UNITED CUP

January 5, 2024

Edouard Roger-Vasselin

Caroline Garcia

Adrian Mannarino

Team France

Press Conference

Team France - 2

Team Norway - 1

THE MODERATOR: Well done, Team France. We ask the captain, your experience today on the chair for the two singles and then of course the winning point in the mixed doubles, how surprised were you by Malene's level against Caroline? Sum it up for us, please.

CAPTAIN EDOUARD ROGER-VASSELIN: Yeah, this match was crazy. I mean, all the credit to the Norwegian team and to the Norwegian girl who played amazing match. Caroline was playing good also, so it was really a tough match. Super proud of her.

She kept believing in the win, and she finally got the last point. So it was quite emotional on the court, on the bench, as well. Tiring, but yeah, super proud of her, for sure.

Then she came back fresh for the mixed, and we played a great match, actually. Yeah, really happy about the win.

Yeah, Adrian played against Casper, who was on fire, to be honest. Congrats to Casper, as well. Yeah, here we are. We are in the semifinals, so that's the most important.

THE MODERATOR: Looking ahead to Saturday against Poland, how do you see that tie?

CAPTAIN EDOUARD ROGER-VASSELIN: Yeah, super-strong team. Super-strong team. We need to recover of course tomorrow. We have nothing to lose. We play maybe the best team here in the world, but we are quite confident. We played good matches all together.

Yeah, we will be strong and we will be here on Saturday. Ready for the challenge.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Looking ahead to that match, Adrian, you've played Hubi a number of times. What's interesting for you about playing against him?

ADRIAN MANNARINO: Well, he's in a good place. Going to be a tough one. Yeah, we played a few times each other, and I think we are about to split victories.

Yeah, I got my chance. It's not going to be easy, but, I don't know, it's probably 55-45 for him, so we'll see. It's going to be interesting.

Q. Caroline, obviously it's a big test for you playing Poland. How exciting is it for you to play those kind of matches against the very best?

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, I mean, every match is super important, and obviously playing the best player in the world, it's always a good test. It push you to your limits. It's why you train. You want to be able to compete at the highest intensity of the game and trying to find solution against the top player.

Obviously Iga is quite impressive every single time she have to compete. We played some good match in the past, so let's see what is going to happen this one. But yeah, it's fun to play and it's why we play tennis, I think.

Q. Edouard, serving 4-5 in the first set, 15-40, you served quite well. What was going through your mind when you face that deficit?

CAPTAIN EDOUARD ROGER-VASSELIN: Well, I think I've been facing this kind of situation so many times in my career, so I know I just have to think about the --

CAROLINE GARCIA: He have full confidence in my abilities (smiling).

CAPTAIN EDOUARD ROGER-VASSELIN: Yeah, just to be relaxed and think about my serve was just most important, especially in doubles. But yes, especially in doubles, you can turning these kind of matches like that. One or two points you're facing breakpoint, and then we win 7-5. The momentum is always very important in doubles. That's why every point is super important.

Yeah, so I was not thinking about anything else, just my serve, trying to make a good serve. And we'll see what happens.

Q. How do you manage, as a captain, to make sure that everybody on the team feels just as important? You have players who've had different careers, different rankings, different ages. What's the secret to doing that?

CAPTAIN EDOUARD ROGER-VASSELIN: Well, in this team, it's quite obvious that No. 1 player, they are here. The other guys on the bench, they know they are here in case something happens, so it's quite clear. But then they are ready. They are ready to play at any time. Anything can happen.

But yeah, this is quite simple. It's 1-1 and the mixed. This is how it is. But we are lucky to have, like, good players behind the bench who are here to support everything, all of us, and be ready to warm up, be ready for anything that can happen. I think it's a good mix. I'm happy to have this team.

Q. As a doubles specialist now, when you see basically a singles player on the other side of the court, whether it's in mixed, do you get excited, concerned? Does it depend on which player it is? What's the feeling?

CAPTAIN EDOUARD ROGER-VASSELIN: Well, the thing is I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to play a top-10 singles player in the world. But I know they have different skills than the doubles. Obviously we saw Casper was ripping the forehand. We don't see that much in doubles (smiling).

But we know sometimes he's going to play amazing and it's just too good. You can try to get one or two points like this sometimes and get a break somehow. That's it.

But yeah, it's always nice to have the best singles players playing doubles, that's for sure.

Q. The final question is: How do you, as someone with a new hip, sit for four hours for two singles matches and then have to get up and play doubles? Is the physio working you very, very hard after every day?

CAPTAIN EDOUARD ROGER-VASSELIN: Yeah, no, I think now I'm fine. I don't think about this too much, to be honest. I don't think at all. I'm lucky everything went well for the surgery, and I'm feeling good.

Now I'm more concerned about my age than my hip. Yeah, I was sweating a lot again today, so I'm drinking so much. Caroline is so fresh compared to me. But yeah, yeah, the body is fine. It's just trying to stay healthy (smiling).