ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2026

Adam Walton

Press Conference

A. WALTON/D. Medvedev

6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Adam, congratulations. What a battle. What a match for you today. Can you talk us through the match and the conditions out there?

ADAM WALTON: Yeah. I mean, obviously very hot conditions out there today, which, you know, was ideal for me, you know, I think I play better in the heat.

So, you know, it was a very up and down match. Started well and then, yeah, obviously dropped the second, recovered in the third, dropped the fourth, and just gave it my all in fifth.

Yeah, the court is bouncing high when it's hot.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What did it feel like when that last point went long and the fact that your biggest career win, your first top-10 win?

ADAM WALTON: Yeah, obviously a good feeling to win that match. You know, I knew that the 4-All hold was huge. Yeah, obviously he kind of -- you know, the double fault at Love-30 was huge, because I knew I would have three match points at least. Then, yeah, obviously to get it on the first one, I was just, yeah, very happy.

Q. And top-10?

ADAM WALTON: Yeah, I had the belief that I could definitely go out there and beat him. Obviously having done it in Cincinnati was a huge confidence booster.

Yeah, obviously to get a first top-10 win at a slam is pretty epic.

Q. Adam, why do you think you do play better in the heat? Just in terms of the scorelines of those sets, very one-sided, all of them, until the fifth set, do you think that the heat was part of the reason for them being one-sided?

ADAM WALTON: Yeah, the answer to the first question, you know, I grew up in the heat. I've always preferred when the court gives my shots extra, which is what the heat does.

So I feel that I have -- also, the cardiovascular with the heat is pretty good. I seem to be able to last -- I'm not saying I last better than him, but I last better than probably the field in the heat.

So, you know, just given the way I play, I think that's one aspect that is huge for me, because I'm not the most talented player out there. So to be able to last in hot conditions is an important factor for me.

Then the second part of that question, I don't think the heat really affected how one-sided the sets were. I kind of felt once a person was up in the set, we kind of freed up maybe a little bit and was able to go for our shots with maybe a bit more, and that's why I think the scorelines of those first four sets were maybe one-sided.

I don't really think that the heat contributed to a one-sided score, if that makes sense.

Q. How worried were you early in the fifth, and how did you turn it around?

ADAM WALTON: I actually felt a bit of an energy burst at the start of fifth. I felt like the crowd got louder, and there was more people in there.

You know, obviously to go a break down early sucked, but I just told myself, you know, just keep fighting, keep fighting. I thought he was playing some pretty good tennis, and then the 3-1 hold was huge. I had some break points.

I think if I lose that game to go 4-1 double break, I'm probably not a winner today. So I think just to hold there and then I took my chance at 4-3, and then saved some break points at 4-All. It turned very -- it was very physical.

Then, yeah, to obviously get it at 5-4 was great.

Q. I'm just curious to know about the decision to play in China on hard courts a little bit before the tournament. In the end, now that you've come here and had this great result, would you say that it actually helped you build your confidence?

ADAM WALTON: Yeah, I mean, the decision to go play the challengers in Asia was always set in stone. I was trying to chase the Wimbledon cut. I was actually needing a fair few points to be able to make the main draw.

Then the decision to leave Asia after the first week to head to Madrid was purely just because I got into the main draw, and we saw it as a great chance with Madrid being a bit of altitude, and the conditions being right.

I was going to get there with plenty of time, so I wouldn't have been that jet lagged. The hardest sort of part from that was to come back to China after that tournament.

I got, you know, really lucky. I won three matches in a row, 7-6 in the third to be able to make a final there, and just got over the line for the Wimbledon main draw cut.

So had I not gone to Asia, I don't know if I would have got the 60, 70 points that I needed.

Q. Adam, you're very self-deprecating saying you're not the most talented player out there, but actually you've just beaten the 6th seed. What does this do for you and your confidence? Surely it must make you think you belong with the best?

ADAM WALTON: Yeah, look, I mean, anyone can beat anyone on a given day, but yeah, for sure it's a big confidence boost.

I think also to do it in a five-set format is harder to beat the top guys. So, yeah, just really proud of my efforts. Yeah, definitely confident going into the next round.

I do feel that every time I go back onto the clay I get a little bit more comfortable on it. I even felt that when I was in Madrid a few weeks ago. Going back onto the clay I was a little bit more confident than what I was in Houston.

Then coming to Paris again, training here I felt a little bit more confident on it with my footing. Then, yeah, I just hope that as my tennis continues, I can get more and more confident on the clay.

Q. How do you think this will be received in Home Hill? What sort of, I suppose, links and ties do you still have to the town?

ADAM WALTON: Yeah, I mean, I think it will probably be in the newspaper tomorrow morning (smiling). Yeah, no, it's great.

I haven't been back there for a while, but obviously have so many connections with the local club there. I think it's just a pretty cool story to have been brought up in Home Hill and then moved to Brisbane, then moved to America, and now playing pro. It's a pretty special story.

Q. Just about the conditions, you mentioned going to Madrid playing in altitude. Now here we've got this weather where it's really hot. Everybody is talking about the conditions being fast, high bounces. Do you feel almost like you got what you needed preparing in Madrid conditions-wise? What is your overall take on how the conditions are out there in this heat?

ADAM WALTON: Yeah, I mean, it's hot. Yeah, I guess it's somewhat similar to Madrid in terms of the bounce. Obviously with altitude, the ball is bouncing, and it's moving through the air faster. I think with the heat, the ball is doing that.

At the end of the day, we play in heat or we play in the cold. It's the same conditions for both. We've both got to adapt to the given day. You don't get to choose the day you play. You don't get to choose how hot it's going to be.

I guess as tennis players, we just have to do the best that we can on that given day.

Q. What are your goals for the rest of the season?

ADAM WALTON: Say that again.

Q. Your goals for the rest of the season.

ADAM WALTON: My goals.... yeah, look, I don't have -- I just want to improve. I don't really have numbers that I want to try to hit. I just want to try obviously keep being in the main draw of slams.

For the short-term, that's trying to get enough points to make the US Open cut. I've kind of felt this year it's been just relentless trying to, I don't want to say, chase points, but get the required points to get into the slams.

I was unfortunate to not make the French Open cut. I think I was about 108 on the list. It actually moved to where I was two out, but very fortunate that I was able to be a reciprocal wild card here.

So, yeah, just very blessed to have gotten that. Then to just sneak in Wimbledon was a great goal. Then, yeah, the short-term goal is to make US Open main draw.

Q. We saw you race up to your coach, Mark Draper, straight after the match. You could see obviously how thrilled you both were. What were the tactics that you discussed beforehand, and how did you approach coming into the match today?

ADAM WALTON: Yeah, we knew that I would have to be at my best to try beat him. We kept the tactics pretty clear, and we had a few ideas of what he might throw at us, but it's more than just tactics.

It's a mental roller coaster out there. When the scoreline goes the way it does, I think you could see it in our emotions that when I was winning in the sets 1 and 3, he was getting a little annoyed, and I was getting a little annoyed in sets 2 and 4.

You just have to persevere, and that's the one thing we were really happy about today.

Q. We all know that Daniil is very unpredictable. He is one day loses, and the other day almost beat Jannik, for example. How do you prepare yourself to any different option, any different version of him? How do you manage and discuss it inside your team which version you will face?

ADAM WALTON: I mean, we don't know that. We don't know which version that we'll get.

I just know that we could draw upon a past win against him. So we used that, and we tried to execute my game irrelevant of what he was going to bring. We just tried to be clear with the way we wanted to play.