ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 10, 2026

Valentin Vacherot

Press Conference

V. VACHEROT/A. de Minaur

6-4, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. How much happiness to see you into the semis here in Monte-Carlo, your hometown?

VALENTIN VACHEROT: It's fantastic, and when I look at the other three, I'm so proud and I'm so honored to be among them.

Q. How did you find the energy? We felt you were extremely tired against a tough player, and you found a new energy. How did you manage?

VALENTIN VACHEROT: It was my fourth match, and playing de Minaur in very heavy conditions this evening, I knew it would need a lot more energy. He runs so well. He makes so few mistakes. But what helped me was the crowd, of course, and the eagerness to do well, the eagerness to play Alcaraz tomorrow.

I was able to start off the match well. Winning that first set was key, because if I hadn't won it, I think it would have been a lot more difficult.

In the second set, when he started being ahead, I didn't let go, of course, but I really followed the groove and I didn't put into it 100% of my energy, to keep it for the last set.

In the beginning of the third set, it took me two games to get into it, and at Love-1, I saved a tough game, and with the crowd, here I was ahead again, and I broke him when I was needing it.

Q. What is your main asset against Carlos Alcaraz, the top player?

VALENTIN VACHEROT: I'm going to speak with my team to try to know how I can beat him. My main asset is that I'm playing at home.

During these matches, I was able to play my real game. It would be great if I could do that all the time, of course, but in the end of those matches, I was able to be more aggressive, to hit harder, to go up to the net.

Tomorrow I will need to do that from the very start of the match. Otherwise, I will get beaten. I'm very impatient, looking forward to it, and I will have no choice, so I'm going to go for it.

Q. You were talking about the difficult conditions this evening with the humidity and heavy conditions. At least you won't have this problem tomorrow. One problem solved against Alcaraz.

VALENTIN VACHEROT: Right. This evening, it was even more humid than the other nights, and he does very few mistakes, so it was tough. A year ago or six months ago, I wouldn't have been able to pull it out, but I'm happy that tomorrow I'll be able to play a bit earlier, because each day I had the pressure building up all day, playing the last match, so I'm happy I'm going to play earlier tomorrow.