ROLAND GARROS

September 30, 2020

Pierre-Hugues Herbert

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/P.H. Herbert

2-6, 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. At the start of the fifth set you had some chances to go up a break. Is this the moment you regret the most after this match?

PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: No. I don't really regret the fifth set, to be honest (smiling). I think it's maybe the set where Sascha was a bit better than me and he deserved really the set.

Yes, I had three breakpoints in the set, but you know that breaking in the first game of the fifth, it's still a long way to finish the set.

No, I mean, I'm more disappointed about what happened in the second and in the third.

I really think I had everything in my racquet, and I still don't know how I managed to lose these two sets.

Q. I was wondering if you'd be willing to comment, Hugo Gaston is showing great tennis for France, wondering if you could just comment on his success, considering he hadn't really had experience at this level yet.

PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: Yeah, I saw that he won against Yoshihito Nishioka, and he beat also in the first round Maxime Janvier. It's a good run for him. He's a really, really nice kid. Yeah, working hard and really talented on court.

I'm really happy for him to be in the third round. I hope it's just a beginning for him.

Q. I'm curious about how you're feeling about staying in the bubble and living in the bubble. I presume you have to be at the hotel with everybody else; is that correct?

PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: Yes.

Q. How do you like this? Has it done anything for you? Did it help your mentality? Did it help your game? Do you feel safe in the bubble? Do you think it's necessary?

PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: I do think that if there was no bubble or like safe environment, it would not be possible to play, so I think it has to be a bubble.

And from my point of view, yeah, it's something that it is well organized. I mean, I will be tested again tomorrow. It's been like four, five days. Everybody is gonna do that.

For me, I'm just happy to be back on court. I had like some long family time with my fiancée being pregnant and now I'm a dad, so I'm really happy to be back on court, even staying at the hotel, and I don't mind being at the hotel. I'm just happy to play Roland Garros. We're lucky to play even in colder conditions and rainy conditions sometimes.

But, yeah, I'm just happy to be back on court.

Q. Is your fiancée with you at the hotel?

PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: No, no, no, I had to leave them. My son was born on the 19th, so it was a bit too short to come to Paris. And I'm not living in Paris, so no, she's back home, recovering from the delivery, and, yes, taking care of the kid. So thanks to her for being back home doing the, I would say, dirty work, even if I would like to do it with her, and letting me, yeah, be a tennis player.

Q. The French players, I think there is only one guy left now in the draw. I know everybody has been talking about this, but I just wonder what your thoughts on this, whether it's disappointing or whether it's just kind of the way the draw crumbles sometimes.

PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: This is the question why I didn't want to come here and do the press conference. I'm really disappointed about that, for sure. I would have loved to be in the third round and try to go further in the draw, because, yeah, we had amazing guys for the last past 15, 20 years that have been always present in the second weeks of Grand Slams with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils and others, playing amazing tennis. Yes, I feel so disappointed right now not being able to follow up on their amazing results.

Yes, that's, for me, the saddest part. I think I disappointed a lot of people watching also tonight, because I felt like I had it in my racquet and I should have won that one.