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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS WIMBLEDON

July 10, 2017

Benoit Paire

Wimbledon, London, England

A. MURRAY/B. Paire

7-6, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What's your assessment of that match and your feelings now?
BENOIT PAIRE: The match today was not very good from my side. I was a little bit nervous, not serving well. It's never easy against Andy. He never give you some points.

Yeah, for sure I'm not really happy about my match today, but it was a good tournament. Happy to play on Centre Court, and I hope I will play again next year.

Q. As British tennis reporters, we spent two weeks writing about Andy's limp and his hip.
BENOIT PAIRE: I think he has no problem (smiling). Look at him. Look at him. The problem is not between the points. The match is during the point. During the point, you didn't see any problem.

Between the points, yeah, we can do what we want, but during the point he can run like a rabbit or -- I don't know. For him, yeah, is every time like this. So is never easy to know if he's injured, if not. If you see when he's playing like this, he has no problem if he's 100%.

I played him last year in Monte-Carlo, and it was the same guy against me today. Mostly I think he can win Wimbledon. He has not a lot of confidence, for sure, but he can. He's No. 1. Yeah, for him, I'm sure he win the tournament.

Q. You tried the dropshot against him so often.
BENOIT PAIRE: At the beginning.

Q. He made up so much ground so often. That must have told you right away this man is fully fit?
BENOIT PAIRE: I wanted to see how he was running at the beginning, just to check how he was, but he was feeling 100%. He was running every time on the dropshot. He was putting the ball every time where he wanted.

So it was not easy to play against him today. A little bit windy, but that's the only thing I gonna say is he's a good player, he's the No. 1, and he can win the tournament. I was really happy to play against him today.

Q. Why do you think he can win the tournament? Why? What reason?
BENOIT PAIRE: Because he's in quarters. He didn't lose any sets -- maybe against Fognini, one. He won last year. He's No. 1. I think that's a good reason.

Q. Did you say he's not so confident right now?
BENOIT PAIRE: Yeah, because when you listen to him on his interview, everything, he say he's a little bit injured, he pull out before during the exhibition. But he's 100% on court.

Q. He made very few unforced errors. You hit most of the winners. Do you think he could go for more?
BENOIT PAIRE: I think for today it was enough for him. Only thing he wanted was to win the match, and he did it. So why to try some winner if you can win the match just like this?

So I think the most important is to win. He won in three sets. He's ready for the next match. He play against Querrey, maybe to play Rafa, who is losing two sets to one now. We will see what happen, but I think he can win, and he's a favorite for me.

Q. Once he comes up, if he does come up against Nadal or Roger or Novak, do you think he will have to play differently, more aggressively?
BENOIT PAIRE: I don't know. I'm not the specialist. You have to ask his coach and to know what they are thinking. But for the moment he's good. He's in quarterfinal. He feel good. I don't know if he need to play more aggressively, but for the moment it's enough. That's the only thing I want to say about Andy today.

Q. Has this tournament been an improvement for your confidence? Because you said before you weren't happy at Wimbledon. You have had a few problems. You seem to have been much more in control of things here.
BENOIT PAIRE: Yeah, I wanted to change. So I wanted to have fun here in this tournament. The club is very nice, beautiful. The Centre Court is amazing. I wanted to play full every match, every point. I'm really happy about that for this week, and for the confidence it's perfect to make last 16. It's first time for me in Wimbledon. I don't have any points to defend. I want to be seeded in US Open, so I need to win some matches, and it's good for the confidence this week.

Q. So you don't hate Wimbledon now?
BENOIT PAIRE: No. I love Wimbledon now (smiling).

Q. That's a pretty big beard. Is it not hot?
BENOIT PAIRE: Oh, don't worry. Tomorrow I shave it. I wanted to keep because I was winning some matches with, so I said, Don't touch the beard.

You will see after the tournament. Tomorrow I will shave a little bit.

Q. You'll be glad to get rid of it? It's a bit hot?
BENOIT PAIRE: No, no, it's okay. It's okay. It's good like this. I won some matches. First one and second one like this. I didn't want to change. Tomorrow I will change.

Q. You didn't break any racquets today?
BENOIT PAIRE: Not today, during all the week. Didn't take any warning. First time in Wimbledon, maybe in a Grand Slam.

So the good thing is I don't have any fine. Normally when I see my prize money, it's a little bit less than I saw on the paper (smiling). Now I'm really happy. I can have a drink tonight.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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