“We had the impression that you had no solutions against Alison Riske, who conceded the seventh defeat in seven games?
Yes, that was the feeling she always had before. This is very annoying because I have played a lot of times and sometimes there are times when I have failed to play good matches. I have the feeling that I am not bothering her, or that I have no solutions. Maybe she likes my ball and I can not play it tricky. Finally, the result is that I did not manage against this player, and it got worse.
Didn’t you pick a set from her and think you could beat her?
Last year I played in the first round Linz, I had a great game, I took 6-4, 6-4. I can make it shine (Laughs). Next time, I’m going to slice the forehand and see what happens. I think I should have played down a lot more, but I only saw it a second time. She had little answer to everything and she looked forward to where I was going to play. She was always one step ahead. It may be my choice to start next time, but I will not play it soon because it makes me a little tired.
Black tigers like that, do you have anything else?
Quito is there too (Four matches, four defeats) I do not like to play much and have a bad record against anyone. But I often do not have many who miss the risk. These two are the ones I like the most. It’s still so frustrating because I felt the ball today (Thursday). I did beautiful things, but lacked precision. This tour is also very complicated as it is very long and misses entering twice (Later in Miami, Indian Wells)… I’m been preparing here for a week, and going straight out is frustrating.
“I do not want tennis to be too central and detrimental to my personal development.”
Are you talking about a long tour, having trouble getting out after your beautiful Australian Open?
I clearly have a problem. I haven’t won a match in a month, Doha has been around for a long time. The game that hurt me the most was in Lyon because I had the game on hand, but it escaped me. I asked a lot of questions after that and it got me panicking so quickly I got into suspicion. I arrived in Indian Wells very nervous. I could not find my bearings. At the level of the game today it was better, I feel better, still a little quieter.
Can you put less pressure on yourself?
I try to stop having high expectations. Always the same thing. You need to find the right compromise. I do the work I can. The main thing is that I give everything I can so that my happiness does not depend on it, so that I do not have any regrets. I listened to the interview of the party that spoke to me the most yesterday (Wednesday). She said that her happiness did not depend on tennis, that it was with me from the beginning and that she did not want tennis to be too central and detrimental to my personal development. You have to put things in their place, which is a tennis match.
Does this feeling of mental and physical exhaustion speak to a lot of people in the locker room?
I see that she is very brave to do this considering how she has her head and shoulders above us. In terms of the size of the game, this is the real No. 1. It will be easier for her to continue making money. I think she wants to anyway but the feeling that something has reached a conclusion asks herself. That’s something that really bothers me. I really appreciate his decision. We do not have the same profession, nothing comparable, but this is depression. No matter how much she earned, she kept it for three or four years. ⁇
“Incurable web evangelist. Hipster-friendly gamer. Award-winning entrepreneur. Falls down a lot.”
