ROLAND GARROS

May 31, 2024

Matteo Arnaldi

Press Conference

M. ARNALDI/A. Rublev

7-6, 6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Matteo, do you consider with this victory, all victories in your career, is it one of the best or the best of your career?

MATTEO ARNALDI: Like I said on court, I think is the best in the slams, for sure. I played really good the whole match. It's not easy to play best-of-five with this continuity that I did, so I'm very happy for that.

I don't know if it's the best match that I ever played, but for sure is one of the best, I can say. I would say the best in the slams.

Q. What is the secret of Italian tennis? I know you have probably been asked this many times.

MATTEO ARNALDI: So many times. The answer is always the same (smiling). What do you want me to say? It's always that, the reason, and answer, like we always say, we are good friends, all of us. We are playing good.

It's good for Italian tennis. After Davis Cup we got a lot of energy, a lot of people watching more tennis in Italy. You know, you see your friend winning some good matches, and you try to do the same. You want to achieve the same, and I think that's what is pushing us to do the same things, let's say.

Q. It has nothing to do with the food? (Laughter.)

A. Do you like pasta and pizza? Yeah, so maybe that. (Laughter.)

Q. Can you just talk about your relationship with Elisabetta? You know here since a long time. You are the same age. She's your friend? Did you grow up with her?

MATTEO ARNALDI: I think it's a similar question to what he ask. Elisabetta is the same age as me, and like Jannik, like Lorenzo, like Luca, like Francesco, I can say them all, but we know each other since we were 11, 12, we were playing the same tournaments, playing the national championship. We played some team competition together.

So, like, is good to see her, like, winning before me, for sure. Is good to see, like, everyone winning, you know. It's fun but it's also nice to have all of these Italians here that are walking around the site.

I think it's good for all of us and for all the Italians and people that are watching tennis, that we're achieving all of this that we are doing.

Q. You said also that you have a good strategy against Andrey. Can you elaborate what your strategy?

MATTEO ARNALDI: I think I had a good tactic, and it worked. That's the good thing, like I could do it for the whole match.

Like I said the last press conference that I did, the point was to not play in the rhythm with him, because he hits faster than me, for sure. I try to do a lot of variation, to try to lead the rally, and I think I did it pretty well.

One thing that I did very well today was the serve. I served really well also in the important moments. That's what helped a lot. Also at the end, like when I was serving 5-4, I was pretty nervous but I served really good, so that's what I think did the difference today.