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MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERS

April 19, 2017

Lucas Pouille

Monte Carlo, Monaco

L. POUILLE/P. Lorenzi

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. In the second set there was a moment when it was 4-1, and you showed a lot of patience.
LUCAS POUILLE: That was a more difficult moment because he was hitting harder, playing better. At 4-1 I was just one break behind. I had opportunities to break him three times, so I believed I had opportunities to come back into the match. So I continued doing the same thing as before. I was able to come back at the end. The match was very good for me.

Q. The first set was of a very high quality. You didn't make many mistakes. Can you use that for the future?
LUCAS POUILLE: Even beyond the first set, I believe it was a good match. Physically I was feeling good. I was running fast. I had a lot of energy. I was very precise when I was hitting the ball. I made him move a lot.

I put a lot of pressure on him. I was very happy with the first set. I almost made no mistakes. Before that I played very well in practice. After the Davis Cup I prepared well.

As I said after my first round, I am in good shape now. I don't know how far I can go. Maybe it will stop tomorrow. But I feel good. Physically, I'm fine. I proved it today.

Q. So you are truly confident right now. You are able to hit hard, to be very committed. You enjoy yourself. We can see that.
LUCAS POUILLE: It's true. I'm happy. Playing in front of that crowd is great. The atmosphere is almost like a Davis Cup tie. It's like if it was Italy against France today. It's fun to play a second round like this with such an atmosphere. You can only enjoy it.

Q. Lorenzi believes you are going to make it into the top 10 soon. I want to know if you saw a difference between this match and the one in Bucharest.
LUCAS POUILLE: Well, it's nice to say that. It's always good to know what the other players think about you. From an experienced player, even more.

Compared Bucharest, today I was more precise. I made fewer mistakes. My game was more solid. That made a difference.

In Bucharest, I missed more. I was more impatient. Today I was able to wait until the eighth or ninth shot before I was trying for a winner. I played differently. I'm playing better now than last year.

My next opponent is very consistent. He played a very good season last year. In order to beat him, I need to play extremely well. He rarely loses to players who are not aggressive and just put the ball back into the court. You need to be aggressive and solid at the same time.

Q. You were asked the question about Federer.
LUCAS POUILLE: Yes.

Q. I need to ask you, we know Federer likes you a lot. How did those practices with him go?
LUCAS POUILLE: It will remain a mystery for anyone else than him and me.

No, things went very well. I practiced with him a number of times, sometimes for long sessions. We were playing tennis and doing physical training.

Every time you are on the court with him, you learn things. He's always trying to improve something.

We had talks about the way he managed his career, what he did during those six months. For me, not playing tennis for six months seems extremely long. So I'm learning a lot every time with him. Being on the court with him teaches me a lot.

I'm really lucky to be able to have those trainings with him.

Q. Federer has a great status as a player, and also as a businessman. Do you also talk about those other aspects with him?
LUCAS POUILLE: It's important to build your image. But where you build your image is mostly on the court. Whatever image I have, if I don't win a single match, it's not going to be very useful.

You can talk about other things. But the most important thing is what happens on the court. The rest will come along with it.

Q. In the second set, if you have a letdown, how can you fight back to stay in the match?
LUCAS POUILLE: You can't say this was really a letdown, where I was not hitting a single ball. I played two beautiful points in the second set at the beginning.

He served well. Maybe if I had been able to get a breakpoint, it would have been different. I was able to hold my serve. After that, he played better. He hit harder. I maybe was not as good.

Even if it's not much, it's enough for him to become more confident. At 4-1 I was just thinking that I have to start again like if it was a new beginning of the match. It's only one break, so I can come back.

I started playing like I did at the beginning.

Q. In the previous season you were injured a lot. Now you seem to be on a winning streak.
LUCAS POUILLE: What happened in January or February will be part of my 2017 season, regardless of what happens afterwards.

But the beginning of the year, I would like it to have been different. Sometimes you can have very good feelings on hard courts, and when you get to the clay, it may be very different.

I prepared well for this part of the season. I hope I'm going to have good results and it's going to continue like I'm playing here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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