ROLAND GARROS

May 22, 2026

Elsa Jacquemot

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: A question about your preparation for Roland Garros.

ELSA JACQUEMOT: My preparation has gone well so far. I've been training hard. So preparation has been going well. I've trained well for various months already, so I feel good. I'm very excited to be back here in Paris at Roland Garros. Always a very moving moment and so glad to be back home.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. If you were to remember where you were standing a year ago, your journey in that past year has been remarkable, so what is your view on this?

ELSA JACQUEMOT: Many developments in the meantime, because I've reached my best ranking at 53rd. Right now I'm going through more challenging times with fewer victories, but I'm participating in larger tournaments, so obviously the opponents I'm playing are much better. But I would say that there have been many developments physically, mentally, tennistically.

I've trained very well, so I would say that I'm feeling good. I'm evolving well, so it's cool, it's great.

Q. In terms of your trust and confidence, you are saying that it only makes sense that since you're playing major tournaments now, you're playing against better opponents, so what does that mean for you at Roland Garros?

ELSA JACQUEMOT: In terms of self-confidence, I feel good because I'm training well, and that's helpful. There has not necessarily been so many victories, so you might feel that you are not prepared well enough and you are not feeling so self-confident. Would it have been better for me to have more victories? Yes, of course, but does that change anything? I'm not exactly sure.

I'm training well. That's the most important thing. That's the most important thing you can do, so hopefully I will have more victories and clock more victories in the future.

To answer your question, I feel quite self-confident, and I love it when the public is behind me. I would say that at Roland, as is the case every year, the public will be there and is always great and will be pushing me forward and encouraging me.

Q. Following the Australian Open with everything that happened, what have you done with your team? That was not necessarily the plan for you to have to get a new coach. So where do you stand on this right now? Has that had any negative impact on your season that may have had an impact on your results?

ELSA JACQUEMOT: It was a challenging time, and I'm only human. Of course, there were certain things that I did that were wrong. That's completely true.

But as a person, you know, for people to be so harsh against me -- I mean, I'll say it again, tennis is a very really difficult sport. It's very unforgiving. There are only a few players that actually win.

Right now what's hard for me is people are not understanding what's happening behind the scenes, behind the court in tennis. So the last period, the latest period, has been quite challenging.

Of course, I have mental prep. Not because I have problems, but because I needed to better manage my emotions and my feelings. It's like I'm in a boxing match. If I am myself, the Elsa that I am in my day-to-day, then that's not going to help me win the match, so I need to call upon that other persona.

But at the Australian Open I think I was wrong in reacting the way that I did, and I was out of myself. People will say what they want to say, but that's fine, people, I'm only human. I'm just a girl. I didn't do anything terribly wrong. I can only be mad at myself, because I lost that game.

The latest period has been quite challenging. People have been very harsh against me, but I'm very lucky that I have great people around me. I try to rebuild a team around me, and it's not so easy, because there is so much money involved in that sport, so it's not necessarily easy to find the healthiest people and to feel self-confident again.

But, overall, I'm feeling good. My entourage is good. I haven't had that entourage for a long time. So I'm trying to stabilize things around me that can only benefit what I do and my performance, so that's the main thing, I think.

I may not necessarily say the name of my coach because it hasn't been so long, but I have a great team around me.

Q. You were with Bertrand Perret temporarily up until Roland Garros?

ELSA JACQUEMOT: Well, the federation -- Bertrand was not for me. The federation decided to back me and support me, and I would like to thank the federation for taking care of me at that time.

Q. Have you found another solution?

ELSA JACQUEMOT: I have my private coach, plus the federation that's still helping me. But, yes, I have my own private coach.

Q. Back to what people were saying, people were harsh against you. Who are these people? What were you referring to? Your coach perhaps, social media? Who was the harshest?

ELSA JACQUEMOT: To be fully transparent, with my coach what happened on court was we spoke, and everything went really well. His name is Simon. I appreciate him greatly. He's been so helpful with me, and he's still helping me out. So with Simon there is absolutely no problem.

I had more problems with people from the outside, you know, in Australia. But in other matches when you lose a match, very often people will come out for you.

I wish -- though I cannot do anything about that, but I wish people were a little more laid back, but I know people are placing bets, and they may lose money. When you lose matches, you lose money as well. You do not feel good.

After Australia I lost my match over there. I lost over there, and then I cried afterwards. Yes, I did wrong, but I accepted it. Managing your emotions is not always so easy, because there's so much at stake, a lot of pressure, a lot of stress.

I try to give my best day after day during my matches. And of course I have my own character, and sometimes it's not so easy. I think I'm managing that character of mine better and better, and people need to realize that we are only human.

Many people have told me, wow, it looks like there are two persons inside of you. On the court you can be extremely cold and hard, but in your everyday life, you're actually all smiles and very easy-going. Sport will drive you mad.

Q. You were speaking about managing matches. What are the leverages you could have perhaps used to better manage your emotions during the actual match when things go a little different from what you were expecting in order to achieve your expected results?

ELSA JACQUEMOT: Well, I have my mental coach, but also my whole team behind me. There are a number of tips and recommendations that I try to implement during the match. I have my own phrases and mottos that I will repeat to myself during the match.

During a tennis match, there are only 25 seconds between each point, so you do not have so much time. It's a really frustrating sport, because you cannot play your match from A to Z fully in control all of the time.

I've learned to accept that, yes, you may have certain regrets. Maybe there were some decisions or choices you made on this part, but that was it.

Q. On the protest movement about the prize money and Grand Slams, what is your positioning on this protest movement?

ELSA JACQUEMOT: I've heard about it, but I'd rather not take any position about this.

Q. There are a few French players in the top 100 compared to what we may have known in the past, so there are higher expectations on a few players with Lois Boisson and yourself. How do you feel about this? Is that hard for you to handle the pressure?

ELSA JACQUEMOT: Is it hard to handle it? I think it's part of our job, managing that pressure and that stress. In full transparency, yes, of course we feel that pressure and stress. Of course we do not want to disappoint the public. And when they go, ah, of course, we're disappointed in ourselves as well.

But I'm used to handling that stress and pressure. Being mentally prepared is one thing, but you also need to manage the pressure from the media, from the public, and that's something that actually pushes you forward.

It's really amazing when the public supports you. So to answer your question on stress, yes, of course, there is that stress about it, but it's also very exciting at the same time.