With action fast and furious in Paris, here are some of the best quotes from Days 3 and 4
Kids love Rafa and Rafa love kids…
“I always had good connection with the kids, no? Being honest. I love the kids, in general. I love to spend time with them.”
Our Take:
This makes a lot of sense, that’s our only comment.
David Goffin on the challenges of facing Rafael Nadal in the third round, and whether he is discouraged by having such a tough draw.
“It's all the better. Hopefully I will be playing well. It doesn't matter that I'm playing against Nadal in the third round. It remains an important match. And for such a match, you want to play well. You want to perform well. You want to have fun. I want to challenge him as much as I can. As I always say, if I could lose against Nadal or Djokovic every week, I think it's a good sign.”
Our Take:
The Belgian has played extremely well through two rounds, losing just 13 games—the same amount that Nadal has lost!
Stefanos Tsitsipas, on living life on tour with his dad as coach.
“But he's a great guy. I love him. He loves me. We have been together since the age of 12, traveling together. I appreciate that.”
Our Take:
Great to see the respect that Stefanos has from his father—shows what type of person he really is.
Sloane Stephens on her growing confidence that is blossoming right along with her new coach-player relationship with Sven Groeneveld.
“Obviously bringing on Sven I have had a lot of structure the last couple of weeks, at the amount of time we've been working. I feel like I'm in a good head space. I'm playing better. I'm seeing the court well, which I think is really important for me.”
Our Take:
This bodes really well for Stephens. Groeneveld is a world-class coach and if Stephens is open to the message and fully embracing it there could be a serious honeymoon effect here at Roland Garros.
2016 champion Garbiñe Muguruza on how her confidence grows at Roland Garros with each passing year. She’s into the third round to face Elina Svitolina.
“I think every year that I played here, it's helping me. It's experience, you know, an accumulation of matches, in every court, of course, lifting the trophy and knowing that I can play well here, putting things together. Yeah, it's always good to have that confidence.”
Our Take:
Can’t really argue with this. Muguruza is one of two players in the draw that has reached the semi-finals on more than a third of her appearance at Roland Garros and she owns a remarkable 26-5 lifetime record in Paris.
Alexander Zverev on the survive and thrive mentality, after a five-set win over John Millman.
“I'm excited to what's coming ahead. Most important, I'm still in the tournament, and that's all that matters..”
Our Take:
You never know with Sascha. He’s right. He’s still in the tournament and one day it is all going to click for him.
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, on how she let a winnable match against World No.1 Naomi Osaka slip away.
“I think you could see that she's No. 1 there and that she's a great player, that she started to play better. And I had maybe a little bit too much respect or I -- I don't know. I got a little bit nervous.”
Our Take:
This has to be a gutwrenching loss for the Slovakian, who played so brilliantly for the first set and three-quarters of this match. She was so close to an epic upset but couldn’t rise above Osaka when the World No.1 summoned her best. Sadly, Schmiedlova has now lost 11 straight matches in Grand Slams.
Daria Kasatkina, on her quest to play with more clarity as the season progresses.
“It's not coming from the air just because you start to wanted to fix your head. So you have to work every practice, every match thinking about it, and it's getting better and better.”
Our Take:
Kasatkina is never going to have it easy with that serve of hers, so she’ll need to be shrewd, focused and mentally tough to get back to the Top 10 again. It’s certainly within the realm of possibilities—she has incredible feel for the ball and is a superb shotmaker.
Naomi Osaka, on how much she struggled with nerves during her Day 3 win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
“For me I think this is the most nervous I have ever been my entire life during a match. I think you could see that in the first set. I was literally not hitting any balls in the court. For me, today was weird because usually the nerves go away, but it kind of stayed the entire match. Then I just felt like it was a fight of willpower. Yeah, I managed to win in the end, so.”
Our Take:
It’s clear proof of what we in the media don’t always see: how much pressure there can be on a top athlete that is racking up the victories. The media, the fans, the agents—they all expect the money train to keep rolling but at 15 Grand Slam match wins and counting, it cannot last forever.