ROLAND GARROS

September 29, 2020

Andrey Rublev

Press Conference

A. RUBLEV/S. Querrey

6-7, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What have the last couple of days been like for you since you won Hamburg? What has that been like?

ANDREY RUBLEV: Straight after the final we went to the hotel to pick up the stuff and went straight to the airport, and I flew to Paris. So around, I was in the hotel around 8:00 p.m., somewhere around 8:00 p.m. minus, maybe plus 30 minutes. I don't know. Next day I practiced, so Monday, with my coach, and today I played the match.

Q. If someone invented a time machine and they said you could go back into the time machine and relive the last four days, what would you have said to them?

ANDREY RUBLEV: Wait? Last four days, what to do with them?

Q. If you went into a time machine and you got the opportunity to live the last four days all over again, what would you say to that person?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I don't know. I will ask him to bring me maybe a couple of years back not only for this. Maybe ten years back (smiling).

But I don't know nothing. I don't know. If the result would be the same, it's okay then. If he tells me that might be something different, then of course no (smiling).

Q. Did you have to do the, like wait 24 hours and get the coronavirus test or were you exempt from that?

ANDREY RUBLEV: No, in my case not, because I arrived straight after the final. They did a test before, so they use the first test from the Hamburg.

So I was able to take accreditations straight. Plus I need to have one day practice so they cannot put me 24 hours in the room and then go straight on court.

So they use as the arriving test from Hamburg that I did before, before match.

Q. It was a really battling performance from you today. You had to dig deep. You have said in the past that the difference between you and the top players is that they find a way to control their emotions and win. Do you think that you are still learning how to express your emotions on the court to give yourself the best chance to win? Because obviously you need to play with a degree of passion for you to get success.

ANDREY RUBLEV: Yeah, of course. There is long way to improve, even if we take the match today, that my attitude was horrible.

So I don't know. I was just so lucky. I think like they give me one extra present. I don't know why and for what. But yeah, the attitude today was really horrible. If I want to improve and I want to compete on a good level, this is not acceptable. I need to change it.

Q. The match, how you were feeling at the start. How were you feeling at the start?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I was feeling completely tight. I choke another level. Since the first point of the match till the last match of the match I was completely freeze. I couldn't do one step, I could only hit, I was tight like I don't know. Not many times I was tight like this.

Anyway, I'm happy that I have this one more present that I'm here, and I'm alive and I have another opportunity to change this, one more chance to show different attitude, different game. So hopefully I will be able to do it.

Q. Nice fight out there. Do you get some hope by coming back in that second set and having a shot at it? Is that something that said, You know what, maybe I can come back and maybe he's tight also out here?

ANDREY RUBLEV: To be honest, I was thinking like this in the first set when he was serving for the first set and I broke him back, I was thinking that if I stay focused and if I will keep fighting, for sure I will have chances. Maybe not first set -- I was thinking even if I lose first set, for sure from the second one, could be completely different. When I start second and I was 3-0 down with double break in two minutes, I was, I don't know, I was even more tight than before.

Then when we arrive at 5-All in the second set and 6-5 I was having set points, I was thinking, Okay, now this is the moment that I have to use to turn the match. When I lost the second, then I was thinking it's going to be really tough. When he broke me, I was completely sure it's over.

I don't know. I was completely sure that it's over.

Q. Hamburg, well done. You lost the US Open again and again by Medvedev. Now Medvedev is not anymore on your way. What do you think about it? Don't tell me that it's too far away because you have more matches before. But still in your section there are not so many players that honestly I think that can beat you. What do you think about it? And is it true that if you win you will not cut your hair?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I mean, first of all, thank you for congratulations. Then the questions about Daniil, I would still say that it's too far away, because I don't even know who I'm playing second round. I promise you, I don't know who I'm playing second round yet. I didn't check.

So first I need to know against who I'm playing next. But I think if, let's say, even if I have to play tomorrow Daniil, on clay court, I think I might have better chances.

I don't know. But, yeah, I saw the end of Daniil's match yesterday because he was playing late, so I saw the end. I was not thinking in my head that, Oh, you know, the door is open or something. I didn't even think like this.

I don't know, I was thinking that it was so tough for Daniil. I know how he was feeling. To play against Fucsovics is really tough, especially on clay, because he have really, really great -- physical-wise he's really fast and he's really aggressive player so I was feeling like in a way that Daniil had really, really tough first round. So that was my thinking more.

And the hair. To be honest, I want to cut, but I didn't come back home yet. So since I went to America trip, I wasn't home. So as soon as I go home, I will cut my hair. So hopefully before some piece of work I will be already with the new haircut.

Q. I just wondered, maybe you can do the ponytail trick with the hair? Maybe that's a solution. Anyway, my question was four different Grand Slams, four different scoring formats or four different ways to finish the fifth set with various different tiebreak options. At the French they're playing out to full length. What's your preference? Do you think they should all be the same?

ANDREY RUBLEV: Yeah, I would say that they should be the same, all of them, in my opinion. I don't know the most of the players. And I would say the best option is like here or like Wimbledon. I think maybe even Wimbledon is the best option when they play tiebreak at 12-All, because in the end they give you one extra set and if it's not enough to find a champion, you play a tiebreak.

Because in my opinion, they shouldn't do tiebreak fifth set, I don't know, because these matches, I don't know, it's something that you will remember for a while. Something that you will think that now I understand why I was working so hard and now I win, I don't know, five-set matches, 11-9 in the fifth. Now I understand why I was working and doing all this tough exercises on the practices. Then you feel even more proud of yourself, and it's going to be only a couple of matches in the end.

Me, I think I had only one fifth-set match, 9-7, only 9-7 in the fifth in all my career for the moment. So I don't think that I will have these kind of matches. Maybe in total, 10 matches if I'm lucky enough. But the rest will be everything, then will be under these limits.

In the end, yes, it's how most of the players want and how the organizators, tournaments, in the end they feel what is better. Sometimes also I understand you need to wait really, really long for your match, maybe there is three more matches coming and the first match are still playing because they have fifth set and it's 11-11. So in the end I understand both sides.

Q. Why do you think you were so tight today? Was it because you came from Hamburg winning the title or just because you were suddenly playing under such different conditions and with different clay and heavier conditions here or because you never won in Roland Garros before?

ANDREY RUBLEV: To be honest, I don't really have the answer. For sure, all this that you said that I never won a match, the last time I played here was three-and-a-half years ago. For sure, that because I practiced only once here, for sure because I play match against Sam, which is he don't really -- he don't give you rhythm. He go for the shots. He have really great serve. As soon as he have chance he try to go full power to the side and go to the net.

So in the end, you cannot, even if you start tight, he's not this kind of player who start to play rallies with you and maybe after one set or half set you start to feel better. He don't give you this.

As soon as I have one rally or one ball that, okay, now we start the rally, I feel even more tight because I don't want to miss it, because maybe then he will make ace, ace, two winners and I don't even touch the ball for the next one game and a half.

So in the end was everything together.