ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2026

Corentin Moutet

Press Conference

V. KOPRIVA/C. Moutet

6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. How do you feel after this 4 hour and 20 minute fight?

CORENTIN MOUTET: Of course, I'm exhausted. This is the first feeling that is really present. The fatigue and disappointment.

Q. Do you have the feeling that the game got away from you in the third set, that you let him come back?

CORENTIN MOUTET: Yes, it would have done me good to win that set, of course, but I didn't manage to find my rhythm, my pace. Whatever the set, from the beginning to the end, I tried as hard as I could to play better and better, to find the right pace and the right condition, but I didn't manage.

So for 4 hours and 20 minutes, I did all I could to get there, so I have no regrets on that side, but unfortunately, I wasn't good enough. Not better than him, anyway. Not good enough to win that match.

Q. It's a proper feeling because we could feel from the outside that you really didn't have control of the ball.

CORENTIN MOUTET: Well, honestly, I don't know why. I train hard, and I'm putting a lot into it physically, mentally. I spend a lot of time on the court. Three to four hours on the court every day.

In the gym I really try to exceed myself to be ready for the competition. But, no, I've not been feeling it since the beginning of the year. I don't really know what else to say.

I try to get back in every day and do my best and do the job, but it's not paying off on the court. Quite honestly, it's really hard for me to feel good to play well today, but obviously in the previous tournaments as well. It's very disappointing. It's hard.

Q. Did you try during the match to press on the magic button of Roland Garros, that emergency button? Did you press on that, or was it just too difficult due to the conditions?

CORENTIN MOUTET: No, I was very lucky, because I benefited from great support throughout the match from the crowd, so I tried to use that. It was hard because I couldn't really do much about it. I had to concentrate on myself and try and find my game, so it was very hard also to give back to the crowd as I usually would.

But, as I said, I was very lucky, because they supported me from the beginning to the end when I tried to do my best to make it through, you know, with my heart and the fact that I also did everything I could to prepare for the tournament. All my family was there, so I was brave from beginning to end to try and really bring them home that victory, bring home that win.

I don't really know what else to say. I really gave it my all today.

Q. Don't you have the impression that you're fighting against yourself at the moment?

CORENTIN MOUTET: Honestly, I don't know what I'm fighting against. At the end of last year I sacrificed my body to play the Davis Cup, and I'm paying for it today. That's for sure.

I played for two months last year at the end of the year with a broken hand, and I shouldn't have done that. But, you know, as I said at the beginning of the tournament, I don't regret my choices, because I would give everything to honor a selection in the French Team.

But, you know, one year down the line, my hand is still hurting, so it's frustrating, but despite everything, I tried to train, and I tried to do my best every day to believe in it and believe that it will come back, and it will come back.

That's sports, and that's what makes you a big player, which will enable me to become a big player one day, is to accept these times when it's chaos, and these are the times that define a big player. It's when you manage to get through these very difficult times.

It's not easy to be in good form during those times, but if we keep our head high and we continue to play and train, it will pay off in the future.

Q. A question to add to your last answer. Netflix is going to bring out a documentary on Nadal at the end of the week where he says that he was in pain every day, and in particular a match against you where he had to be carried back to the hotel. Do you remember this match? Is that the every day life of a tennis player, to be in pain constantly and just to put up with it and to overcome the pain, like your broken hand?

CORENTIN MOUTET: Well, I'm not in anybody else's shoes, but this sport is very demanding. Today we played for more than four hours, and it was 30 degrees centigrade. The conditions are conditions that we rarely see in sports, but that's the beauty of our sports, because when you're on the court, you don't know if you're going on for one hour or for five hours.

It means that we need to train outside a lot also with the calendar as it is. So we have to find a balance between training a lot to be ready for this challenge and, on the other hand, not train too much so that we're fresh when we come on court.

So I have no doubt that Nadal has been through some very hard times in his career, but as I was saying before, the strength of the big players is not to collapse when you're in trouble. People don't see it, but we're often suffering. I am, of course, among those people who are suffering physically on a daily basis.

It's part of our job, I would say.

Q. (Off microphone.)

CORENTIN MOUTET: I remember that I lost in three sets, so he did well.

Q. Sorry, I'm going to come back to the question of your hand. What should you have done ideally that you couldn't do, and where do you stand today with your hand?

CORENTIN MOUTET: What I should have done is like everybody. When your hand is broken, you put a plaster cast on it, and you rest, or a splint, I don't know. The problem is that I had a broken hand in the first round of Vienna, and I managed to win the match and win the match afterwards.

So, you know, it didn't bother me too much in the way I managed the game. I managed anyway, so I took anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers, and I managed to play with the objective of being ready for the Davis Cup to defend my colors.

But the problem is that I gave everything for my team, in my head, my body. I knew that I would pay for it afterwards, but I was ready to make that sacrifice. We know the outcome of the Davis Cup, so it was very hard for me to have given so much and to pay such a high price afterwards. It was difficult, but as I said, it was my choice.

I could have not played and left my place for somebody else, but I felt ready to defend my colors, and I think I was ready. I had a good level of game, but my bone still hurts today, even though it's a lot better than before.

No, it's not a desirable situation, but that's the way it is.