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ROLAND GARROS

May 28, 2019

Gael Monfils

Paris, France

G. MONFILS/T. Daniel

6-0, 6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. At the beginning we had the impression that it was a race against the clock. It's difficult, but you have to remain focused. What was the dilemma?
GAÃ‹L MONFILS: The second set was 21:45. That's what they told me. Well, the difficulty was to enter into the match correctly. I know that in those conditions, you really have to go directly into the match.

If you're a bit slow and then it's 1-All, 2-All, 3-All, you start thinking too much about time and it becomes complicated. I was successful in arriving very warm. Immediately I did a more technical warmup to enter directly into the match.

I paid a price at the beginning of the second set because I was too fast from the back of the court, and I could have waited a bit to slow down, ease the pressure. And then luckily I was able to win this very long game at 5-4 and 2 sets Love. It's not easy. But 2 sets to Love, I was quite happy to win this game for one good reason. I was serving afterwards, and I was going to put a lot of pressure, serve very hard, to show that I want to go faster. And I needed to break immediately to say, Okay, we're going to play, but you're not going to play.

Q. Why did you play No. 4 on the schedule? It's always difficult, as there can be rain and darkness.
GAÃ‹L MONFILS: I wanted to play in the fourth match indeed. Although there is a risk of rain. Luckily it did not rain and we had this, but I'm happy. I'm not even thinking about this anymore.

Maybe I wanted to have one day more of, well, to wait for my knee to get better and to be at 200%.

Q. It was not a question of moving the match to the Lenglen?
GAÃ‹L MONFILS: At some point in time I asked if it would be possible. It would have been a bit more complicated, they told me, with televisions. Of course the people knew that I was going to play on the center court, so it was a bit more difficult.

Q. Does it remind you, this scenario, of the match against Roddick, almost the same timing, same scenario?
GAÃ‹L MONFILS: Almost, but I knew that Taro Daniel was serving less hard than Roddick. So it was going to be a little slower and he was going to play long rallies.

So it's complicated, because we have the stress of the first round. I really wanted to finish today. I didn't want to play a set tomorrow.

I'm happy I managed to play well, and I'm very happy about that.

Q. How did you feel in the match? Focused in your shots?
GAÃ‹L MONFILS: Yes, indeed I entered into the match very well. Apart from the second set I was a bit -- I was waiting too much. The first set I was very aggressive, right in the trajectories. In the second set I sort of played crosscourt, crosscourt with my backhand. And I think that at that point in time, like in the first set, I should have put more pressure with my offset forehand with other trajectories in the backhand. So that moment has to be erased.

But then I liked my shots. They were very hard, very powerful. In the first set I was finding good zones. I was not serving so bad. So entering progressively into the tournament.

Q. Regarding the opponent, Mannarino next opponent, he won in five sets. What do you think?
GAÃ‹L MONFILS: It's never easy to play a French guy, especially Adrian. He has a game which is particularly -- he's left-handed, he plays very flat and low balls in the backhand. And over the last two years he's been playing better on clay. He's feeling better. He's a good warrior. And so it's always difficult matches in Roland Garros to play against French players, because the audience is shared. It's not easy.

And then the game level -- well, I'll have to have a good match. Last time we played it was on grass. He won. He wins big matches. He knows what five sets is about physically. He also won in five sets today, so physically he's a good warrior. So it's a match where I will have to serve well, be aggressive, and not let him play, let him have his routine and try to shake him a bit more.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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