ROLAND GARROS

May 30, 2021

Kei Nishikori

Press Conference

K. NISHIKORI/A. Giannessi

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

Q. I'd like to know if you were afraid that something like happened to you against Seppi and Travaglia could happen again; two Italians you lost last year in five sets. Were you thinking about that or not at all?

KEI NISHIKORI: Well, you just remind me. I didn't even think about it. But that's true.

Italians is always tough, especially on clay, especially with him. He's like the specialist playing on clay. Maybe I could play much better with the hard court, but he hits quite tough balls that I couldn't really attack. The way he fights and the way he played was incredible. I have to give credit to him. I think he did pretty good tennis today.

I thought about losing, especially in the five sets. He was up a break first and I was very not sure what to do. So I think -- well, yeah, I will have very good credit to him. He played good tennis.

Q. I just wanted to get your thoughts on Naomi Osaka's decision not to do press. There's quite a strong statement from the Slams potentially threatening her with being thrown out of the tournament if she continues not to do press conferences. I know that you kind of understand a bit the pressures on her and I just wondered what your opinion is.

KEI NISHIKORI: Well, I agree with Rafa everything. I'm 100 percent same feeling with Rafa. You can maybe look up what he said.

I mean, it is not good, but you have to understand what her situation is. So good and bad I would say.

Q. For most of the year you are playing in the best-of-three sets. In the Grand Slams it is the best of five. Why in the Grand Slams do you always choose to go five sets and play over four hours?

KEI NISHIKORI: Well, because I love tennis, first of all, and I want to spend more time on the court.

Tennis is not playing by yourself. You always have an opponent, and there is many up and downs during the match, and very stressful. You cannot talk to anybody.

But I know I have to figure out how to win in three sets, and I think I could do that, especially today. Yeah, I mean, it's good to have a win like this, but of course you want to win three sets, easy three sets. Yeah, I've got to figure out how to win in three sets.