ROLAND GARROS

May 27, 2026

Tamara Korpatsch

Press Conference

T. KORPATSCH/W. Xinyu

6-2, 2-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: How did you feel about your match today?

TAMARA KORPATSCH: Amazing. I mean, I feel great that I won this match. I mean, I have never won a round -- I mean, I have never won the second round of a Grand Slam. Now I'm in the third round.

I was pretty nervous before my match, yeah, because of that, and also because I have never won against my opponent. Yeah, I'm really happy about that.

After I won my match point, I was really, yeah, how to say in English? "Released"? Is that right? "Relieved." Oh, my God, I always switch.

Thank you. Yes, I felt so relieved and so happy that I won the match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Congratulations on reaching the third round for the first time. Curious what happened with the point where she came across the net after the handshake. It wasn't clear from the monitors here. Talk about what was going on. What was your perspective on how that whole story happened?

TAMARA KORPATSCH: Everyone is asking that now.

No, there was a ball, it was really long ball from her, and I saw it out. I don't know if the line umpires called it out or not, but there were two ball marks, actually. And the one was the old one and the other one was the new one. Both of them were out, so it doesn't matter.

I didn't know which one was the right one, but the line umpire came down and showed the mark, and it was out. Actually, also on the TV, they showed the Hawk-Eye and it was, like, eight millimeters out.

Yeah, she came on my side, because she didn't believe it. Because I think her team did, like, too much, yeah, talked like too much, because they thought it's in. Yeah, at the end, we didn't have a handshake because she told me she's not okay with that, with the ball marks, and everything.

But I cannot say that I gift her the point for nothing. But I'm a bit surprised over that, because normally we have a good relationship and we are not like enemies. Yeah, it happened like that, so I didn't give her the hand, because that's not fair for me. She was unfair to come on my side, and I'm not an unfair player.

Q. Just to clarify, you said something about she said that you were cheating somehow by doing this?

TAMARA KORPATSCH: I guess so. I think she said, like, something that she thought that I'm not a fair player or something like that, but I don't know how -- we have one of the best chair umpires on the court, and I don't know how to cheat, honestly. There are many cameras on court and they can check everything.

Honestly, for me, it would be embarrassing to cheat like that. I'm serious, I'm honest, that when I was running, I thought the ball is out, and I was, like, okay, which one is it? I didn't know which mark, but for that, we have the referee.

Q. One more question on that. We have just spoken to Wang, and she said that you showed the umpire a different mark from the ball that was hit. She said it's not necessarily whether the ball was in or out, it's just the principle that...

TAMARA KORPATSCH: Oh, wow.

Q. She said she would have preferred if you had waited for the chair umpire to come down and make the decision rather than circling the ball or pointing at a mark.

TAMARA KORPATSCH: Yeah, okay. But I told her, I don't know which one. Both are out.

So she thought I'm, like, cheating and lying to show the wrong mark?

Q. She said if you're not sure, just wait.

TAMARA KORPATSCH: Yeah, okay. For next time I know. Thank you for telling me. I mean, tell her that.

Sorry. (Smiling.) Sorry.

Q. You are a player that were talking a few days ago that you did alone a lot of things without really big support. How would you describe this moment in your career? What do you think could be factors that led you to this place and this moment?

TAMARA KORPATSCH: Whew. Yeah, so first of all, yeah, I had a very long, hard way to get here. Me and my family had, yeah, we didn't have it easy. We slept in the car when we started to play ITF tournaments and I couldn't play a lot of tournaments. I could play only in Germany, because we didn't have that much money.

Yeah, then we started to play in France, which is close. We drove there everywhere with the car, with a very small car, and we slept in the car.

Also, yeah, after some time, we could afford, from my prize money, a caravan, and then we, yeah, we were with a camper beside the club always sleeping there. It was really nice, actually, like, luxury life for us then.

But, yes, we did everything alone without any help or I was fighting every time, and I had a lot of pressure, because actually, I felt like I have to win because, like, my parents giving everything. Yeah, I had a lot of pressure, but at least I did it, and I'm a really big fighter. Maybe that's the reason why I'm still fighting today like that.

Yes, I mean, it means a lot to me that I'm in the third round now. Yeah, never before. And also, the breakthrough, the top 100 was already really a big step.

For us, sometimes players forget, like if they are there, they forget what it means, because when we are lower, for us it's like something special.

Now we are here, and sometimes we forget how really special it is, and I thought about it, like, few weeks ago, and I'm something special, and I'm really doing good now. And if I'm thinking about that that I'm here, like 10 years ago, I would never believe it, because it was just a dream.