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ROLAND GARROSMay 25, 2014Jo-Wilfried TsongaPARIS, FRANCE J. TSONGA/E. Roger‑Vasselin THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please. Q. I have a scheduling question. I wanted to know your reaction to Nadal being put on Lenglen tomorrow in his first match. JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Ahh...I didn't heard about it, but is he happy with that? Q. I haven't asked him. Would you be happy with that? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, of course. I mean, for me it's not a problem. Anyway, it's a big court, but, yeah, for me, it's not a problem. I played some matches on the Lenglen, and I will be happy again if I play on this court. Q. But often players will play on Lenglen during the course of a tournament, but eight‑time champion in the first match, four‑time defending champion, seems a little odd, no? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: I don't know. Maybe you have to ask him, because I can't have an opinion for him. Q. That doesn't seem strange to you? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Not really. I mean, anyway, it's a big court, there is television, so you can put it everywhere, you know, in the world. I mean, it's not ‑‑for me, it's not something ‑‑I don't know. I don't have ‑‑I don't know. I just want to heard about him, what he would say, but I hope it's okay for him. Q. Can you please talk about the match and how you felt out there. JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: I feel pretty good. I played good tennis. I was not enough aggressive at the beginning, but then I played a little bit better. And I won this match in three sets straight, so it's good. THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please. Q. It seems that the French don't have any questions on your match. I have a question. Now, you might play against David Goffin, because I am a Belgian journalist. What would you say about this? He's playing at present against Melzer. JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Well, I will wait until he's finished playing, but if I have to play against David Goffin, I know he plays well on clay. I know that this is when he really emerged here in Roland Garros after a few rounds, he played really well I think against Roger. He's a dangerous player, but of course, I think I could defeat him. I played against him already, and I defeated him. I will be very happy to play against David. Q. Are you still in touch? I think two years ago you started practicing together, sometimes hitting points. JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, that's true. We were hitting here, here or Wimbledon or other tournaments. He's a guy I like, you see. I hope that he will win this evening. Q. Your third set is really good. Now, what about the beginning of the match? What about your feelings at the beginning of the tournament? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: The beginning I was a bit nervous. I was not hitting enough on the important points. I should have done that in the different games, and this is when I could have really done better. But I didn't go for these shots. Then during the match I felt better, and then after the first two sets I felt better, and I was more aggressive then. I hope that next time or for the following match I'll be able to do this from the beginning. Q. Are you sure that you're going to reach the semis this year? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: No, I'm not convinced. Not yet. And sometimes you're convinced only when you've reached this stage. Today ‑‑well, each round is enough. Each round at a time. Next time is going to be against David Goffin or Jurgen Melzer, and this is an important round. I will focus on this one. Q. Well, I have a question that has nothing to do with the match. JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Oh, I love that. I love that. Q. Well, wait until I ask the question. We have the best players in the world who don't live in the country that they represent. I'd like to know when you made your decision what the reasons were and what do you think about the tax rates in Europe that are really high? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Not an appropriate question. This is Roland Garros (laughter). Q. (Off microphone.) JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: I still love the accent. Q. I have another question that is not directly connected to the match. JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: What do you have this evening? Q. You won in three sets. JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Well, okay, it's not interesting as a match. Q. No, that's not what I mean. But I have a question. A question about sometimes the difficult relationships between the French players and the French crowd. Last week Alize Cornet, for instance, was in Strasbourg. People were shouting against her. She said she was not very happy. And it often happens this way, it's complicated. What you say about this? Would you say that the French crowd is much more demanding with the French players than with the foreign players? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Well, they are very demanding if you're not winning, that's true. And, you know, the French crowd is special, because if you win you can do what you want, more or less. But if you lose, then anything you do, the slightest details, you're going to pay for it. That's the way it is. But that's how the French are, and I'm French, as well. So it's part and parcel of the whole thing. You have to accept it. It can be something great when it works well, when it clicks, when it works. But then it's disappointing if you're criticized or if people shout against you. It's not something you want. And, you know, we're tennis players. We are all proud, you know. And we have our personality. And it really hurts when this happens. Q. Would you say it's good to be a tennis player in France? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Well, I like it, frankly. I like it. This is when I play my best tennis, when I'm in France, when the crowd is with me. You know, me, well, today, frankly, no, I have nothing to complain about. I'm very happy to play with the French crowd. Q. You've said that it was difficult for you this evening to be aggressive at the beginning of the match. Is it because, you know, it's the beginning of the tournament or is it because you didn't have enough confidence at the beginning of the year, given what's happened at the beginning of the year? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: I think it's a bit of everything. It's due to the fact that I didn't have enough confidence, given the matches I had played before, and it's also the beginning of a Grand Slam. And it's also because it's here, it's Roland Garros, and I want to play well, of course, here. Well, many things, many reasons why the beginning of the match this evening was this way. I hope that I'll change for the following match. Q. The first two sets were rather difficult. Mainly the first one. When did you feel you had the upper hand, you had the control over the opponent? JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA: Well, I felt this after one hour and 15 minutes or one hour and 20 minutes through the match, I thought, and I felt that physically he was getting tired. He wanted to have shorter rallies, and he wanted to have a few serve and volleys, and this is when I thought, Well, I have ‑‑ how can I say ‑‑ I have managed to wear him physically. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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