V. RAZZANO/D. Hantuchova

6-3, 6-3

An interview with:

VIRGINIERAZZANO

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Well, it's probably quite pleasant to have such a nice match for thefirst
round. It's never obvious.

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: It was not easy. You know, I was really happy with the
qualityof my style. The match was interesting,and playing her for the first
round was not easy, against Daniela Hantuchova.

It's the same forher. I'm not that easy to beat. We thought the match would
be reallydifficult. She was ready and I wasready. We saw it immediately when
westarted the first rally, the first game, the first set.

She was highly concentrated. I was concentrated. High level of play. We knew
we had to go for it at the very highlevel and play our best from A to Z.

Q. Whatwould you say about your style on clay at present and the near future?

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Well, quite good, I think. As you can see today, it's
reallywonderful. It's great. I think I know how to play, and my level isquite
good. I'm rather satisfied. I was very happy to win this match today, andas
usual, I'll take match after match. I'll play my best level. I'll dothe
tricks I can do really well.

I enjoy clay more andmore. It's not my best surface, as youknow, or preferred
surface, but you can say the same about many players, Ithink.

This time I'm very happy about what I can doon clay with a number of drop
balls and a number of attack balls orpoints. I know how to be defensive
andalso offensive.

So I have many tricks on clay, awide pallet of points I can play.

Q. Wethought you were on the ring, boxing. Wethought it looked like boxing.
Would yousay that mentally you were quite ready to win the match?

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Well, I think, you know, mental preparationis very
important, but also your physical condition is very important. Daniela or
myself had to be ready for it, andphysically, as well. All the points
weretough to win, and almost all of them were winning points.

I don't think that wemade any unforced errors, or not many unforced errors.
Usually they were forced errors. So all in all, we had to go for it. We had
to be daring and bold when necessary,when the moment was right and ripe.

We had to choose these moments and seize ouropportunities. I did it. She did
it. We didn't give many points easily. As you said, it was like boxing. Yes.
She would fight; I wouldfight. She would hit; I would hit. Nice points,
interesting, pleasant.

Q. Statisticsare really interesting in terms of returns of serve.

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Yes, she serves really well. She served well from the
beginning to theend. You know, the first ball I thoughtI could stop her from
serving that well, putting more pressure on her,returning the balls better
with long and aggressive balls.

But she didn't giveup. She served well to the veryend. So what I had to do is
return thefirst serves really well, longer balls and to be more aggressive
when Icould. And then, you know, for secondballs, second points she would do
the same. We knew we had to fight and hit stronger immediately. We had to
play our game.

We have more or less the same game, the samestyle. We love that. It was not
kicks and it was not like theSpaniards, you know. It was like kickingeach
other on the ring, you know. Theone who physically can defend can be more
aggressive. The one who's solid in terms of baselinestyle, and of course,
it's about serving, about returning serves, as well. We've had all sorts of
points, the dropballs, the returns of serves.

Q. You'veworked on a number of drop balls, but she's done the same.

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Yes, you know, in Dubai, I had many drop balls. I had to
run on many drop balls, I can tellyou. It was crazy, because she does
thatvery well.

Today I expected moredrop balls from her, because she's an expert in that,
and I thought, I could doit myself. I've worked on those dropballs, as well.
So I managed to get anumber of those.

Q. What about the wind blowing on the court? Is that a problem? It was
blowing harder and harder.

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Yes, that's true. Sometimes the wind was blowing in gusts
ofwind, and then it would stop.

It was a bit strange,and it swirls on the central court. ButI didn't really
think about it. Shedidn't either. Because, you see, when youplay such a
match, you know that you have to focus on what really is important,and what
was important today was to win.

Well, we both thought that. We knew it was going to be very hard for thefirst
round, for Daniela or for me, and you've probably seen this during thefirst
game.

The first game in the first set wasreally impressive. It was the case tillthe
end of the match, so I don't think any of us thought about the wind. We had
to manage, of course, this windthing. We took more time to serve or toreturn
the serves, not to have clay in the eyes, because that would botherus. But
otherwise, no, we didn't reallythink about the wind today.

Q. ManyFrench in main draw. What do you dothen, the French team, to go as far
as possible? We don't have that many French femaleplayers.

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: I don't know what Alize did today. No, she didn't play?
Marionwon yesterday against another French. Soas you said, we have fewer and
fewer female French players. But the most important thing is to hope
thatwe're going to have one who's going to go as far as possible.

I believe in it. I don't know who's going to be in the racestill.

Q. Would you say that you help each other out?

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Well, you know, the atmosphere is good. Marioncomplimented
me in the cloak rooms. Itwas from the bottom of her heart. Ifound it so cute
from her, so nice. Shesaid, You don't like Hantuchova at all, do you?

Hantuchova or anothergirl, no, I want to do my match. I wantto do my job as
usual. It's true. I was so happy to win, and that's the way itis.

She congratulated me. I said congratulations, as well, for what shedid
yesterday, even though it was against a French player. You know, we support
each other, and, youknow, tennis is not an easy sport compared with other
sports. It's quite a difficult sport, and we've seenthis at least for the
women tournaments.

It's not always easy, not alwayspink. You have to look at the brightside of
sides. If you get support fromthe other French girls, it's a good thing.

Q. You'requite wrong. You've played many timeshere in Paris. Have you
prepared things differently thistime?

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Well, I think I improve year after year. I progress. I now
accept clay more and more. It was like in the past, clay was my enemy. I
didn't like clay in the past, even though Ipracticed on clay.

It was difficult for meto accept this and to say, Okay, two months on clay.
I've got to go for it. Whereas this year, it's a different mindset.

I started saying, Okay, it's twomonths. Try and do your best. As usual, do
your best. Play as much as you can, and try andwin. And then I'll see.

How can I say? I haven't got stretch goals on clay usuallyor very ambitious
objectives on clay. What I tell myself is, Do your best. Each time, do your
best and see what happens. See what's going to happen.

And I think I've improved. I feel more things on clay today. I feel more at
ease. I can have drop balls, which is not probablymy cup of tea, not
something I would play well in the past. But I've worked more. I've practiced
my drop balls, and now I feelthem all, which is good. I can use thistrick
several times.

Q. Cedricis not always with you during the season. Now, you've worked well in
the town of Nimes. Does that make any difference, he's with you? Is that
another support? He comes sometimes when you play in a numberof tournaments.
Has his coaching stylechanged anything for you? And has thattherefore
impacted your performance?

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Well, it's very difficult. I travel with my official coach,
Stephane Vidal, who is also my boyfriend. And also, I have a team with me all
the time,Cedric Nouvel and Bernard Cabassol, my fitness trainer. With these
two people I've mentioned, I worka lot mainly at home when I'm back from
tournaments, because, you know, I can'thave three trainers or coaches on the
tour.

Financially it's tooexpensive, and Cedric has a sport etudes center to manage
in the town of Nimes, but when he can play in France, the GDF Suez tournament
orRoland Garros tournament, then in this case, I try and stay with my team,
andtogether we support each other, which is the case today. It's the case for
the GDF Suez tournament.

In this case, my fitness trainer wanted tocome. Unfortunately he couldn't
makeit. He was too busy to make it. Last year he had come to my first round,
myfirst match. So, you see, to me, it's asupport to have Cedric with me and
my fitness coach when he can come, aswell. It's something good, because
Ican't see them all the time on the tour, because we travel a lot abroad. He
can't always follow me.

So I want to keep the sameteam. It's a strong team, and themembers support
each other, and I've always had good relations with them.

Q. Yournext opponent will be Anabel Medina-Garrigues - oh, the match is
notover? I thought it was her. I thought it was her.

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: I didn't know it was her.

Q. If it's her -

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Who's she playing with?

Q. She is playing Makarova, a Russian.

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Any of the two, it's going to be a pleasantmatch. It's at
home here. The crowd is with me. It's something important, you know. I think
we have to think about the French,men and women.

We are at home. It's a great advantage. We don't often play in France. It's
usually abroad for manytournaments. It's a greatopportunity. We don't
necessarily havethe French with us supporting us. Andthis is something good.
It's going togive us more strength, and it's pleasant.

Now, to play against Medina, I know her. She's played for a number of years.

Q. (Offmicrophone.)

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: I don'tknow. I can't remember. But you tell me. I don't
know. I can't remember. A long timeago. A long time ago. I can't remember. I
can't remember.

Q. (Off microphone.)

VIRGINIE RAZZANO: Yes, she'sreally a good player on clay. She'sSpanish. On
clay, she was born onclay. But today, you know, it doesn'tmean much. Anybody
can beat anybodyelse, can win against anybody else.

You can have manysurprises. Other girls are stronger orhave a better ranking,
and there's no rule of women's tennis. It's less the case for men, because
there'salways Federer or Nadal, and these guys are better than anybody
else,physically speaking.

But for women, tennis has changed so much. It's more and more complicated.
We've seen this. If you look at Ivanovic, she's gone down interms of her
ranking, and at present, you know, she's no longer in the top10. Well, it
will take time before she'sback. It changes all the time, except forSafina.
She's still No. 1, and that'sbeen the case for a while now. Anybodycan beat
anybody else. That's for women.

Davenport a number of years ago would beat 2and 2 against other girls who
were, you know, really at their levels, but todaywe can't say there is an
easy match for women. Everybody knows that. That's whyall the girls want to
fight for each match. You can beat anybody. You can winover anybody.
So it's even more dangerous if agirl is better ranked than another, but, you
know, the other one who's not inthe top-something wants to win, as well.