ROLAND GARROS

May 24, 2022

Paula Badosa

Press Conference

P. BADOSA/F. Ferro

6-2, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Pretty quick match for you. How did you feel you did out there today?

PAULA BADOSA: Yeah, it was fast. I feel lucky today. Yeah, I felt quite well. I was quite nervous at the beginning, and I think I did a quite good performance. Coming back to Philippe Chatrier was special for me, as last year I left the court very, very sad.

Coming back here again, I feel good, and as I always say, Roland Garros is a very special tournament for me.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. You said before the tournament that you were looking for confidence, looking for rhythm and all that. How much does this match and this performance help you find what you are looking for in Paris?

PAULA BADOSA: Every match helps. Every minute on court helps. I think her game helped me, as well, because I could play quite a long rally, so I could feel myself there. Slowly I think I started place well, but I finished better today.

I think every minute on court is helping me and will help me for that confidence that I'm looking for.

Q. If I can build on that question, how important is it to win in 54 minutes your opening match in a Grand Slam after you have had a couple of difficult weeks with the previous tournaments?

PAULA BADOSA: For me, it's not important for me to win with 50 minutes or three hours. As I said, every minute on court counts, and every win counts, and it helps you build your confidence again.

So, yeah, I think that's the key of my match today. I'm happy that I could win and that I have another opportunity to be better next day.

Q. You spoke the other day very eloquently about your struggles the past couple of weeks. How are you feeling mentally walking onto the court at the beginning today? Because certainly at the end and when you were playing it didn't look like you were having any kind of struggles at all.

PAULA BADOSA: I'm happy about that. I'm happy that nobody noticed how nervous I was on court, because to be honest, I was really nervous. Yeah, I had to wait a lot before coming out, so that wasn't easy, as well.

Yeah, I'm happy that I managed the nerves pretty well. At the beginning I was very nervous, to be honest. Maybe I wasn't feeling that well. I was moving a little bit slow, and I needed a few games to get used to all the situation, but I'm happy that I managed that very well.

As I always said, I think one of the keys this year and my career will be how I manage all of these kind of situations and all these kind of nerves.

Q. Which was toughest for you today, the match or your workout and exercise routine before the match?

PAULA BADOSA: (Laughter.)

Q. Off the back of that, do you enjoy the preparation and all the exercising that you do before a match? Does it make you feel good, or do you just accept that it is part of the job?

PAULA BADOSA: I like it. I like to work hard, and I like to sweat a lot. Yeah, I'm quite intense on and off court, so I like to warm up a lot. Maybe today was I warmed up a little bit more because I had to wait Jo, his retirement, but I'm happy that it was for an occasion like that. So it's okay.

But, yeah, I think the workout of the prematch was pretty tough, so I will have to talk with my fitness coach that he has to calm down next day.

Q. I would like to ask you about WTA decision for Wimbledon, no points. What do you think about this?

PAULA BADOSA: I was waiting this question. I don't know. If I have to give one opinion, my opinion is that I think players need a voice, because I respect both decisions, but I think I'm not maybe happy about that players have an opinion, have a voice, and maybe they don't listen to us as much as we would like to.

So I think that's one thing that we are working on, on players having more a voice, talking to each other, and to get, to build something bigger, you know, because I think at the end of the day without us, this doesn't exist.

So I think it will be more important in the future if we can have a voice and they can listen to us a little bit more.

Q. When you come to Roland Garros, maybe you're not feeling too confident, but you also know that you are one of the best female players in the world, how does that feel when you go into the first round?

PAULA BADOSA: Well, I have a lot of emotions there, because of course maybe I'm one of the favorites, so I feel good and I feel confident.

But at the same time, I feel pressure, because I feel that if I lose in the first rounds, I didn't do well with expectations.

So I have both emotions and that's what I'm working on. I'm trying to feel that power and confidence side more than the nerves and the pressure. So, yeah, that's one of my goals here for in the French Open.

Q. You're a tennis geek. I want to ask you about Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and what your memories are of watching him play, being on tour with him. You probably caught some of the ceremony before your match. What do you make of it all?

PAULA BADOSA: Yeah, I mean, I'm very emotional. When I was seeing when he was retiring, he was already crying before he finished, and I got emotional in that moment as well, because I could feel what he was feeling in that moment.

As I say, I really like tennis, and I don't really want to see the finish line for me, you know.

But talking about him, I followed him so much when I was a young player. I remember when I was 11, 12 years old, to see him play, he was so explosive and amazing player and so fun to watch.

Yeah, I remember, I said it on court, but when I was that age going to my coach and studying a lot his serve, because I wanted to serve like him. So, yeah, he's been an inspiration and as well so positive on and off court. So, yeah, it's very nice to have these kind of players and at the same time very sad to see him retire, but this is how life goes. It was time for him.