DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 17, 2025

Paul-Henri Mathieu

Arthur Rinderknech

Benjamin Bonzi

Pierre-Hugues Herbert

Corentin Moutet

Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard

Team France

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for attending the press conference for Team France.

Paul-Henri, how have your preparations been so far?

CAPTAIN PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU: The preparation went well. We arrive on Friday, took some practice on center court just to get used to the court. The condition are great.

We really look forward to play tomorrow. Is going to be great competition with eight great teams. With this format, is very short. Anything I think can happen.

Yeah, we really impatient to play tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions, please.

Q. Arthur, you've had such an incredible run this year, and in particular the last couple of months. Can you talk about your level of confidence from what you've achieved on the regular tour that you can bring into the team aspect at least for your first tie?

ARTHUR RINDERKNECH: Well, we started building confidence as a team, first of all, in February already, beating Brazil, which is a great team, at home. Then we went and beat Croatia away there in Croatia in September, with this exact same team. We were able to build some confidence. We'll try to bring it this week and do our best to take one match at a time and go the further we can.

Yeah, personally I'll try to do my best, as always, and bring what I have done the past months on court to get as many points as possible for the team.

Q. Corentin, you played in September, you won two matches. You made your Davis Cup debut. How does it feel for you, you're back in the Finals, playing for France? How do you feel as a player competing for your country?

CORENTIN MOUTET: Very good, of course. I'm proud to be part of the team again. Yeah, as I said many times, it's nice to play for the team, not only for myself. We're used to play for ourself all year long. It's nice to be part of this great team, the same that we were in Croatia.

So, I don't know. Atmosphere is great. I'm playing good. I'm feeling healthy. I'm happy to be back in the team.

Q. Pierre-Hugues, Davis Cup fans are traditionally passionate, they're loud. How does that help when you're playing for your country?

PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: I mean, that's what's great about Davis Cup, or was great with the home and away tie, because for sure it's not going to be the same playing here in Bologna than playing in France.

Yeah, it's helping a lot. It brings the energy, it brings the passion. You don't feel alone on court. We experience this the other way in Croatia again this year. It was pretty intense.

But it's what's nice about this competition, this passion and the fact that it's a bit different than the rest of the year when we're playing in tournaments.

Q. Pierre, you're the veteran, let's say, of the team. Does every Davis Cup tie that you play, when you look back, even now, is every one as special as the one before, a highlight for you in your career?

PIERRE-HUGUES HERBERT: It's fun because I entered team young. Maybe the first time I'm called a 'veteran'. It's pretty nice (smiling).

It's the fact, I'm the oldest player here in this team. Yeah, I'm living now with a new generation of French players. I was used to the old generation.

But yeah, I mean, the emotions have been pretty different throughout the Davis Cup career, especially in France. I mean, I've experienced my first year with the old way we played the Davis Cup, with home and away ties, with two Finals played at home. So I experienced this.

The new format has been a bit challenging for us in France I think, especially for me, because I felt like something a bit died in this competition.

I can say that this year I felt something growing, something that is a bit different than the past years. These two matches played home and away, I kind of rediscovered a bit the competition.

I think, yeah, I'm really thrilled to be back here and play this Final 8 and to adapt to this new format. So yeah, really happy to be here.