ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 8, 2026

Valentin Vacherot

Press Conference

V. VACHEROT/L. Musetti

7-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. A lot of emotions. We saw you almost crying in front of the camera on the court. Can you tell us about this very special moment?

VALENTIN VACHEROT: If one year ago I was told I would beat a top-5 clay courter in my center court, in a night session on second round of this tournament, I wouldn't have believed it. And there I was. It's crazy.

Q. We saw you use this very strange atmosphere, mainly Italian. You were using that atmosphere to boost yourself, weren't you?

VALENTIN VACHEROT: I knew the stadium would be three-quarters Italian, and they fill in the stadium, they created great atmosphere, and they had incredibly good players in the top 20, top 30, so I knew there would be more Italians.

But on my side, they were making noise too. So when the temperature was rising, I was able to use that, especially during the tiebreaker. I really used it as much as I could, and it ended well for me. I love these atmospheres.

Q. It was a good match against a very good clay courter. The match went well today.

VALENTIN VACHEROT: Yes, I'm very happy. It took me one set and two games in the first round before I was able to really play my clay court game and I began to feel good.

Today I was playing a right-hander. Lorenzo was hitting a little bit harder with more rhythm. So I'm very happy about my physical condition and also with the quality of my shots. I was able to create set points in the first set for myself. In the second set, I was playing better and better.

I'm very happy with my game today.

Q. Next round will be Hurkacz. What can you say about that match?

VALENTIN VACHEROT: Well, I'll think about it more tomorrow. It's going to be a totally different match. He has a lot of experience. He was top 10. After, he got injured, but he's playing well again, so I think the match will be very hard, and he serves extremely well. I hope myself I'll be able to serve as well as I did today.

Q. You did something huge in Shanghai. Then you succeeded in stabilizing the situation. Can we say this is a new start again?

VALENTIN VACHEROT: Well, the beginning of the season was consistent, but I needed a big victory like this one today. I would like to go further. I'm going to be in round of 16, but I would like to go maybe all the way to the semis, for example. If I can have that at home here, it will be with a lot of pleasure.

Q. Did you expect a match like this one today?

VALENTIN VACHEROT: This is exactly what I was expecting. Lorenzo was trying to play his clay court game with his outward serves, and he was trying to dictate the point, make me run.

But the times he was able to make me run was only when my shots were not as good. But on important moments, I played better, and he was not able to do that. That means I had deep shots in the important moments, and I was able to win the important points. I was able to serve almost as good as on hard courts on this clay court season, and I hope it's going to continue that way.