ROLAND GARROS

May 28, 2023

Andrey Rublev

Press Conference

A. RUBLEV/L. Djere

6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Congrats, Andrey. Just your reflection on the match, getting through in four instead of going to five like you did at the US Open with him.

ANDREY RUBLEV: I think I started normal and Laslo didn't start really well. I was able to win quite easy first set and then the second set I think I was too calm. I was very relaxed without energy. In the end, the game was more or less equal till the moment when he take a medical break and he played a good game. There was the set.

Then in the third set when I lost my serve I tried to, I don't know, bring back the energy. I was trying to move to pushing myself. I was little by little getting better and better, and in the end, I was able to turn around the match.

Q. You won in Monte-Carlo but people don't really mention your name amongst the favorites.

ANDREY RUBLEV: Better, better.

Q. Do you like it better that way to not have extra pressure?

ANDREY RUBLEV: Better, better (smiling). I don't know. It's better. Better when they mention less your name than more.

Q. What are your expectations here?

ANDREY RUBLEV: No expectations. I don't know, at the US Open I almost lost to him. Today I was close to lose two sets to one. No expectation. Just to focus on the things that I have to do in a set.

Q. On court and now you're talking about being too calm or the energy. Do you mean passive?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I don't know. Like no...

Q. Why was it like that?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I don't know. Maybe because the first set was too easy. Then I saw that he was struggling with the leg. I was, like, completely looks like off, and for the moment, for one moment there was no emotions. I was just playing. Then, yeah. That's why.

Q. Quite a fan of the new kit, red and white. Do you have an input on the designs? If not, what looks do you ask for? What kind of style?

ANDREY RUBLEV: Again, again, can you repeat the question? Repeat everything just in case.

Q. So do you have an input on the designs?

ANDREY RUBLEV: What is "input"?

Q. Do you help design?

THE MODERATOR: If they take your opinion for the design.

ANDREY RUBLEV: Of course. I mean, they take my opinion. I'm the man who say yes or no.

Q. You don't draw them or choose the colors?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I mean, sometimes if I have some ideas maybe, but too complicated to take care of everything.

But, yeah, I'm the one who say in the end if I like it or not, because I'm the one who has to play.

(Comment off microphone.)

ANDREY RUBLEV: Yes. She knows because she's helping (smiling).

Q. Your exits here have either been round 1 or quarterfinal. Is there a sense of relief of getting through this one?

ANDREY RUBLEV: No, I don't know. I'm not even thinking that way. Just, I don't know. I want to be in the moment and to go little by little.

Q. You talk about not wanting to have any expectations. Did you feel expectations from other people coming into this tournament because you're coming in having won a Masters?

ANDREY RUBLEV: I don't know. I mean, I think it's more about the player, how he take those things, because expectations in the end is a bit not real.

I don't know. It's more like a game for the media and everyone that, okay, you think now I have to win or whatever. It's a bit fake, because in reality, no one cares if you win or you lose. That's the reality.

So I try to just, like I said, to focus on the things that I need to focus and to try to think less about what's going round.

Q. Was it harder not to focus or get wrapped up in the game when you were younger? Did it take realizing it's a game to maybe unlock something?

ANDREY RUBLEV: In which part of the game?

Q. Like realizing that it's not real. Maybe when you were younger it was easier to get wrapped up in it and feel other people's expectations than as you get more mature.

ANDREY RUBLEV: When I was younger maybe I was thinking there was expectations till the moment I realized in the end no one cares. If I finish today my career, your life is changing? Not at all.

And in the end, that's what I learn when I was quite in a young age that it's about me, how I accept the things and how I deal with them.