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AEGON INTERNATIONAL


June 21, 2013


Gilles Simon


EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND

G. SIMON/A. Seppi
6‑4, 6‑3


THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Good win.  How do you feel about facing Lopez tomorrow and then again in the first round?
GILLES SIMON:  Well, it happens.  It's not the first time.  So it's always strange situation, but at the end of the day I just have to focus on the first one.
I think it's going to be a tough match against him.  He's a very good grass court player, and I think he played a great tournament until now.
So I just hope I would play the same kind of tennis as today.  Well, just expect a great match tomorrow.

Q.  It was pretty convincing out there at times today.  Was it comfortable at times?
GILLES SIMON:  What do you mean, the length of the match or...

Q.  Just the opponent.
GILLES SIMON:  Just the way I played?  I think he's playing great.  He just had a slow start as he had in the match before.  I knew it, and I wanted to take advantage of it.
I managed to do it.  I was 3‑0, double break up.  Unfortunately today the conditions were horrible, so it's harder to hold your serve than the other day, and the serve was not very effective for both of us.
So it was a real battle from the baseline.  Andreas is just a good player.  I know him.  He won two years ago.  He made the final here.  He has very good timing, so he's never missing some stupid shots.  You have to work, to work, to play great.  I think we played a very high‑level second set today.

Q.  It's been quite a week.  On Monday you were limping off the practice court.  Now you're in the final.  Were you unsure at the start of the week whether you could play?
GILLES SIMON:  No, really I said it's horrible week for me just before.  I had everything.  I was so sick.  I twisted my ankle.  I broke my neck.  I said, Okay, it's too much.  I will never play this tournament.  (Laughter.)
No, it was like week before, and the first match was really complicated.  Against Kyle I was feeling terrible on the court, and I'm just happy that I managed to get through this one.  And then it was, you know, better after this.
It's just good timing, and I'm just lucky that it happened the week before than during the tournament.

Q.  To go back to Kyle, what was your impression of him?  Because obviously there is a lot of buzz about him at the moment.
GILLES SIMON:  Yeah, I know how it works.  Well, really I just don't know, because I don't know what happened during this match.  It was the first match for me on grass.  I think already grass is different than the rest of the season.  And one more time I was, in a way, playing very relaxed because I was really sick and I couldn't go for more.
But then to play relaxed on grass also helps you, and so it's difficult to say.  Only thing obviously he's a great player already, very consistent, he has no weaknesses.  He has a good serve, good backhand, good forehand.  And he's only 18, which is already a good start.  (Smiling.)
I just don't want to bet on something.  I just want to see how he's gonna improve his game.  It was already pretty convincing on the court from what I saw.  Then you just have to see, you know, month after month.

Q.  Which game would you rather win, the game tomorrow or the first round Wimbledon game?
GILLES SIMON:  It's a tough question, but I think that the game of tomorrow is really important for the match on Monday also, or Tuesday.  So it's a tough call, because my ‑‑of course my objective is, my goal is to be as good as possible in Wimbledon, and to lose in the first round would be disappointing for me, but to win tomorrow would be, I think for me, because I would have won tournaments on every continent on every type of court, which would be good, also.
I mean, I won't have any more, any opportunities maybe to win one, and the answer would be tomorrow.  Because still I think that if I win tomorrow it's a great advantage for the match after, anyway.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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