ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2026

Diane Parry

Press Conference

D. PARRY/A. Kalinina

0-6, 6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: So, Diane, well fought. What do you think was the key today to hang in there and pull it through?

DIANE PARRY: I think to get pretty fast the first set. It was a tough one and not a good sensation and good feeling.

Yeah, tried to stay calm, stay in the match, try to stay as close as I can to her, and take every opportunity that I could have. Yeah, do with what I had today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. When you start with a bagel, how do you come back and turn around the match?

DIANE PARRY: Well, we try to forget it. It was good to kind of be isolated at the end of the first. Everything went very quickly, so I needed to refocus and remain positive and try to fight in the match and find solutions and change certain things in my game so that I could turn around the situation.

Otherwise, it could have quickly continued on in the same direction in the second, and things wouldn't have gone my way.

Q. So when you were preparing, you were on Court 7, and you were visualizing yourself on Court 7. At the last minute you were told you would be playing on the central court. Did this affect the beginning of the match?

DIANE PARRY: Yes, well, I was prepared to play on Court 7, and there's a big difference in terms of size and playing conditions on the central court.

So, yes, I was rather stressed when I was told that we would change. We know that the match can go very quickly, and I needed to really get ready quickly to play on the central court.

I had some time to get prepared, but I think that despite anything, it, no doubt, impacted the beginning of my match, even though I was quite happy to play on the court as a French player. It's an honor, and it's one of the greatest courts that you can play on.

So I tried to really look at all the positive aspects of playing on that court, but it didn't work at the beginning of the match. Little by little, I tried to get into the game, and the crowd supported me at the end.

It all ended in an amazing atmosphere. So it was a very positive experience for me.

Q. You're talking about the audience. It really filled up, especially at the end. Then there was Le Marseillaise, and you won a straight game afterwards. You know, what type of feelings do you have in times like that?

DIANE PARRY: Quite honestly, we play tennis to experience those emotions and to play on these big courts with this atmosphere. It's amazing to see that people were coming in, and they were there to support me. They were behind me. I could hear them throughout the entire match, although we tried to stay in our bubble.

I think that it really does boost us, and we need to really use this to try and go and find additional resources and that little bit extra which helps us to win this type of match and to continue to play in this type of atmosphere and enjoy it.

Q. There's a documentary that will be brought out at the end of the week where Nadal said he was in pain practically every day of his life. Is that the daily bread and butter of a tennis player to play with your pain and just to put up with your pain, try to overcome it?

DIANE PARRY: Well, it depends for whom. They, I think, went beyond the limits of their body and their health. They went very, very far to achieve everything that they achieved in their career. They won all of the records possible in that sport, so I think that they did it at very large scale.

But it's true that it's a sport where we really don't do good to our bodies. So for many tennis players, we often have pains here and there. We just have to put up with it, of course, insofar as it's reasonable.

We have to try to stay healthy and to be able to play one tournament after another, to play for a full year. It's not always the case, but I think it's one of the most important points to manage as a tennis player.

Q. Have you already gone beyond your limits and say that I shouldn't play today, but you play all the same?

DIANE PARRY: That can happen, only in tournaments such as this one, a Grand Slam tournament, where we have maybe higher objectives or where everything is a little bit more intense.

There are times when even though we know that the pain is not good, we try to fight and rise above it, because we want to go far into the tournament and give a good performance.

Yes, there are some occasions where we try to go beyond, although we know it's not a good thing. That was the case for Arthur last year, for example.

But, you know, it's bigger than us, but we need to dose things and not do it too often.

Q. There's a debate on a possibility of playing a match in five sets in women's tennis. Is that a good thing or not?

DIANE PARRY: I don't really have an opinion on that. The thing is that we are used to playing in three sets, so that means that we need to prepare ourselves physically differently and change a lot in the training, the preparation.

In terms of the show, I don't know, because even for the men's tennis, we see that they let the sets go, because it's really difficult. Therefore, in five sets there are three big full sets and two sets where it's slightly less intense. There are fewer rallies.

Quite honestly, I don't really have an opinion on that.

Q. If I'm not mistaken, it's the first time that you're with both coaches for the season and even generally speaking. Can you tell us what is different in the fact that you have both coaches, one that speaks English, one that speaks French? Maybe Julie Coin will be putting across other messages as well. How do you judge this experience with both coaches here together?

DIANE PARRY: Yes, it's true that it's the first time. Even in previous years I already had two coaches, but it was very rare that both coaches would be with me at the same time.

Normally it was Thomas's week, my other coach, but in the recent years on the clay court, I was training with Julie, and that's why I started to play well again and to feel good.

We started to have our little habits on the courtside, the way she talked to me and prepared me. So I wanted her to stay with me for this tournament, so that they could both be there at the same time. They could talk together directly.

It was no doubt simpler and to see directly what they see in me on the court and to take the best side of both and to move ahead, play a great tournament.

Yes, she talks to me more, because it's far simpler in French to communicate, both for her and for myself. I think it's a good mix.