J. TSONGA/J. Monaco

7-5, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6

An interview with:

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA



THE MODERATOR: Questions in English first, please.

Q. Therewere some doubts about how the top French players might perform
coming into thetournament, but things are looking better now. What are your
thoughts on that?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Yeah, of course. I feel good. Every French player feel
good. Ihope one of us will play a big tournament.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. I'mquite certain you enjoyed that match beyond the fact that you won.

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Yeah. There was all the ingredients. What's important for
me is when I walk out ofthe court I can face myself in the mirror and think,
okay, you've been a mantoday, whether you won or you lost.

What happened to me wasjust wonderful. I played on the Lenglencourt. It was
packed. The atmosphere was great. So that was just fantastic. My opponent was
wonderful, and I have lots ofrespect for him. So there you go.

Q. Does it make it even greater to win against a real specialist on clay?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Yes, of course. And he never gave me the match. I had to
fight for it. Yes, it's a great pleasure for me, becauseJuan is someone on
this surface and on the tour.

Q. When you congratulated each other at the end, it seemed you talked toeach
other for a while. What did yousay?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Well, I said I was very happy Iplayed him, and he
congratulated me for winning here in France in front of a French crowd.

I think we were bothtired, so I don't know if we really knew what we were
saying. But it was very fair play from him, and Ihave a great respect for
him. You know,this is why I like tennis, because he is a guy who fought on
every ball andstill was very fair play.

Q. We have an impression that for the people here their favorite is
Tsonga,and that they want Tsonga to be the new Yannick Noah. So when you won
the set point with an ace,was the crowd more a motivation than a pressure on
you? That was my first question. And my second question is: Would you like
someone like Muhammad Ali tocome and see your match to sort of feel and
remember his youth?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Would you like to answer for mefor the first question?
Because I veryoften say that yes, well, okay. Fairenough. People make a
parallel betweenme and Yannick. People, the fans, are asort of a motivation
rather than of pressure, and the only pressure I have isthe one I put on
myself, because I want to do things right.

This is a very healthypressure. This is what motivatesme. This is what makes
me feel likefighting.

For Muhammad Ali, if he wants to come andsee me play, fine. If he doesn't,
too bad. I won't be angry at him.

Q. Thatwas a big physical fight, but also a big tactical fight. You played
many dropshots. Was it in your game plan at the beginning?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Yeah. My plan was to prevent him from staying onhis
baseline. I wanted him to come tothe net, because I knew that I was more
comfortable than him.

He was very far behindthe baseline. He had to run quite alot. Even though he
was not exhausted,at the end I think it wears you off having to sprint every
other point. Then that made it possible for me to scoremore points.

Q. And the match point was perfect. It's a wonderful shot with a winning
volley. Is this the way you dreamt of this match?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Well, as I said before thetournament started, this is the
kind of match that made me love this arena,that make me want to practice more
and give my best for this tournament.

Q. I apologize in advance, because I know my French colleagues know thisvery
well, but for us and the rest of the world, we begin and understand thatyou
have an extraordinary experience because you have your friends and Monfilsand
Ouanna want to have success here in your country, in this tournament. Could
you tell us more about it?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Well, yes. It's absolutely great for us, Gilles, Gaë
l,Josselin, all of us. We were kidstogether. When we talked, when we
wereteenagers, we thought, hey, what would be great would be to be French
teamtogether. Well, Gilles, Gaël, andmyself, we're already on the French
team, and I think Josselin is on the righttracks. All he needs to do is
continuein the same tracks.

So, yes, it's abeautiful story.

Q. How long is it since you know each other?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Well, we first met when we were10 or 11.

Q. We all see that you're making progress on clay, match after match. Where
in your game did you progress most?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Well, I can rally longer, and Ican make my opponent become
more aggressive. I managed to turn some situations around. Like when I'm
defending, I can come back froma situation in which I'm not very comfortable
to a situation where I can startattacking again.

So, yeah, I like thissurface. I have progressed in manyareas. I can slide far
better, forinstance. I know that I have that in mylegs. But I have not played
with thisfor a while, but now I manage to do that well.

Q. Isn't it your best match ever on clay?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Well, yeah. I think you can say it's my best match onclay
so far, but I'm not 100% happy. I'm100% happy I won against this player,
because he's a great player, but I can dobetter. I'm quite aware of it.

Q. What are you unhappy about?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Well, I'm not happy that I don'tmake the appropriate
choices all the time. Sometimes in the rallies I make choices to make the
rally last longerwhen I could win faster.

Q. Eric was saying that maybe Josselin's victory gave you ideas. Is this the
case?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Well, it gave me ideas withregards to behaviors and
attitude, because over the last few months when Ithink about my fitness, will
I be in good shape, clay is difficult, I know Ican play well, but, you know,
things seemed not to click.

Well, the way hebehaved during his match, that was good for me. I had lots of
pleasure watching him, and I felt this is what tennis isabout, and this is
how I need to behave on the court. This is what I want to do. I want to have
fun.

Q. What about your T-shirt?

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Well, one of my best friends,Morgan and Arienne
(phonetic), they just had a baby. The baby was born this morning. So I had
"Welcome, Lou" printed onmy T-shirt. I'm quite happy I playedthis match today.

Q. Christophe Rochus for the next round. He's not a specialist of clay, but
he is a specialist of French players.

JO-WILFRIEDTSONGA: Yeah. Well, we'll see. I have specialized in Belgian
players myself.