V. HANESCU/G. Simon

6-4, 6-4,6-2

Aninterview with:

GILLESSIMON

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. How serious is your injury to your knee?

GILLES SIMON: I don't know.

Q. You don't know, but apparently you suffered quite a lot.

GILLES SIMON: Yes, but I've not had time to see thedoctor. I mean, I had the
antidopingcontrol before.

Q. When exactly did you feel it?

GILLES SIMON: On my serve and I wasn't playing that well,so I don't know
exactly. My knee isswollen a bit.

Q. Let's talk about the match. Howdo you analyze it?

GILLES SIMON: Well, everything went wrong today. We were at about the same
level for two sets,and I had God knows how many break points. I never scored
any. The rallies were quite long. I was always close to making the point,
andthings went wrong. At no time did itclick.

And then you start thinking, well,you'll never make it, because that's one
set, second set, another break. And it becomes tougher and tougher.

Q. How do you explain this lack of success? Were you pretty tense and nervous
on break points?

GILLES SIMON: Well, yes. Well, it was a bit both sides, you know. Some I was
too nervous. Others heplayed well. And there were verybeautiful points that
he won and stupid balls that I lost.

There are some he played verywell. Others I couldn't play well, andthe game
conditions were pretty difficult, and I wasn't good. I yielded in very
easily, and he was reallyrobust today. He played well, and when Iwas
expecting him to make a mistake, he never did. He was very sharp, very
accurate. Many first serves. Yeah, I gave him points.

Q. Would you say your two first victories here have helped you build your
confidence,or what happened today is a consequence of what you've been
through over thelast weeks?

GILLES SIMON: No, the two first victories were a help, buttoday the match
became more and more difficult, little by little. In the first set, there was
just one game inwhich I was in a difficult condition. And he took a break. He
took abreak when I put him in a difficult condition for three games in the
first set,and I never managed to win the break.

Q. What's difficult is to see that you had very tight matches last year,and
you won them all, when this year things are going the other way around.

GILLES SIMON: Oh, no, don't be mistaken. I lost quite a few matches last
year, aswell. In the first round this year Icould have lost, and at the end
of the day I won. That made it possible for me to play twoadditional matches.
It's a bit of aparadox, because he won 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, and I have a feeling I
was prettyclose. When you look at the paper, okay,I lost easily.

But, you know, I think little bylittle I need to find the right balance to
win tight matches, so I need to playas much as possible, to win as many
matches as possible.

Q. So the key for you is perhaps to forget about the result, to stopthinking
so much?

GILLES SIMON: Yeah, but my results, as I said, are not asbad as you might
think. So, I mean, youguys have other types of expectations this year. You
know, this year, making the third roundin Roland Garros is just normal for
you, whereas last year you would have foundit fantastic. This also has
changed.