ROLAND GARROS

June 5, 2021

Jennifer Brady

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/J. Brady

6-1, [Ret.]

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Tough match, tough situation. Can you talk us through what happened out there? Why did you feel you needed to stop?

JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, I have been struggling since Rome. I pulled out of the tournament there second round because I have a pretty bad foot injury, playing in a lot of pain.

I actually was considering not even playing here. Just up until the day before, I was, like, Might as well give it a shot.

I wasn't going to step out there unless I could finish the match in the first round. You know, happy that I was able to get a couple of matches in.

Then today, you know, I woke up and it was, you know, just worse. Yeah, I couldn't really play my game. I was about 20% moving. Yeah. So unfortunate.

Q. In terms of the injury itself, is it some kind of a strain on the foot, or what's the problem with what you've got?

JENNIFER BRADY: It's plantar fasciitis and a bone bruise on the foot. I'll probably get another scan just to make sure I didn't, you know, get any worse just from me playing on it the past couple days.

Q. Did you feel today from the very beginning it just wasn't going to happen? Or is this something that came on as the match -- that first set was pretty quick.

JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah. In all the other matches, you know, I have walked on the court with the pain, but, you know, it just kind of -- it really is just an injury with how much pain can you really tolerate? I have tolerated a lot of pain.

You know, I walked out there obviously thinking I was going to finish the match, win the match, and, you know, it just never got any better. You know, not that it was getting better in other matches, but it wasn't really bearable anymore, so I couldn't continue.

Q. Does this date to this season or does this go back a ways?

JENNIFER BRADY: No, I haven't had this before. You know, I think it could have been, you know, from the hard lockdown in Australia probably, you know, coming out of that after 15 days in the room, you know, almost three weeks straight of just playing. So I think, you know, that didn't really help.

It could have -- maybe I had it before, but it wasn't as severe, and then kind of been bothering me since. But it's definitely gotten significantly worse.

Q. I know it's hard to talk about a match after you weren't able to give your best, but Coco obviously is developing pretty well on clay and in general having a good time. What do you see in her game at all? Is it possible to evaluate it? You played her last year I know.

JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, honestly after a match like that I wouldn't really be able to evaluate either one of our games. You know, like I said, I felt like I was moving 20%. I wasn't even really running for balls just because I was in so much pain. I wasn't serving at full capacity.

Yeah, I mean, I think -- obviously she's an incredible talent. She's so young, only 17 years old. You know, I played her last year in Lexington. She's definitely continuing to, you know, climb the ranks, improve her game. She's really good. Yeah, I wish her all the best.