ROLAND GARROS

June 8, 2024

Guy Sasson

Press Conference

G. SASSON/S. Schroder

6-2, 3-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Guy, congratulations. Your debut here at the French Open, and you won. So can you tell us how much this win means to you.

GUY SASSON: Well, it's a huge win. First of all, it's first time for me in Roland Garros. It's first time that I win a Grand Slam.

I've never had that experience here in Paris, and playing here. This is so big for me to, first, to be able to participate here; and second, that I was able, together with my team, to get everything together and get to this moment ready, and I was able to win a big match like the match that you guys saw.

It was almost a three-hour match, I was down, I was up, I was down two match points. It was really a thriller.

But I'm so happy that at the end of the day it came my way. It cannot be any sweeter than that.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Congratulations, Guy. I wanted to ask you about how you had played Sam in the final in Australia, and then today you managed to overcome this hurdle and found a way to win the match. What do you think you did differently today?

GUY SASSON: Well, I think that my team and I are in a big process. It's a big process of getting me into the right shape and getting all the skills and learning other opponents and playing on this big stage like Roland Garros and Australia in a Grand Slam.

Australia was the first time I made it to the finals. I can say that in the finals, it was after I won the semifinals against Niels who was No. 1 in the world, he didn't lose a match the whole year, and I was able to win that match in the semis. So I remember after the semis I was, like, it was big game and I was, like, no energy left.

Against Sam in the finals, I think I played a good match, but I didn't have all the energy and Sam played really well. He liked the hard court surface, and he was able to win. Again, after two months, we met again in Japan Open. Really, he destroyed me over there. It was also on a hard court.

But, you know, I think my team, and I know other teams as well, we're learning each other, we're trying to see who is doing what in certain points and how do we get better.

I can say that I work very hard. As you know, I'm almost double the age of the two Dutch guys, so I know I have to work harder than everyone else.

I'm happy that I prove myself and my team and all the people that support me that I can do it.

You know, we have long battles ahead of us. You know, Wimbledon next and then the Paralympics. So it's a big win for us. Thank you.

Q. Congratulations. I wanted to speak on that a little bit. You know, it's going to be a strange summer for everyone involved in tennis. For the Olympics players are going from here to Wimbledon and then back here. In the Paralympics, there's a little bit more time between Wimbledon and coming back to Paris. I think a lot of players who've been at this highest level for a long time are, like, this is going to be strange, this is going to be different. But for you, it's kind of all new anyway. So do you think you have a different outlook of sort of like you're learning and you're going to make your debut at Wimbledon? Just speaking on that a little bit.

GUY SASSON: Well, I have to say that, you know, when we are looking at this process of where we want to be in or we want to get to, we're looking at the end of the Paralympics. After the Paralympics, we will rest.

So along the way we build the process, and we build a plan and a program. Back home I have a great program that helps me. This is part of the process.

We knew that we're going to have Australia, we're gonna learn whatever we can, we have our plan, we have our goals. You know, the major goals, as you know, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Paralympics, so it's part of the process and we have to keep ourself and our energy up all the time.

The good thing is that we knew it's coming. So we have to prepare ourself. So for me, I think it's good. You know, I won a Grand Slam right now, but I'm not going to rest tomorrow. Tomorrow I practice again, because we have Wimbledon and Paralympics. After the Paralympics, then we'll see.

Q. Congratulations. Being a Grand Slam finalist, I'd like to know how do you approach these kind of matches? Is there anything you do differently?

GUY SASSON: The only thing I can compare to is the finals in Australia, which is another Grand Slam that I participate in and play in the finals.

I think this time I did a lot of different things. I learned a lot from the last time. I think that last time before the finals I had so much media around me and interviews and Instagram and all that.

This time coming here I told my team I'm not dealing with it, I'm going to the finals, I'm trying to go with clear mind, with huge stress of my daughter that was able to get a perfect score and told me that she got it, so I have to win (smiling).

So that was my concern. But other than that, I think this time we did it different. We learned a lot, and it worked.

Q. I saw in the third set, in the tiebreak there was a moment where you thought you had won the match.

GUY SASSON: You saw it?

Q. Yes. But it happened quite a few times this week, even the Tsitsipas brothers did it a few days ago.

GUY SASSON: Oh, really? Oh, I didn't know.

Q. It happens quite frequently.

GUY SASSON: If Tsitsipas went through this, then, you know, I'm okay (smiling).

Yeah, it was a huge embarrassment. But I think it helped me, because I think so much air came out at the 7-5, and I'm, like, me and my coach, we laughed about it, and I think a lot of stress came out. We just moved around, I moved to the other side, and we played the rest of the points. Luckily it went my way. I don't want to think what would have happened if I would lose a match. (Laughter.)