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ROLAND GARROS

May 28, 2019

Elliot Benchetrit

Paris, France

E. BENCHETRIT/C. Norrie

6-3, 6-0, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. We get the impression that you went through the match, like, in a dream. You controlled almost from the beginning. You didn't get nervous.
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Yes, it's true. I found a clear tactic right from the start, which means I was able to remain rather calm throughout the match.

Obviously the first game was rather stressful. It wasn't easy for me to play for the first round here in Roland Garros, but the fact that I remained quiet and calm, it got an impression of ease maybe from the outside or serenity.

Q. You give an impression from the outside, but how was it inside?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: It wasn't going well. The score may look differently, but inside me, whenever I played the qualifications, also, you have a lot of energy, a lot of change of emotions inside you that you have to manage.

Sometimes you're nervous, and so I'm saying from the outside, if you ask anyone, you'll say, Oh, he had a great match. He wasn't nervous.

But if you ask my inner self, I can tell you it was difficult. I fought on all shots, and that's how I managed to win.

Q. What strategy did you implement to try and remain in this bubble? Is this something you practiced with your coach?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Yes, for the previous matches, when it went well, for example, I was in the same set against Enzo in the last round of qualifications, it was quite clear in my mind.

It's true that when I have this clear mind before each point, then I'm rather calm, and I give the impression I'm in my bubble because what I have to do is very clear. And as I do it all the time, I never get outside of that.

Q. You talk a lot about management of emotions. When you look at your track record, it's one of the keys for you. Are you counting on this tournament to get to the next stage?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Well, I don't like to talk about getting on to a new stage, but it's true that you understand yourself more and more. You understand yourself better.

But really, it's not that you're going on to a next step. It's the fact that you do everything every day. You give a lot of credit to understanding your emotions, the stress management and everything. It means that you managed to stay in a good state at all times, and then that turns out in my tennis.

Q. What has changed compared to your losing against GaÃ«l last year?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: It's really against GaÃ«l for one set and two or three games I was able to resist him, and then I sort of turned off. While this year I learned a lot from last year. I have more experience, and I know how to manage five sets.

So I got less nervous on some points, kept some energy in order to be consistent and not go crazy for two or three points or two or three games and then have no more energy.

Q. As you know, you were taking the place of Kyrgios in the draw. How inspiring was it?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Well, I know Nick, he's really fun, but sometimes he makes some funny choices. I didn't want to play for show because I was replacing him, but replacing him or anyone else means that I was just going to play my tennis.

Q. So you might be playing against Lajovic who played in Monte-Carlo. Is that going to be difficult?
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Well, you're perfectly right. No one has asked me yet. Celebrating the end of the match. You know, in Bordeaux I talked a lot to Jo, and he gave me a lot of advice. He told me to be independent, make progress.

He says a great player is someone who can reproduce the same for five, six, seven matches in a row. And that's where you have a difference between Djokovic, Zverev, and Nadal and the players who are maybe ranking 20 or 30.

Since then, we have been trying to work on this to give me more autonomy, whether it be for concentration, management of emotions, or pure tennis, trying to reproduce this more and more. This has helped me increase my tennis level.

Q. After the match, Thierry Champion, who watched it throughout, he said that you made him think of Andy Roddick.
ELLIOT BENCHETRIT: Well, it's true that Thierry Benavides, who is a coach in the CNE, as well, also told me that last time. Well, I like the players, so being compared to him is a rather nice thing.

Now I think I have different qualities from him, and I still have to work hard if I want to reach his level or the level he was at.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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