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MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERSApril 21, 2012Gilles SimonMONTE CARLO, MONACO R. NADAL/G. Simon THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please. Q. So no achievement today, but a real match. GILLES SIMON: Yes, it was a real match. It was one of my goals today. I felt well physically and tennis‑wise. I knew I had the weapons I needed to play a good match against him. But still it was tough to actually do it. Sad that I was not able to reach this achievement and beat him. But I was not realistic enough on certain opportunities. Against him, you can't afford that. Q. You played a great match. However the score is 3‑4. Is it still a good feeling? GILLES SIMON: It's never a good feeling when you lose, but it's encouraging because I was able to give him some trouble, and that is interesting. I will remember the way I played. I will also try to draw the lessons of what I didn't do so well. My regret is I didn't play well enough on the breakpoints I had. Each time I went down a level playing those points. Sometimes you have several breakpoints. When you start losing one, you lose ten. On these points, he didn't have to play great. I was not relaxed on those points, so it was tough. Q. And what about his game? GILLES SIMON: I always find him a great player. I had to do tons of things to get just one single pointed. The wind also was bothersome. But I tried to be aggressive. His ball bounces quite high, so it's tough to go up to the net. I'm not a natural volleyer. Also he is excellent when the time comes to defend. Every time I thought, Now I'm going to wait a little bit, then he started being aggressive. What you need to do against him is to find the right rhythm. Q. He lost seven times against Djokovic. Do you believe he has to change his game against him in order to win? GILLES SIMON: I believe now Djokovic is the one with the pressure. I believe Rafa has good control of his game. Last year he lost twice on clay against Djokovic, but like all the top players, he will remember what he did well and what he didn't do so well and draw the lessons. Q. Can you explain why you're saying that Djokovic is the one with the pressure. GILLES SIMON: Because last year Djokovic had a beginning of the year... I'll let you qualify it. Rafa had everything to lose against him. Everybody was waiting for him to lose his first match on clay. Whereas this year the situation is totally opposite because Djokovic is the one having everything to lose. It's like for the breakpoints: if you start losing one, you start losing several of them. Q. You said on TV that what you needed was to play these kind of matches. GILLES SIMON: Yes, because it's a sort of rhythm you are able to find if you repeatedly play at that level. Sometimes people say, Oh, he played three hours, he's going to be tired the next day. But it's not true. On the next day, you are used to the rhythm and it becomes easier. It's like playing against Rafa: if you play several times against him, you get used to his heavy strokes and it seems easier after a while. If you know that every time you play him, you're giving him trouble, making it difficult for him, it becomes normal. Someday you might win. Q. About tomorrow's final, Berdych said Rafa would win. Who would you pick? GILLES SIMON: Rafa. Q. They haven't played against the match in Melbourne. Do you think they're still both thinking bit? GILLES SIMON: Well, one of them certainly. In that kind of match one comes out very happy and one comes out of the match extremely depressed. I think tomorrow Rafa has the weapons to win. Djokovic can't win 10 times in a row. He's not that much better. What he does well is make the other player have doubts about his game. Rafa missed that passing shot he usually never misses. But at a given time, Rafa will end up winning a match as good as he is. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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