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ROLAND GARROS

May 30, 2019

Elliot Benchetrit

Paris, France

D. LAJOVIC/E. Benchetrit

6-3, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. Could you talk us through the match at some point you seemed quite frustrated. Do you think you missed a few opportunities?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: I think he was quite simply stronger than I was. It was not that I missed opportunities, but I was frustrated because of my physical condition for the previous matches. I mean, because of the previous matches, I was feeling quite tired.

And I had what I needed, tactically speaking, to upset him towards the end, but unfortunately I was unable to achieve this. And mentally I also lacked resources, and he was playing extremely well.

Q. In spite of the outcome of the match, are you happy about the tournament? Did you learn some lessons from the tournament? Was this a trigger moment?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: No. That's not something I like to say, but I did learn many things. I played every single match with enthusiasm and with the willingness to make progress and to also make sure the crowd would be happy. I won four matches. I lost one match. It's quite positive overall. I still need to play my doubles.

Even though I lost the match, I'm very happy about what I achieved. And I think that next year I will have even more experience, and hopefully I will advance to the third round, which is as much experience that I didn't have this year.

Q. Did you prove yourself something? Were you able to validate something?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Let's say that when you beat players who are in the top 100 who play Challengers and when it's a Challengers tournament, you might think, well, maybe he was not at his best. Maybe he was resting ahead of a Grand Slam.

But in a Grand Slam, we know that there's a lot of money involved, a lot of prestige, as well, and therefore I was happy to make it through the quallies. And when it comes to the first round I played an opponent, I beat him, and it was a great match.

And today, in spite of the match's results, even though I missed a few opportunities probably because I lacked clear-eyedness and I was tired, but overall I'm very happy about the tournament. And it demonstrates that I can play ATP quallies, whereas in the past I was not necessarily willing to do it. I preferred Challengers.

But today I think that I'm able to achieve better results even during ATP tournaments.

Q. You will improve your ranking and get your best ranking so far. And also financially speaking it is interesting to advance to the second round of a Grand Slam. Will this be helpful in the course of the next few months?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Financially, as I've said before, my father is my main sponsor and he's working tirelessly. It's not the main point. But when it comes to the program, it means I will be able to play the quallies of Wimbledon, of the US Open, and the Australian Open next year. Of course we need to see what will happen with the reform that is going to be undertaken.

But before the French Open, I wanted to play ATP tournaments but I couldn't make it. Now I'm going to obtain points. I will play better players. I will get access to other tournaments and that's the main thing. I want to play better players to make progress.

At the end of the day, I will get more money and more points if I can beat better players. It will result in more money and more points. So it's positive.

Q. You said that what was lacking was you run out of steam. And do you think it is encouraging or do you think that you have shown your limits?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Quite frankly, no later than last month, I was mentioning this when I was asked, Well you will play the French Open. How are you preparing? I would answer, I'm working hard, as I always do. I'm doing my best.

And just coming off the court today, I talked to my coach and he said, well, it's great. You made it during the quallies. You lost during the second round. You did miss a few opportunities but you made progress. You still have progress to make and that's the most important thing.

I think that it illustrates that players who are close to the top 30 are players that I can beat. And if I train throughout the year in a particular way, if I play these players more often, I will be much more capable of inconveniencing them during such tournaments.

So I run out of steam in so far as my serve was not good enough. I lacked efficiency as well as concentration. Also, the way I was moving around the court in terms of stamina, I still have a lot of progress to make. I'm only 20 years old. And following such a match, I want to the work even harder to be up to scratch.

Q. Compared to last year, how did you go about playing this tournament this Grand Slam?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Last year, I wanted to beat GaÃ«l Monfils, which was an arduous task, because GaÃ«l Monfils is usually playing players in the top 10, in the top 20. I had made the most out of this opportunity, but I was only able to win one set.

Whereas this year I made it through the quallies, then the first round and the second round. The fact that I played GaÃ«l Monfils last year meant that the matches were quite different. But now I have more experience, which means that I'm not going about this tournament in the same way because I have previous experience. And therefore when you come on court, you know what to expect.

And what is always scary is the unknown. And now I know more what to expect during Grand Slams, and therefore I hope that I will fare better during the next Grand Slams.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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