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MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 6, 2019

Jaume Munar

Madrid, Spain

K. KHACHANOV/ J. Munar

6-4, 6-7, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish.

Q. It's been a tough match. Khachanov come from five losses in a row. It seems it was going to be an easy match. Can you talk about today's match?
JAUME MUNAR: It is true. He was coming from a really positive stretch, but I think that after stepping in in the first set, I think that he has played at a normal level. Nothing compared to the other previous matches of course.

I'm sad because I think that I've had a lot of opportunities and I have not stepped in for any of those, I have not gone for my opportunities. I think it has happened more or less the same thing as Monte-Carlo, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. So those are things I need to change.

In some moments in the match, I should have played better. At the end, we don't have to lie to ourselves. I come here invited. I'm not so high up in the ranking and that's the level that I played at today.

I'm not super happy with what I have been doing during the year, but I think that is just another day. It's a tough day and I have to try to work again and come back properly.

Q. I want you to assess a little bit your season. Is there maybe some anxiety because you want to go faster in the circuit to what you can do?
JAUME MUNAR: Well, it can be. This already happened when I was 18 years old and I managed it pretty badly. It was a different moment. I was a completely different person to who I am today. I'm a bit more mature now and I understand things better.

I'm playing properly. I am looking at the face of my opponent and it is true that those nerves that might come when you want to do it as good as possible and as fast as possible, I think they are not here anymore. I think I'm managing them. I think these things are normal.

I think it just the moment where I am right now. I try to go over it and I am sure they will be able to do it. I'm looking forward in a positive mood.

As I said previously, the season is not bad. I'm doing good matches. And I managed to get some good results and I think that physically and mentally, I'm doing quite well.

Q. It seems you are looking in the eyes of your opponent that previously might have seemed far away. You and your team, do you have a special goal for this year and I'm talking about Grand Slams or rankings? What is your goal? Or do you want to finish the year in a position in the ranking? Do you have a specific goal?
JAUME MUNAR: It's true that one of the goals is to start to play final rounds in smaller tournaments like 250 tournaments. And another goal was to be able to be competitive with every single player and I think that is something that I have already achieved. I had options, but I have been able to win good matches. That is the way to do things.

And talking about the ranking, I didn't have any specific goal. I'm sure they will do better than last year and that's something that I have tried to do since I was younger. Each year I have tried to go a step forward, try to end up in the ranking higher up.

The last three years, I had change in the ranking. I had gone up, but maybe I had not changed so much and this year I don't know where I'm going to finish the ranking, but I'm sure that I'm doing it better. I think that this is going to be one of the best years in my career.

Q. When you compete as good as you have done today, and especially devoted to a tournament like today, do you suffer the loss a bit less?
JAUME MUNAR: No, I suffer a lot if I play a hard game with my friends, or if I play here in the first round in a big tournament. It's always a tough loss. I'm sad today. Last year, I also lost here in one of the qualifier teams, a match I could have won easily. And today maybe I didn't have the level, but I had options. But I'm sad of course.

On the other side of the coin, I'm also happy because I have a really supportive crowd. I have been able to play here. I have had my family with me here.

Normally during the year, they are not able to support me. And I think that things are working out properly. We have to be optimistic.

Q. How have you felt playing in the court 2 because it was really full and everyone was supporting you?
JAUME MUNAR: Of course, it's super special to play in a court like that one. As you know, the professional circuit only stops for two weeks here in Spain during the whole year, so those are weeks that we all look forward to. And I think that in Barcelona and Madrid, we fill it. It is a really special court.

Of course, I have seen a lot of people, a lot of players that I used to look up to when I was younger and of course the crowd supports you a lot. And it's something great. And especially having my family here.

I travel during all the year and I don't have the opportunity to have my family supporting me. Right now, I'm playing at home and it is really nice and feels really good. I'm very positive to see everyone here.

Q. David Ferrer is retiring in this tournament. Can you talk about the memories that you have had about David Ferrer and how has he influenced you in your career?
JAUME MUNAR: Well, if David loses tomorrow and he retires, he will be more upset today than tomorrow. He is a person to look up to, not only for me, but the other juniors in Spain. He has been a mirror where we look ourselves. He has been a good example in everything he has done. He is a really good lad.

When he was young he knew how to make the proper change to be able to evolve and I think that that's something that you have to look up to and you have to give him the maximum respect. And he is a great player. He's played during really good years together with Rafael Nadal and my words can only be positive towards him.

I think that David will always be in the tennis world for Spain and for the world in general.

Q. You played sub-21 in Milan. There you have the possibility that your trainer could whisper to you. Do you think that change that young players have introduced is good? Or maybe there is too much technology on the court because he could talk to you on the headphones there in Milan?
JAUME MUNAR: I think it's obvious as important. The sport has to evolve. That is the first thing and the first message I want to give out today. Of course we have to make changes. I don't know which changes will be positive or negative. The only thing I can tell you is my point of view. I think that that's a tournament where there is a lot of new things, a lot of innovation. It's a special tournament and that is the way that the people and players live it.

There are things I wouldn't change like the matter of the towel because when they reduce you the time on court, it's something negative because for example, for me, I sweat a lot and I need the towel.

But then talking about the coaching on court, that's something that I have always supported. When I work with a person for the full year, and you know I live with him, I'm in the hotel with him and have lunch with him, and the most important moment, which is in a match, he cannot be supporting me. It doesn't make any sense.

It's true that the tennis is a traditional sport, it's a classic sport. There is a lot of story behind it and there are a lot of people that's against that. Against the coaching on court. But when I have seen that some trainers can coach you on court, I think that's something very positive. I think that new technology can be used positively in tennis and we can make positive changes.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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