« Can you explain to us what happened with the supervisor following your penalty point in the second set?
First of all, I didn’t lose the match because of that and I’m not going to hide behind that. But you know how it is with referees, they use their power to dominate the players. There, he was constantly on his phone, I don’t know what he was doing, while my opponent was ready to serve. I told him, speaking loudly because it’s a big stadium with noise: what are you doing on your phone? He told me it was confidential. In that case wait for the change of ends, it disturbs me. He gave me a penalty point because I was speaking too loudly. He shouted at me, told me he was doing his job. His job is to watch the match, make sure it goes well, they don’t even have to announce the balls anymore so at least he’s watching the match. I thought it was fair to ask him. He preferred to shout at me, it took me out of my match. Lately, there have been misunderstandings, mistakes by the referees… We are often penalized. I will probably get a fine. The referees must realize that their actions have an impact on the game.
In the end, what do you remember from the American tour?
I’ve played a lot on clay this year and never on hard. Apart from two good matches in Cincinnati, I’ve had trouble finding my rhythm. I’ve trained a lot, I’ve tried to manage my wrists which are hurting me. I haven’t managed to find my bearings. I’m not playing very well, I’m not serving very well and, against a great player, it’s not a mistake.
With your creative game, is it hard to switch between hard and earth?
I need time to adapt to the surfaces, to find my bearings, my playing patterns. I didn’t succeed. I won three matches on the tour. But beyond losing, I had a lot of trouble adjusting, especially on serve. Today, despite a good first set, I didn’t play a good match. I’m losing my concentration… But I’m learning. On creativity, although the surfaces are slowing down, it’s still tough. For drop shots, it bounces high. It’s harder to vary. The guys serve very well and I return better on clay. Afterwards, I’ve already had good results on hard, here even more (round of 16 in 2022).
On the nerves, the fact of leaving matches, how do you evolve?
I know I have to stay focused, but referees who establish a hierarchy on the field, who dominate the players, it’s repetitive and it’s not necessary in my opinion. I come across as the bad guy because on TV you can see that I’m losing my temper. It’s frustrating. But I can only blame myself for letting myself get caught up in this kind of event. For me, it’s complicated. I try to improve but sometimes, like today, I have a hard time dealing with injustice. Those around me say that you have to take inspiration from the best, not get carried away, but that’s my personality. I try to do my best so that it affects me as little as possible, it’s a daily job, but it’s not easy. I can be criticized for that, it’s not perfect, but I do my best.
