At Wimbledon,

Very moved after his victory against Arthur Rinderknech, the 26-year-old Frenchman signed a first in the Temple of Tennis, his second in a Grand Slam tournament: “I arrived here without too much expectation. I knew I was playing well and that I had my card to play, but it’s true that I didn’t have a lot of benchmarks, so the surprise was quite big. That’s why I was moved.”

Place now in the world number one Carlos Alcaraz with the prospect of evolving on a big court. “It’s a monster. He is very young but he is borderline one of my idols. I love how he plays, his way of being. I will try to take full advantage and get out a big game. I don’t have much to lose. It’s sport, everything is playable. The fear is that I don’t feel very good on grass. I have zero expectations, maybe that’s why I won today, I don’t worry and we’ll see. I played Sinner on the Chatrier at Roland-Garros, so I don’t need to play on a big court”.

The French prepared for this tournament on grass… on earth. “I’m much more comfortable on land. My game is performing better. I played challengers in Italy. I was good. My game adapts to all surfaces. I try to change my game without changing too much, while being a little more aggressive. I try to do a lot of serve and volley, but I have a lot of difficulty moving on grass. But don’t tell Carlos (laughs).