Interview of Pascal Maria, the umpire Nadal vs Djokovic Roland Garros 2014 Final

Questionned about the crowd that distracted Djokovic during the match point, Pascal Maria says that he is not allowed to replay the point. In the Davis Cup you can but not in the Tour because for example you could ask someone in the public to shout during a crucial point to allow the player to replay the point. So he had to play a 2nd served even though he was probably disturbed by the crowd.

Questionned about Nadal and Djokovic's mood during this match, he says that of course they were nervous, but they are great players, they play fair, respect each other, there was no problem when I was asked to check the marks. Even though they wated to win that match, they are friends. A Grand Slam final isn't much trouble for an umpire because you have the best court, best line umpires, best ballboys,

Questionned about the heat, he confirms that the weather was very very hot. According to him, both players were suffering from the heat but maybe Novak a bit more. They really suffered from the heat at different times so the level of the match wasn't the same from the beginning to the end. According to him, Rafa ended up in a better shape than Novak today but maybe it will be different next time.