ROLAND GARROS

June 1, 2022

Andrey Rublev

Press Conference

M. CILIC/A. Rublev

5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Bad luck, Andrey. What impressed you most in Marin's game today?

ANDREY RUBLEV: The way he was serving. He was serving really, really good, really strong. Yeah, almost all the important points he was winning with his serve and was really, really tough to read or to return.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. I can see you are very disappointed. What would you have done differently in hindsight to try and change the outcome of that match?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I would stay more calm, because, yeah, after the first set I think I relax a bit, and straightaway when I start to think too much and when the things wasn't going my way, I start to show frustration.

And that's it. Then I dropped the second set completely. Then it's not easy when it's 1-All, Marin start to feel more confident and he start to play better. Then it's not easy.

Q. Is it not easy when the crowd seemed to be for your opponent as well on key moments or not?

ANDREY RUBLEV: No, because normally when I was playing, especially when I was upcoming player, most of the time was more supporting others because I was no name. So it's something that part of the game.

Q. You have a fantastic record on the tour, but at the slams you just seem to get to the quarterfinals and not beyond. Do you know why that is or is it just a matter of time for you?

ANDREY RUBLEV: No, mental. Everything mental. I couldn't manage, all the time I couldn't manage the emotions the previous times. And now it was the closest ever time that I was able, yeah, to go through to be in semis. Then again, the same thing, I didn't manage the emotions.

I don't know if I did it better compare other matches. At least I did better score and I was closer than other matches, but still, is the same thing.

Q. Every round was a gutsy win. What positives do you take from the five matches you played?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I don't know, because there are so many things I need to improve. Probably the most positive thing, that I did one more quarterfinal. Yeah, that's it. The rest I need to improve so many things.

Hopefully that's what I'm gonna do now in upcoming, because now I have a lot of free weeks (smiling). So hopefully I will improve something.

Q. The way that Marin played against yourself and Daniil, do you think he could go all the way or to the final? Where do you see him progressing?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I don't know, to be honest. First of all, I don't know how Rune is playing, because I only watch him on TV. I can talk about Ruud. On clay against Ruud will be really, really tough.

I mean, I don't know how is going to be the match of him. But in case if everything is okay, that the way Ruud is playing is going to be really tough for Marin, and he need to play really, really great game and really great match to win it. But for sure he have chances.

I mean, in this stage, everything that happen, semifinal, final, is only one match.

Q. We obviously know you can't play in the UK now. What is your schedule? Are you going to play Stuttgart, Holland, for example, Mallorca? What are your plans?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I'm going to play Halle and then probably I will take a bit off and prepare for America swing full.

Q. And I appreciate you have spoken about this before but now that it's going to sink in, now that Roland Garros is done, what are your reflections of the fact you cannot play the next Grand Slam?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I did answer this question already, yeah, so is basically to answer the same thing. I mean, I did answer.

Q. The reason I ask is because it now sinks in obviously.

ANDREY RUBLEV: No, I mean, my opinion is still the same, that it's not about that ATP defend us or something. It's more about to show that we need to work together. Tournaments cannot take decision and break agreements and do whatever they want, because it can be something, next time can be something different, can be different situation, not about players.

The most important thing is to work together, only when the players defend the tournaments and tournaments defend the players.