ROLAND GARROS

May 25, 2025

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard

Press Conference

G. MPETSHI PERRICARD/Z. Bergs

4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I know you're a big Rafa fan. Did you cry the last hour?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: No, I didn't. I did not cry. But it was very impressive to see the big four. It was, yeah, something special.

Q. But it was also special for you. It was your first main draw win at Roland Garros. What does it mean for you?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: It means it's an amazing memory. Now it's already in the past. I need to be focused on the next one.

Yeah, I mean, it was a good match. I try to do my best. Some stuff works, some stuff didn't. At the end I had the victory, so...

Q. How did you turn around the tiebreak after 0-5?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: I don't know. I tried to be focused on each point. I did a bad start, so I said, yeah, try to win one more point, one more, one more. At the end I won the tiebreak.

I would like to thank the crowd again because without them it was difficult.

Q. How do you rate your game on grass courts? Do you think you could have more success on grass than on clay?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I mean, I think I won more point on clay than grass, so... For the moment I would say grass. If I play some good stuff on grass, I mean, I will say that my favorite surface is grass.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. You've already done lots of other things in your career. But your first victory in Roland Garros is important. What were your emotions earlier?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: You do remember this because it is important. It was a big match. It wasn't easy from the beginning till the end. I succeeded in remaining calm and to manage all my emotions.

It wasn't very easy, but I can be proud of what I did during this three-hour match. I've got to concentrate on the second round.

Q. Now that you've got this victory under your belt, does this take some weight off your shoulders?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: No, not really because now there's the second round, so... Yes, because I never won a match before, and no because I'd like to go further. You're at the second round, then you look at the third round. When you're on the third round, you want to go to the final.

But it's a different type of pressure. It's got to be another match, other emotions to manage. But I've got time to prepare this match. It's going to be up to me to do my best to try to win.

Q. Beyond the victory, talking about the tiebreak, did you have enthusiasm or an atmosphere that carried you before like this?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: I would say no (smiling). It was something that was rather special. But I never really experienced anything like that before or anything that was as big and strong as that. How many people, 8,000? 8,000 people who are behind you each point, you find that you're invincible. It's a strange feeling. It's hard to describe.

The next time I'll do more, I'll try to do better. I'd like to have a tiebreak, a normal tiebreak, in the future, not a similar one to this one.

Q. With respect to clay, it was a lot slower than in Bordeaux. With respect to the surface, when you're on clay, do you have a different strategy or is it always the same strategy for you?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: The strategy remains the same. Then it's up to me to vary it. I'm going to use my strong points. I'm going to use my qualities.

It's true that there's going to be different trajectories, angles. It's going to be up to me to adapt all these little things to be a good or better player on clay.

At the end of the day the strategy is the same: Keep going forward.

Q. At what point did your last week's success in Bordeaux was important for you in terms of confidence?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: It's true that it did play a major role. I didn't win a lot of matches this year. So the fact of having four victories in a row helped. But I had a good level of my game, as well.

It's true that when I had successive defeats over several months, sometimes the consistency wasn't good, sometimes it was a little better. But in Rome there was an improvement. Even if I lost the match, it showed that I was on the right path and that I needed to continue.

Tennis is a sport that's hard. It's true that Bordeaux really helped me. It enabled me to gain a lot of trust in myself and develop my game.

Q. How do you stay in your bubble in a Grand Slam when you have pressure from your family and all the French around you?

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: Yes, there's a lot of pressure if you look at your family, from people in general. There's a lot of expectations. I've got my own expectations. I know my team has. Everyone has.

So the most important thing is to concentrate on yourself. I've got goals. Not goals in terms of results but in terms of game. I'm going to look at that and not look at the results.

Everybody, of course, would like to see French people in the second week. Even my coach and my family... To get to the second week, I'm going to have to really keep up my game and put all the right ingredients in there in order to win so I can respond to everyone's expectations.

Q. (Question about Bordeaux.)

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: I would say that it was a 250. Maybe I didn't play well because the conditions, it was very hot all week. The ball was bouncing a lot. It was very fast. The court wasn't very big.

With my serve, I wasn't great. With my forehand, I had a good trajectory to do damage whenever I had the opportunity. But if you look at things properly, they were all good players, all in the top 100. Some were even in the top 20.

I wouldn't say they were trick matches because they were very good players. I knew I had a good level with my game. I had to put it into practice. I succeeded in doing it. I can be proud of this.

Every week is different. Had a good match against Felix. That's just the way it is.

Q. Can you tell us about the meetings in the corridor (indiscernible).

GIOVANNI MPETSHI PERRICARD: When she won I sent a message to the family group. I said that my sister won a match before me, and I didn't like that at all (smiling).

We tease each other about that. But it's not my source of motivation. When I won the match ball, it's not like you're the only one.

As far as the meetings in the corridors, I met the best tennis players in history. It was really impressive. But you come back to the ground afterwards quickly when you meet those types of persons. The next time I hope that I'm a little less shy so I will go and ask them some questions.