ROLAND GARROS

May 23, 2026

Terence Atmane

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. Hi, Terence. Clay is not your favorite surface, but you've had good victories against top-50s this season, so do you think that now you've mastered it better?

TERENCE ATMANE: Yes, I did manage to adapt well to this surface. Bearing in mind that I was most definitely not a favorite initially with these tournaments, but I managed to adjust appropriately. With my coach, we worked greatly to adapt my game on clay to try and perform as best as possible, and I've had great victories.

I think that I still have good margin for progress in order to win against the best, but I've had good pace indeed on that surface, so it will be interesting to see where I stand in this sense with that Grand Slam.

Q. Terence, what do you keep from your participating in the French Open last year?

TERENCE ATMANE: Not much, because it's been a bit of a rough patch. So I'm trying to forget about these memories and focus on my energy right now and on my fitness.

It's going to be hard to play at home because you can be scared that you may disappoint people or not play as best as you can, but that's something I've worked on particularly these past few weeks. I think I've improved since last year. We'll see how it goes, but I'm hoping that I'll go as far as possible.

Q. Yes, usually although in Interclub you were doing well, but in France sometimes it can be tricky for you, so how do you work on this? How is this making things so difficult for you?

TERENCE ATMANE: How do you manage this? Yes. Well, I would say with experience you can improve, and when you play great matches at home with a lot of audience, it's not easy.

I'm a very emotional person, so for me, of course, it's closer to my heart when I play at home versus abroad, but that's something that we have worked on.

This is a tournament just like any other, so I shouldn't put any more pressure on myself than for other tournaments. So this has been the subject of a lot of work, a lot of discussions, and I think that today I can quite manage this.

Then we'll see how things go on the court, and hopefully I'll be able to get off to a good start during the first round and then we'll take it from there.

Q. The start of the week should be quite hot. How do you manage the heat on court?

TERENCE ATMANE: For the moment it's not too hot compared to my past experiences in Miami or in other tournaments, for example, in Australia. Heat is not really something that we're not feeling for the moment.

In Monaco, for example, I think that it was hotter than here, so not the kind of heat that may keep me from playing well.

Q. So you're playing at home, but also, you need to move on at the French Open, so how do you feel about this?

TERENCE ATMANE: I think that I've overcome that kind of expectation. So for me, this is a challenge ahead of me, and that's it. It would be good if I was able to do that at home and to move things forward and start anew. So that would be amazing for me.

I'll do everything I can to do so, and if I can't, then so be it, but at least I'll have given it my best in order to advance in the ranking.

Q. What was your dream when you were younger when you were playing tennis? What kind of tournament were you looking to play?

TERENCE ATMANE: I never really watched so many tennis games when I was younger, but the French Open, of course, is a unique tournament. When you are French in particular, this is a tournament that you are going to dream of.

When I played at first, even during the qualification rounds at the French Open, it was really a special moment. Even to this day it feels like something that's special.

It really is very special as a French tennis player to have that kind of atmosphere on the court. It's always been a dream for me to, first of all, make it to the top 100, and I am trying to remain focused on the process. I try to make progress day after day.

Most of all, I try not to put any limits to what I can do in terms of ranking, in terms of my performance, but the French Open is a tournament that I always dreamt of participating in.

When I started playing tennis, that would have been indeed a dream for me, to participate in the French Open. It still is a dream for me to this day.

Q. There are always line judges. How do you feel about that?

TERENCE ATMANE: I think that's better than having a machine. There are always problems with electronic equipment in terms of impact and the tracing. So the electronic system will calculate the impact of the ball and not the trace, which sometimes can be tricky when you have a 5 centimeter gap and the impact is judged as correct.

So having line judges will be indeed very important. They'll be able to actually see it for themselves. I think that that is the kind of spirit that you should be in on a clay court.

Electronic line call equipment is great on grass and on hard surfaces, but when it comes to clay, when you have certain traces, it has been an issue for me in a number of clay matches, particularly with Arthur Fils. We had a huge problem with electronic equipment on two or three occasions.

It can be tricky. It can be frustrating because you can see that there is definitely an error, but unfortunately, the umpire cannot go down to check, because there is that electronic equipment.

So having that in place makes it possible for someone to actually go on the court and see for themselves and get closer to the court. So that's part and parcel of clay.

I do not see why that should no longer be the case. On clay more than on any other surface, I think that's really important.

Sometimes they might be mistaken, but at least you're not going to be frustrated, versus if a machine says that there's actually an error, but there isn't, then that can be the source of great frustration, and you want to break it all.

95% accuracy rate with an actual person I think is much better than just relying on a machine.

Q. During the first set of your matches during this season you've been very offensive. How are you going to maintain that same game with a five-set match?

TERENCE ATMANE: I'll have to adapt to my opponent, to the day's conditions, and also, it will be up to me to put everything in place with my game, to do what I know how to do.

On clay I've already had good victories by implementing my standard game pattern, so I'll try to do the same, to impose my game style. Should there be any adjustments that are necessary along the way, I'll do that, but yes, the spirit that I am in today is I'm going to play my game with my own style. I'm not going to change it out of the blue just because we have another extra set to win.

So I'll try to be just as aggressive, and I'll try to perform just as well with my game style, and we'll see how it pans out with a five-set game.