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ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

October 30, 2019

Adrian Mannarino

Paris, France

R. NADAL/A. Mannarino

7-5, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. What is your first feeling? The fact that you managed to upset him from a tactical point of view, or do you have regrets on some key moments, maybe because you have made some mistakes throughout the match?
ADRIAN MANNARINO: Without insight, it doesn't matter how I played. I feel frustrated. I'm disappointed to have lost.

I did upset him, but, ultimately, I lost in two sets. That's the way it is.

Q. Congratulations for this beautiful match. At 4-All it was a very tight match on Nadal's serve. Do you think that this was a U-turn? There was no break point, but it was everything on the edge at that point. What did happen? Afterwards you made a lot of mistakes and you had held your own until then.
ADRIAN MANNARINO: It's true that this 4-4 point was actually important. I was 15-30. I had a good return. It's a pity that the ball was let. But one has to trust the Hawk-Eye. I had an opportunity behind that, but he remained robust and he served well. He aced on a game point.

It was hard. After that, at 5-4, he put some more pressure. I knew that if I lose this one, I will lose it all. As for the first point, I lost it. It's coming up fast. I didn't see it coming very well. At Love-15, I had a wonderful backhand and, when it's important, the backhand is in.

And I'm Love-30. I'm under pressure. I managed to peg back, and then I made a stupid mistake at 15-30. I managed to serve well. I had the whole surface covered. I wanted to play well, and then I had a slip-up, and then it was 15-40. And things were not turning out well.

That's the difference between the very good players, I guess. When it's important, they don't panic. That's where they stand out.

Had I done a good point at 4-4 -- I didn't break him. I had felt that I was doing it well until then, and then it was 6-4.

So I will take the time to analyze my loss, but it's not the most important thing right now.

Q. It's the second time that you faced Rafa. The last time was in 2016. You faced Djokovic or Roger much more often. In what way was it different to face Nadal?
ADRIAN MANNARINO: I don't know. His style of play is completely different. He differs from Murray or Djokovic. He has a lot of firepower. He exercises a lot of pressure.

I felt compelled to play above my usual game level, maybe not above, but in a more aggressive way. Because I knew that if I didn't put it all in, then I would be at the mercy of his forehand or his backhand, because he can outpace me with his backhand.

And I had to be more offensive from a tactical point of view because he put a lot of pressure on me. I don't know if he always serves this way, because I haven't played him enough, but he seemed to serve very well.

I don't think that it's such a strong asset. He served well and there was not much rebound. It arrived fast, under the net, and it's hard. And as I said, on a return game, we have to return well. Otherwise, we won't see the ball again.

So on the first two balls, and in general, he exercised a lot of pressure on his opponent. That's why he's so strong, because he hardly misses, and then we panic when we're in front of him.

He's an outstanding player. I really enjoyed playing him today.

Q. According to you, what did upset him today? Because it was a tough match, especially during the second set. It seems that some of your shots actually did upset him.
ADRIAN MANNARINO: I don't know. I did serve well. This was an important point because, on a bad day, with a bad serve, I would be helpless.

As for rallies, the fact that I'm a lefty, I managed to find angles with my backhand. So sometimes it upset him for his forehand. And when we do a forehand cross-court shot, I try to strike as strong as possible to try to outpace him. That was the tactic when I went on court.

I tried not to let him play as much as possible. That's the tactic that a lot of players have against him. Because if you let him play, we are heading nowhere.

He's too strong. That's the problem. This is why we have to be so aggressive.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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