ROLAND GARROS

September 29, 2020

Vasek Pospisil

Press Conference

M. BERRETTINI/V. Pospisil

6-3, 6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you want to talk about the match?

VASEK POSPISIL: Difficult conditions for me. Yeah, just was not a good day at the office. Yeah, one to kind of forget.

Q. Rafa was saying the situations are tough, the ball is heavy. What was your sense?

VASEK POSPISIL: Well, yeah, it's not a good ball for my game style, for sure. I mean, clay is already not a good surface for me. The balls are very heavy as well, heavy conditions. Against a good opponent that was playing well that likes to have a little bit more time to set up his strokes, just a tough matchup.

Yeah, I mean, the balls are terrible. These are balls that I would never practice with. But it is what it is.

Q. You decided not to play Rome. Is there a particular reason?

VASEK POSPISIL: Yeah, it was kind of a quick turnaround after the US Open. I was playing on Monday, last match there. I mean, I hadn't stepped foot on clay in two and a half years because of my injury last year, I missed the whole clay season. I felt like I needed a little bit more time on the surface to try to prepare for this one.

Tough opponent, tough draw, yeah.

Q. How do you explain, I see you fighting so hard in so many different surfaces, but not as much on clay? After a while it's like you're depressed, you don't trust yourself enough. That maybe explains why you lost 17 or 18 matches in a row on clay. What about Berrettini? Do you think he can go much forward? He may have to play Djokovic in the quarters.

VASEK POSPISIL: Yeah, I mean, I definitely have struggled on this surface. It's not one that I really enjoy playing on, especially in these conditions. I wish I handled it a little bit better. For sure I didn't do a great job. I knew coming in these are my least favorite ball conditions, when it's cold, on clay, slow, against a top-10 player. I just wish maybe I'd done a little bit better.

Yeah, Matteo played very well. He didn't give me any opportunities. I haven't seen the draw up to the quarterfinals, if Djokovic is in the quarter. But I can definitely see him having a deep run, making it to the quarters. I don't know, we don't know how the draw is going to unfold.

He's definitely playing extremely well. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a deep run this week.

Q. There are things that you have to discuss during these days about let's call it politics, whatever, with Djokovic and the others? There are no chances? Are you going to leave or stay in Paris to talk about it?

VASEK POSPISIL: I still have doubles. I mean, I'll try to do some work there, for sure. But as soon as I'm done with doubles, I will leave the bubble because it's not a very good bubble here they made for us. It's not easy mentally to be in it. As soon as I have an opportunity to leave the bubble, I will.

I'll try to do as much of the work that I can for the PTPA outside of it. But it's been tough to do very much in preparation for this event.

Q. What you said about the bubble here, I mean, it's much worse than the USA?

VASEK POSPISIL: Yeah, much worse. At least for the players, the hotel, the hotel we're staying at, it's tough. We don't have anything. The US Open there was a much bigger effort I felt from the organization to make the time in the bubble a little bit more comfortable for the players. That's for sure. I mean, I think almost every player I've spoken to was sharing the same opinion.

Yeah, it's not easy to be stuck in the bubble. You don't want to be on-site all day because it's also a stressful environment, right? You have all the competitors around. You want to leave the site as soon as possible. The only place you can go is the hotel.

Yeah, it's not easy because you can't even get fresh air. But that is what it is. Obviously, they didn't know if the tournament was going to happen. I don't know what the reason is, if they didn't have very much time to try to make the conditions better for players, more comfortable. Obviously, some players are going to be here for two, three weeks, right, in the bubble.

Yeah, I just thought the US Open was a lot better. They did a lot better job. There was a games room for the players. There was an outdoor area with a food truck, an area you could sit and lounge. Paris is a tough city because everything is closed, but it's just a little bit more difficult mentally.

Q. About the balls, do you think one of the things that PTPA should maybe try to fix in the future is also to avoid these ball changes? It's the tournament that decides, but the players may have a word.

VASEK POSPISIL: Yeah, I mean, currently the players have no input. Maybe it would be something. The players should definitely have some input because changing balls every week or every two weeks is not easy on the body, on the arms. I've had several wrist and elbow issues over the past years because of the quick change of balls.

I mean, this week is another example of that. It's definitely something that definitely the PTPA could have an input on. How significant of an input, that depends on a lot of factors. But for sure, the way it currently stands, we have zero input on the balls.

Q. You've been playing as a pro for over a decade now. Things are different now that you're traveling, take all these precautions. How has flying changed for you within the last few months? Is there anything you're doing differently to protect yourself?

VASEK POSPISIL: You said 'flying'?

Q. Yes.

VASEK POSPISIL: Yeah, it's different. I mean, it's a tricky situation because you can't really organize your travel freely. You need to have all these -- logistically it's just harder to organize. I know the ATP is doing the best they can to try to accommodate for the players. You need to have your negative COVID test to enter certain countries. It's not so easy to do on the go.

Traveling, that's the toughest part, right, to make sure you have everything you need in terms of COVID, that you're allowed to enter the country. You need all the permissions from the tournaments to enter, for your team.

Then in terms of traveling itself, it's tough. You just have to respect the protocols, wear the masks, distance yourself socially from everyone. That's something that we're a little bit used to now, I guess, for this whole year almost it's been part of our lives.

I think the biggest challenge is just making sure you have all the paperwork and documentation you need to go into certain countries.

Q. In regards to doubles, you're uniting now with Jack Sock?

VASEK POSPISIL: Yes, I'm playing with Jack.

Q. Is this a one tournament thing or the rest of the year?

VASEK POSPISIL: Up until now, we've only discussed to play in this event.

Q. (Question about pronunciation.)

VASEK POSPISIL: If it's okay for me in general?

Q. Because your name is Czech.

VASEK POSPISIL: I mean, I'm used to Pospisil because that's how all the English-speaking people know me as, call me by Vasek. But I speak Czech, my parents are Czech. When I'm in the Czech Republic, I'm usually more surprised when I hear the Czech way, unless the person is Czech, then I'm not surprised.