ROLAND GARROS

May 28, 2024

Alize Cornet

Press Conference

Z. QINWEN/A. Cornet

6-2, 6-1

(In French.)

THE MODERATOR: Congrats on your career. Is there something you want to say before you start this press conference?

ALIZE CORNET: Yes, there is something I would like to say to all of you, dear journalists. Everyone that is in the room but also worldwide. I think that this collaboration was very fruitful, very pleasant. I always had the impression that we worked hand in hand to help me deliver my messages on my tennis in the best possible way.

I often felt kindness on your parts, and I think that it was a wonderful adventure in and off the court. I know that a lot of players didn't like delivering press conferences. I'm not going to say it was a pleasure after defeats, but I always had the impression that I was in front of people that I knew well and that I liked to speak with.

So it's important for me to say that we wrap up on a great note, and I think, I hope that this pleasure was shared by each and every one of you.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Congrats on your career. As far as I'm concerned, it was a pleasure to interview someone who is so genuine. You published on your social networks a picture of you as you were a teenager when you played for the first time here at the French Open. If you were to meet with that teenager, what would you tell her today?

ALIZE CORNET: That's not easy to foretell anything to a 15-year-old player about her 20-year career coming up. So I would just say stay as you are and be yourself. Don't fight to be perfect, because you will never be perfect, and you will waste a lot of energy doing so.

Be genuine. Be loyal and truthful, and people will accept you as you are or not. At 15 years old, the teenager that I was already knew what she had to do as far as tennis was concerned but it's another thing to accept one's self as we are as a person.

Q. Could you give a summary of the last 24 hours, last night, this morning, the preparation of the match, when you walked on the courts? What's your state of mind?

ALIZE CORNET: The 24 hours or 24 days? Because in general, it was quite memorable. If we stick to the last 24 hours, I would say that I was quite peaceful. I was at peace.

What was difficult was to think about the match as a competitive player, thinking that I could win, and not think about the good-bye messages to deliver afterwards.

It was difficult to focus on the match and try to beat Zheng, because obviously she plays very well, and I had to play well. I had this conversation with Pierre last night and this morning, and if things were not going well, then what would follow, the emotions that would burst out.

So there was actually a preparation according to each scenario. But I slept well. I have to say I dreamt of Rafa all night long (smiling). I dreamt that he would suggest me to have a three-setter in Strasbourg to play a match with me, and then I would be with his family, we would win, we would celebrate.

So I woke up this morning, and I thought, oh, well, I'm saying everything this morning.

When I warmed up, I thought, okay, it might be the last time. But the momentum was that I had to stay focused in the game and not thinking it's over already.

Now I can say it's over. I did my best on the court. This player is very aggressive. She's a very tough opponent. It's hard to win against her.

I tried to do my best, and then with the emotion, I think I actually performed quite well in the end.

Q. If you were 15, when you had your first tournament here, that means that we go a long way back. Do you think that you have started thinking about it a long time ago, or are you thinking about the after now?

ALIZE CORNET: No, I have been thinking about the new chapter in my life long ago already. For several months, since January, I've been preparing progressively to say good-bye to everyone.

So I think I have been self-motivating about it. I realized the situation. I'm at peace with everything, the message that I conveyed. The moment that I lived on court is memorable and the video that they prepared for me moved me so much. The fact that I could speak at length on court to everyone was such a wonderful opportunity. It's great to finish on a high note, speaking to the fans and to my friends and relatives in the stands.

Maybe it will be difficult in the weeks to come, but my feeling is that I have done my duty, I went till the end of the adventure, and that was important for me.

We'll talk about it sometime later to see if I'm still at peace, but for the moment, I'm fine.

Q. Congrats for this wonderful journey.

ALIZE CORNET: Thank you.

Q. What about now?

ALIZE CORNET: Well, I have to, you know, take it all in. I have to realize what I've been doing since I was 14, 15 years of age, all the results, all the titles.

Of course I could have performed better. I needed to be consistent at a high level. Now it's a new chapter in my life. I'm reaching new horizons. So it's true that I'm writing. As an author, I have a backup plan ahead of me, but the lifestyle will change completely.

That frightens me, because I have been working as a tennis player for 20 years. I need to find purpose again in my life. I need to plan ahead, to see and understand what I'm going to become. Again, I know that I can work on myself. I can work out a new state of mind. I am a resourceful person. I know that I will find new projects where I can blossom again. It might not be tennis. It will certainly not be the same emotions that I've had so far, but I know that I can be happy again somewhere else.

Q. Congrats on your career. I would like to go back to the match when there was 4-Love during the first set. Were you afraid that things could go really bad and so fast, actually? Of course this would not cancel out everything that you had achieved before, but what kind of image would you like people to remember as far as you're concerned? Maybe the image of a fighter, as Rafa, for instance?

ALIZE CORNET: That's a very good question. It's true that the beginning of the match didn't work. I had a game point, it didn't work. I was afraid that I would take a beating, and then I lost in two sets, 6-2, 6-1. It's true that it's better to being love. There was the scenario where I played her two years ago, and I had an injury and I had to retire with a double bagel, and I didn't want to end my career with such a horrible defeat. But then when I had my first game, I managed to be back on track again.

Well, I still lost anyway. It's not like I won in any way, but it's better than 6-Love, 6-Love.

There was a tougher battle afterwards. I could even reach 6-3 at some point, but she's such a tough opponent. Of course it didn't help me to showcase the tennis level that I still have. But I still managed to play on Chatrier, and that was a wonderful opportunity.

As far as my legacy is concerned, I'd like to be remembered as a genuine player who shared all her emotions with everyone all throughout her career with a fighting spirit, someone who is a passionate tennis player, who likes to fight and who could die for it. I think I showed it several times, that it was actually my type of character. People may love me or not for that type of personality, actually, but this is what brought me until here.

I felt a lot of love from my colleagues, the other tennis players, and that's important, as well. Because what the public might see and what the tennis players showed me is also something else. That shows that I'm a loving character, that the other tennis players were also my friends and that they liked me very much.

Q. I would like to go back to the end of career. There will be the daily life now going on. Do you know what you're going to get rid of and what you can do from now on, now that you have more time, more leisure time?

ALIZE CORNET: I haven't planned that far ahead yet. I just want to end the French Open as I should, and then I'll see. It's hard for me to think about a run-of-the-mill daily life and routine. You know, I'm a hard worker. I deeply like working hard. I like physical fitness sessions on a daily basis.

Of course it's hard to be consistent, to be dedicated, and it's tiring. But then afterwards you miss it. You miss this discipline, because it's becoming addictive.

I don't want to grow away from it that far. It's also the stress related to playing matches, to being competitive on a weekly basis. I will be more at peace, it will be more easy every day. Maybe I'll just travel for pleasure and have quality time with the people I love.

I'm not going to change overnight obviously. I'm not going to jump off a plane with a parachute. But I'll still play tennis, because I love tennis too much.

Q. Congrats on your career. I just wanted to know what went through your mind when the match point happened and there was this double bounce on a volley?

ALIZE CORNET: I think I'm so much used to that, I thought -- well, I didn't think, oh, my God, that's the last match of my career. I tried to remain focused until the end. I didn't want to showcase any emotions.

Then I felt overwhelmed when I saw the video. That's when I realized that it was the end, and all the journey that I have accomplished.

But I managed to try to remain focused on my match all throughout. And then when I hugged Zheng, she was very nice, she was very respectful. And I realized something was going on.

We always try to keep our emotions in check at all times, to keep our cool. There's so many things happening at once that we can't realize everything at once, otherwise we would just implode. So little by little, let me realize what's happening.

I could manage quite well on court. It will be another kettle of fish afterwards.

Q. I have a question that will be a hard one for you. If you were to choose one important highlight in your career, which would it be? Would it be victories with the French team, would it be your victory on Serena, or in Australia? Which one would it be?

ALIZE CORNET: The quarterfinals in Australia was the source of a lot of emotions. My win on Serena was strong, intense, it was a source of great joy. But the quarterfinals I had been running after this quarterfinal for such a long time, and also winning against Simona Halep with this heat, well, it was overwhelming. I think I would remember that point.

I was already 32 years old. It was a great highlight of my career. It was a beautiful, beautiful moment of my life.

Q. Please tell me if I'm wrong. What about the fact that you were a ball girl for Amelie?

ALIZE CORNET: Well, I was selected to take the balls during this tournament, and Amelie was playing there. There was Venus Williams, Patty Schnyder, Justine Henin. It was wonderful. It was a first experience where I was close to the players. And when I think about it, when I think back now, Amelie Mauresmo is handing me the end-of-career trophy, and she's been there all the time. I think about all the journey behind me. Often we just don't go back in time. We don't think about what's happened.

I will have time to do so in the weeks to come, and some nostalgia comes in as well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. I just wanted to ask you, a few players this year have retired, and they have kind of had long good-byes. Feels like yours was more quick. How have you found the process since you announced it up until today?

ALIZE CORNET: What do you mean, "more quick"? Mine was more quick?

Q. Yeah, because you haven't been, oh, I'm going to retire in a year or something like some players. You were more like it's next month.

ALIZE CORNET: Yeah, I said it months ago, but actually, I know it since last year. So I just didn't want to say too early, because I didn't want the media to talk to me about it too often. So I wanted to stay focused on the process and on what I had to do for the last months of my career.

I didn't want to announce it too early, so I felt the timing was pretty good, because it was exactly a month before Roland Garros. I had a couple of tournaments left to play. That's how I felt it.

I mean, it's a very personal decision. That's exactly how I envisioned it, so I'm really happy about how everything went. Being able to say good-bye here at home in front of my family and my friends, it's a big, big chance.

So I feel very grateful, very lucky to be able to end it that way.

Q. How have you found the last month? How has it been?

ALIZE CORNET: Very hard. Especially I had a very, very horrible beginning of the year. I lost, like, eight matches in a row. I couldn't find my rhythm. I couldn't find my confidence back.

I was really, like, I was almost relieved that it was ending soon, because I was not enjoying it anymore.

Then it's funny, because when I announced it I started winning again. I won three matches in Saint Malo and two matches in Paris. It felt good to win again before the end of my career because I didn't want to finish on this horrible streak. I wanted to have a couple more wins under my belt before I finished.

But it was a lot of up and downs. Definitely emotionally it was not easy. Some days I was really excited about retirement and some other days I was very scared and very uncertain.

So overall, I feel in peace today about it, and so I'm very happy about that decision.

Q. Can you see why it's so hard for players to say good-bye?

ALIZE CORNET: Well, can you? Do you know why it's so hard (smiling)? Of course it's hard. It means turning a page of, for me, 20 years of my life, 20 years of full commitment to my sport. When I say "full commitment," it's really full.

Since I'm 15 years old and my first Roland Garros here I've been living for tennis most of the time. I organized my whole life around it. And as I said on the court, it's a lot of work, a lot of sacrifices, and a lot of everything.

So at the end when you have to turn that page and when you realize it's over, yeah, it's a void, in a way. You know, it's a void. And you have to fill it in another way and find some stuff that make you happy and that make you -- how can I say? -- full of project.

Yeah, psychologically I think it's one of the most difficult things to handle, and I'm very happy that I have a very good entourage to help me with that.