ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 14, 2021

Jeremy Chardy

Press Conference

G. DIMITROV/J. Chardy

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. What are your feelings coming out of that match? Maybe you have some regrets. In the first set you had very good periods, a breakpoint at 5-All. We had the feeling that you were doing well. How do you feel after losing the match?

JEREMY CHARDY: No, I'm okay. I'm happy I was able to play two matches here. At the end of the first set I was playing really well and I had a breakpoint to be up 6-5 and I didn't make it. But I had good periods. I played better than yesterday.

I still need to work a bit more. Physically I'm not fit enough. I'm happy I was here. I had a good feeling on the court. I would have preferred to win the match, but he played well, too.

Q. It's also my feeling seeing the match today maybe physically in the second set you had a letdown. You were not as intense as in the first set.

JEREMY CHARDY: Yes, for sure. Physically I'm not ready yet. I don't think I'm able to play three sets. I couldn't prepare the way I wanted to. I came here without having very high ambitions. I'm happy I was able to play two matches, and I had a good feeling on the court.

Now I'm going to practice in longer sessions and try to become a bit more fit.

Q. Do you believe this tournament is too early in the season? You never had good results here. Is it because it's too early?

JEREMY CHARDY: Yes, sometimes I had a bad draw, too. This year I'm not totally fit physically. But I love this tournament. I didn't have my best results here, but I'm always happy to come back to Monte-Carlo. Even this year, without the fans, it's still nice to be in such a beautiful environment.

I will come back and maybe one day I'll be able to go further.

Q. Are you thinking about the Olympics?

JEREMY CHARDY: Well, to be honest, I don't know how the selection is made for the Olympics. I don't know how they count the points. The answer, please tell me.

Q. I don't have the details. You have a very good beginning of the year, and you're one of the best French players right now.

JEREMY CHARDY: Yes, but I don't know if they take into account the ranking or if they take into account the period in 2020. I don't know how it works, so I don't know if I have a chance or not.

Q. You never played the Olympics?

JEREMY CHARDY: No, never. Each time there was Gael, Richard, Jo, Gilles before me. I was always the first one out.

Q. Even if clay is not your favorite surface, we have the feeling that you like playing on clay, you enjoy it. You have good weapons to play well on clay.

JEREMY CHARDY: I love playing on clay. I learned how to play tennis on clay. There were only clay courts when I was a kid. I like playing on clay. It's different from hard courts. You have to use a lot of tactics and physically it's tougher.

But it's a great surface. Even for the young players, it would be good for them to play more on clay. Many of them practice on hard courts. They hit the ball and the ball always bounces the same way, whereas on clay there are changes: the ball bounces high, low, there are bad bounces, it's slow. You need to adapt. It's a very good surface to learn how to play tennis.

Even for us it's tough. If you see our first matches on clay, it's always difficult for us, too.