ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 15, 2021

Lucas Pouille

Press Conference

A. DAVIDOVICH FOKINA/L. Pouille

6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. I would like to know if you know how bad your injury is? Is it serious or not?

LUCAS POUILLE: I don't think it's very worrying. I didn't have a medical examination yet, but I don't believe it's a worry. I can't say anything about it because I just don't know.

It's a bit painful, but I hope it's going to be nothing.

Q. It's your rib?

LUCAS POUILLE: No. It's on the right-hand side at the bottom of my back.

Q. Do you have regrets after the end of the second set?

LUCAS POUILLE: Of course I have regrets. I had a set point, I wasn't able to make it. At 6-5 I had a set point. He was quite lucky on his set point with a forehand winner that barely touched the line. But it's part of the game. Of course, there are some regrets I have because I had some opportunities to get back to one set all.

But I'm not sure I would have been able to play until the end of the match if I had won that set. We'll never know. Still I have some regrets.

Q. Two victories, then this loss in the round of 16. Is this encouraging? Did you expect to play at this level?

LUCAS POUILLE: Yes, it's encouraging. There's a lot of positives in what happened. This is what I will remember. Of course, I don't expect everything to be perfect or doing everything perfectly, but I'm quite happy with the two victories.

Even today, although it was not very good, because in the beginning of the match I was not able to put my game in place. I was able almost to turn it around in the second set. There are positive things. This is what I will remember.

I hope I'll be able to play again as soon as next week in the same way.

Q. What do you have to work on?

LUCAS POUILLE: On everything. Maybe I need to play matches to get the rhythm, play match after match, week after week in the same mindset. This is what I need to do, play many matches to be able to put my game into place and to stop making the mistakes I made today sometimes in the match.

Q. What is your schedule until the French Open? Apparently you entered Belgrade. Are you going to go to Madrid? You have people you know there.

LUCAS POUILLE: Maybe. Maybe. The schedule is simple: I've entered everywhere, every week. We'll see, according to my results. You have to sign up many weeks in advance. It's difficult at the moment to know what the situation will be.

If everything goes well, I can go to Belgrade or Barcelona. I'd like to have the choice. Then I'm in Estoril and Munich, then Madrid, Rome. In Madrid I have chances of having a wild card. For Rome, I'm in the quallies. Then there's Lyon and Geneva. After that the French Open. There's a good stretch there every week. Then we'll see.

Q. About the Olympics, if you're lucky and you can go, are you going to get the vaccine before you leave? What is your position about the vaccine?

LUCAS POUILLE: If I have the opportunity of getting a vaccine, I will do that. We are not the first ones on the list. I don't know what the situation is for the athletes for the Olympics.

But for the time being, I'm far away. If in the end I'm in the top four in France and I can go to the Olympics, if I'm told I need to have a vaccine to go there, I will have take the vaccine without hesitating if it can make my life easier over there.