After four five-set matches in two weeks, how are you feeling physically?
“At least I have a record! I’m in the history books for something (laughs). Tomorrow I’m not going to do anything, I’m going to take the plane, which I don’t like, and after the flight I’m going to be dead for a week. (…) Five-set matches are very hard on the body. The worst was the day after the match against Hurkacz (in the quarter) and the match against Zverev (in the semi-final). Yesterday, in training, I said to myself ‘how am I going to play the final, to move?’. My physiotherapist did a huge job to get me ready to return to the court again. During each match, after two sets, it was the same thing, my energy dropped because I slept poorly, with long matches. It’s a bit my fault, I should have won the matches more easily.”
Have you thought about the 2022 final, when you also lost after leading two sets zero against Rafael Nadal?
“I didn’t think too much about it because I tried to put it behind me, I think it didn’t matter too much. (…) Today, it’s not as if I stopped playing at 2-0, staying behind the baseline and only doing lobs. I didn’t really make any big mistakes. He started to play better, to adapt his tactics, because I offered him something different at the start of the match, by being very aggressive. I was a little tired, but in the other matches, my opponents didn’t take advantage of it or were tired too. Jannik didn’t really get tired, in the fifth set I tried to be proud of myself, to fight, to run. I told myself that if I didn’t feel my legs tomorrow, it didn’t matter, I was going to give everything until the last point, and that’s what I did. With fatigue, my serves were worse, the dynamic changed and I tried to reverse it because that’s what tennis is all about. But I didn’t succeed, and that’s why he won and got the trophy.”
How will you digest this fifth defeat in the final of a Grand Slam tournament?
“It’s really hard (…) to lose in the final. It almost hurts more than losing in the half or quarter. (…) Two years ago, I had a really bad experience with the defeat against Rafa (Nadal). I don’t know how I will feel in a week, a month, because sometimes disappointment comes afterwards. After the defeat against Rafa, I don’t know if it was for that, but I had my worst season. I don’t know what will happen, but I will try to continue like this at the next Grand Slam, to win. In the meantime, there will be other tournaments, if I play them, it’s to win.”
