ROLAND GARROS

May 29, 2025

Alexander Bublik

Press Conference

A. BUBLIK/A. de Minaur

2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Great win, great battle. How did you come back from two sets down?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: I mean, I guess there is no such secret. I just continued playing. Had few chances that I used. Then it was a bit of a momentum shift.

Was a bit early for me. 11:00 is not my preferable time. I was a bit sleepy in the first two sets.

Yeah, so it was a key to wake up and then to play one of the best slam matches that I ever played in my life.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Where did your belief come from? First two sets were not close. A surface you probably don't enjoy. What made you think there could still be some life for you in this match?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: I was not thinking this way. I was checking the tickets already in my head. I didn't really care, in a way. I was like I will accept the loss. I have won, what, like 12 or 13 matches on clay this year.

Being second round here, it's always like an achievement for me because I have never won as many matches on clay as I did. So I was a bit tired.

I told my team, they know it, so it was not like if I lose, I would be upset. No, I would be happy and I would be home today in Monaco at 9:00 in the evening.

At the end I said, okay, I stayed there, I hit the ball. If I have a chance, I know that I'm capable of beating those guys. Then I had a slight chance. I used this chance. Maybe Alex, when you play five-setters, third set is always tricky. 3-0 win is not really common.

Yeah, so I had this little dip that he had, and I used it. Then was a big momentum shift. I felt like, okay, why not? Why not just keep swinging, keep having great depth on the balls, just see how it goes.

Q. Were there times earlier in your career you think you might have given up more fully in this match than you did today?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: Excuse me?

Q. In other parts of your career when your mindset wasn't maybe as good, down 6-2, 6-2, you would just tanked the third?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: I'm not going to tank at a slam. I'm just saying -- I would stay there. I'm 28 years old soon. I've been, for seven years, in the top 50. I know the game. So if I have my chance, I use it. If I don't, thank you very much.

Alex is a great player, one of the most stable guys on tour now. If you give me a chance, I use it. So he gave me a chance and I used it. But nothing more to add. If he would chop me 6-2, it's okay, I'll be home.

Q. Trying to see whether there was any kind of tactical change in that third set. I think you used the dropshot a bit less in the third set, went more for using your power-based game.

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: Yeah, that may be true. But, like, Alex, the speed he was reaching, you know, that's unbelievable. I said, okay, I had a few chances. I hit the forehand clean. I said, okay, today I feel the forehand good, so let's just continue with it, mix it up with a few dropshots, it worked well. You know, tennis is about winning the couple of crucial points which went my way today. So I'm really happy with that.

Q. The entertainment value there was fabulous. You got the crowd on your side. Up-tempo giving it the bows. Looked as though you really enjoyed it out there.

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: Obviously, when you know you're coming back from a few sets, you start feeling there is a hope, there is a hope that maybe he will give you certain points, certain mistakes, then you just enjoy it more.

If you have a skill set to produce what I produced, it's good. Obviously having the crowd behind me, that was really, really nice and it helped me a lot.

Q. When you said a couple of tournaments ago that remember when tennis was easy, like many guys have been saying quite the same, the level is increasing. Do you want to go deeper and discuss a little bit?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: I have a discussion with Gael Monfils in Dubai. I was complaining. I was losing. I was on a losing streak. I said, Gael, it was so easy. It never happened. Everyone is playing so good.

He told me a really wise thought. He told me, Alex, now everyone become professional. If you see, everyone wakes up early, they do their runs, they do their treatment, they do everything.

When I arrive on tour, there were few guys really focused on doing their things. I'm not speaking about the greats, Roger, Rafa and Novak. I'm not speaking about them. But in general, population of let's say the top 50, top 100 player, there were guys who were enjoying their time, not having physios, guys without coaches.

Now just everyone is super professional. Me, of course, I'm not the most professional guy on the planet. For me, just yeah, just find a way to beat those guys when they're better at their routines like twice than I am.

This is like with Gael, he said you wait for your chances. You have your chances, you use it. If you waste it, it's your problem.

And then, I mean, this changed my perspective, because I stopped complaining about that. Only with Mohamed, it was just fun. So, yeah, it changed a lot. As you can see, like everyone is professional now, which is concerning. I believe we should have more room for fun.

But everyone's professional, so it's quite tough to play tennis (smiling).

Q. You had some big wins through your career. This is the third time you've come back from two sets to love down to win. The emotion in this sort of a match, where would you rate it with some of the comebacks you've had?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: I think it's definitely one of the best performances I did on a slam, you know, like game-wise. I had a similar match against Andrey Rublev third round in 2023.

The slams are quite tough for me, to be honest. I'm not really a fan of the format. Always one day you play 9:00, then you play 11:00. For me, I'm not the guy who wakes up always at the same time, do their things. For me it's a bit tough to be on a slam, two-week events.

But this win, I'm sure this is one of the best that I had on the slams, and maybe overall on the tour, because it's against Alex, probably one of the most uncomfortable opponents for me. He's overworking me, you know overplaying me, running for every shot, doesn't give up. To be able to use my chances as I used it today, every chance that I had since the third set, I used it, and I won the match like this.

So yeah, it's one of the most important wins.

Q. I know you can't sort of be in a situation of thinking I've got this till the last point is played. During the match, was there any moment where you felt this is really going my way, I can do this today?

ALEXANDER BUBLIK: I guess I know in the third set. I mean, he was playing unbelievable. He was reaching all my dropshots. I couldn't make a winner against him. He was returning unbelievable.

Then I said okay, it's okay. Just a tennis match. If I lose, I lose, I go home, as I said. Then at a certain moment, he made a few mistakes, he gave me the break. I said it's just a set. Maybe 6-2 in the fourth would be fine, too. Then he gave me another break.

I slipped my serve. I start fighting. It was fun. I woke up, which is most important thing. For me, at 11:00, it's super complicated to play. I am not waking up at that time. I am usually at 10, 9 I would wake up, have my coffee, speak to my family, play with my son. Like at 12 I'm maybe out of the apartment. Maybe. Not even sure.

Impossible, 11:00 for me. If I wake up, then I can say, How do I feel today? I feel good, I feel this and that. Can I win this match against the opponent I have today with these tools that I feel the best today? At a certain moment I said, Yes, I can. Let's give it a try. It worked out.

Of course, I said like you have to keep your serve against Alex in the third set when you're two sets to love down. For me the key was to wake up and use my chances, as I said.