ROLAND GARROS

May 30, 2024

Corentin Moutet

Press Conference

C. MOUTET/A. Shevchenko

6-4, 6-2, 0-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Corentin, the adventure continues on this court, which has totally adopted you this season. Two evening matches. Two very great atmospheres. Two wins. Not necessarily very easy with the interruption and weather conditions that changed that your game is not as effective in the third set in particular, but you had a great time out there on the court.

CORENTIN MOUTET: What's the question?

Q. The question is, the adventure continues on a court where you've really been adopted by the audience since the beginning of the tournament.

CORENTIN MOUTET: Yes, it was super, a great atmosphere. A very good-level match. I played well.

A rather different opponent with a different profile, and so I had to raise the level of my game and playing a different way in the third and fourth set because he was more aggressive.

I don't know what it was due to, whether he was more tired. I felt he was more physically tired. That's why he tried to be more aggressive, but he played very fast after the third and the fourth set. So I had to forget the third set and use it to learn and to then bounce back in the fourth set.

Q. Corentin, I wanted to know whether you drew benefit from this long period where you were injured, and you had a very good quality on your slice. Did it improve the way you hit the ball and your hand?

CORENTIN MOUTET: Yes, it improved me in a number of areas. Physically because it meant that I had to play my forehand single-handed a lot more. So it was already the direction that my game had to take, but when it's a backhand, it's more difficult to make it automatic. So I had fewer solutions.

It was a robotic, repetitive game that I had to play, so I had to be rigorous because I couldn't make a mistake in the way I played. Otherwise, I would have to -- and I think that the slice, it helped me to improve it.

Q. Corentin, we talked about there was serenity and the fact of being able to play on a covered court because you know that you will be programmed. But, to the country, can you tell us about the stress and the waiting and the fact that everything happens in a hurry? Here, very quickly, you have all your stuff with you. Tomorrow you're playing again really quickly. Can you tell us about that?

CORENTIN MOUTET: The problem is that we finished late, and I have a lot to do to recuperate. We have to do everything quickly so that I don't get to bed too late. Sleep is practically the most important thing in recuperation.

So when you finish late, it's tricky, but afterwards I spent a day where I rested a lot. I had no interruptions, so it was okay. It wasn't ideal. It wasn't a very complicated day to manage, although it was a long waiting time, but you know, you wait, I slept. We all do things a bit differently, but it was not a complicated day for me at least.

Q. We talk a lot about the atmosphere in Roland Garros and the French audience. You're a player who is very expressive on the court. How far do you have to exteriorize things? How much do you thrive from this atmosphere?

CORENTIN MOUTET: Well, yes, it gives you adrenaline having this type of atmosphere to feel that you have so much support. It's a bit like all of the work you put in holds real meaning. I live for those times, and they're rare in a season.

So, no, it's a pleasure. I try to make the most of it. On the court I try to be as I am with my qualities and my defects, but to remain performance. Sometimes it plays tricks, but what is important is you have to realize what's happening and correct things when you're not going in the right direction.

Every day I try to improve. Sometimes it's better. Sometimes it's not so good, but that's my personality. That's the way it is.

Q. Can you talk to us about your relationship with your coach because it's extremely rare to see a coach, an entire clan, singing and jumping and who says, If you're not jumping, you're not Moutet. So I could feel that he would have needed that at the end of the third to feel that they were there. How do you work with him?

CORENTIN MOUTET: So he is a real tennis enthusiast. He has as much passion for tennis as myself and an incredible amount of energy. As a player, it's very precious to have this.

The years are long. The training is tough, and there are some days where it's difficult, and some days you might have personal problems. To have somebody who has so much positive energy all the time really helps you to give your most every day.

Of course, he lives the match like me, and it's rare. It's precious to have a coach like that. A lot of them are calm. Maybe they're excited inside, but he shows it, and so I don't mind. He lives the match with me. We're in the same adventure, so it's cool to see him like that.

Q. You had some moments of frustration in the third set, beginning of the fourth set. What happens in your head at that point? What do you say to yourself to kind of get back into the game?

CORENTIN MOUTET: Well, I was frustrated that I wasn't finding solutions. He was playing a lot better. He was aggressive and couldn't find any solutions. As soon as I tried to be more aggressive, I was missing a lot of balls. It wasn't going out by that far, but it was never enough to win the game.

It happens in several stages. At the beginning I say, no, I have to carry on, I'm not going to be defeated. That's not how I'll win the match, so you have to keep going for it and taking a bit more margin on the line.

So I did a bad set, he did a good set, and then it goes very quickly when one is going down and the other one is coming up. So I had to find a solution, and I tried to analyze the situation.

I think that it was complicated for him to play three sets at that level. The level of his game was quite impressive in the third set, so I needed to reassure myself and say, well, the storm had passed, I have to keep going, and I have to be brave. In the third set I had to be courageous, and I had to stick to the score and go for it.

Q. Your underarm serve, that's not something which is usual. Is that sort of your own particular brand? Can you explain it? Is it instinctive sometimes, or are there times in the match where you premeditate it, but you feel it coming because you did an underarm serve several times this evening. Can you tell us about that?

CORENTIN MOUTET: For me it's a shot like another. Why couldn't you serve underarm? You serve overarm. You can do it for drop shots. Why not for the serve?

So it's a shot like any others, and it's to be effective. It's not to make fun of the opponent. I do it to win when I know that it's the right shot to play. I don't have that much to say about that.

I just need to look at my stats, but I win a lot of points when I use that shot. So if it were the contrary and I was losing more than I was winning, then I would stop doing it. So for me it's another way of winning a point. Therefore, I use it.