop shots. He would need time to get used to the surface. So I think I could have the upper hand against him. But that's the captain's choice.

We'll see what happens. I hope that I will be part of the team, first of all, because of the way I play tennis. In the semifinals I did play well. I know the stadium well, and this is also important. And then we have to wait and see. He's the one making the final decision.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297