ROLAND GARROS

June 6, 2025

Lorenzo Musetti

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/L. Musetti

4-6, 7-6, 6-0, 2-0 [Ret.]

THE MODERATOR: Bad luck, Lorenzo. When did you start feeling some pain? What have they told you so far?

LORENZO MUSETTI: Yeah, I mean, really honestly sad and disappointed on how it ended, but still a great match so far. But yeah, I felt at the beginning of the third when I was serving, I start to, start losing a little bit of strength on the left leg behind, and definitely was going worse and worse, so I decided to stop. I think was, you know, the right decision to make, even if it was not what I wanted.

Tomorrow I will do exams, and I will of course see and evaluate the situation.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Bad luck. That was obviously a really high quality two sets. How close do you feel to his level? How tough is it to then end this way, given how you were playing?

LORENZO MUSETTI: I think we both started really, really well, hitting the ball really well. Of course I had to play probably my best level of the tournament, you know, to stay there with him.

I felt today honestly I stepped forward on my level. I felt closer to his level. Of course I maintain the high level that we showed for two hours or whatever.

So really, really happy about that. That's a step forward, you know, because the last two matches were a little bit, you know, one way. I felt that today I had my chances even to try to go two sets up, but of course Carlos, he's playing really well. He's in really great shape.

You know, he deserve to go in the final.

Q. How difficult is it to match or to stay with Carlos physically for such a long time? Those two sets were very intense. Is it extremely difficult to do that?

LORENZO MUSETTI: Of course it's difficult. It's probably I think right now if not the toughest challenge in our sport, but one of them. I have to say that he's really, really aggressive, so yeah, always have to stay there.

Of course physically with the one-handed backhand, it's not easy to manage to deal with, you know, some players like Carlos or Jannik or others.

So of course physically for me it was really intense. At the end I was, you know, feeling these kind of problems. So definitely hard enough.

Q. Mentally how hard is it when you're playing someone like him that even if you're playing close to your best level or hitting great shots, there is a chance they're going to come back and whether those two things combined as well add to the stress you may have felt out there?

LORENZO MUSETTI: I mean, that's what champions do. Of course I knew it even before stepping on court that I had to play probably the best match of my career so far.

For part of it, I was doing a great job, I would say, and I was there physically, technically, mentally. I think I was playing right. Sometimes he wanted to be really aggressive, especially on the return side, and I served really good today.

So at the end if I have to analyze those two sets, they were really, really great sets. Of course the third one and let's say the last two games, there was of course no chance to play at his level with this problem.

So it was an unlucky situation, but as I said in the first question, I think at the end probably he had more than me.

Q. Back at your injury, just wanted to know if it was you felt something on the action, something like this? And it's something to have a pain; it's another thing to understand that you have to retire. When the retirement was in your head as a possibility? Early or later on?

LORENZO MUSETTI: No, I start to feel like the beginning of the fourth that I couldn't go for the rallies, and I could not move like I was doing before.

There was too much risk, you know, to take to go forward and to, you know, to be able to of course show something even for the crowd.

Honestly, I felt from a serve I felt something, so I started from that, and then I, you know, called the physio and medical, and then after that, I started to think about it more, and I start to feel it was going worse and worse.

Q. You have played Carlos now three times across the clay season. How would you say your understanding of the matchup and what you need to do in the matchup has developed and improved over those three matches?

LORENZO MUSETTI: I think today that this probably the best match of these three matches that we played. I think today I was playing in the right way, and he was struggling sometimes. He wanted to be really aggressive and sometimes of course was missing.

I took my chances. I served better than the other two matches. I felt that I had chances also on the second set. So I think I was, I would say, the closest in between the three matches that we played.

Q. You mentioned going to have exams tomorrow planned. Do you already have your eyes on Wimbledon, or is it too early to say for you?

LORENZO MUSETTI: No, it's too early to say. Of course in program it's next tournament is Queen's and then of course Wimbledon, but of course we are going to evaluate tomorrow what the exam will say, and we're gonna of course update you guys and take a decision for what's next.