00:00BNP Paribas, partenaire des plus belles histoires de Roland Garros, aux côtés des ramasseurs de balles depuis plus de 50 ans.
00:30What does it mean to improve your record against her, especially here at the French Open, given that you were 1-3 down on clay, having played against her?
00:44I didn't even know that we had statistics on clay, and it's very important.
00:50I'm building my confidence against her, and I improved my game a lot over the years,
00:57and I think now I have everything I need to get all of those wins back against her,
01:03and, yeah, it's important, you know, to kind of, like, put some pressure on the opponent.
01:14You mentioned there about having some different things, maybe.
01:17Just wondered, at the start of the tournament, you were talking about working on your touch game and that kind of thing.
01:21I wondered how much that came into it today against an opponent like Amanda, who's so big-hitting.
01:25Yeah, she's a big hitter, and I know that I knew that I won't have a lot of opportunities for my touch game today,
01:32and as much as I could, I tried to change her rhythm against her, and I think I did it pretty well.
01:40And, overall, I stayed really aggressive, but, like, those little moments helped me a lot to put an extra pressure on her.
01:48Here, Irina, your footwork today is, these days, is really impressive, just the amount you're moving your feet
01:57and the way you make space for yourself on the ball.
02:00How has that improved over the years, and what helped you to kind of master that part of it?
02:04Honestly, it's so funny, because when I'm moving on the court, I feel like I'm so bad,
02:09and then I watch videos of me moving, and I think, like, oh, my God, there's a lot of steps,
02:13and it's actually quite fast, and, yeah, I mean, we've been working so many years with my fitness coach
02:19on that part of my game, because he was definitely missing a lot, and, yeah,
02:26and over the years, like, slowly, we were building that very good base,
02:31and then on that base, we put a lot of, like, specific work, footwork,
02:35and now to see everything is coming together, and everything is working,
02:40it's just amazing to see, and it feels so good to know that you're working in the right direction.
02:50Hello, congratulations.
02:51I would like to ask you about today's court, Suzanne Lang-Glenn,
02:55the second time you had the chance to play on this court,
02:58and I've read that this is the first time since 2019 that number one played two matches in Suzanne Lang-Glenn.
03:08Does that mean anything for you, or does it doesn't matter?
03:12Well, of course, I would prefer to play on the biggest courts,
03:16but at the same time, you know, maybe not everyone can get tickets, like, on the center court,
03:25and then it's good to play on another stadium, which is also big and beautiful in front of the people
03:32who was able to get tickets on that court.
03:35So, at the end of the day, if you ask me what I prefer, I prefer to play on Philippe Chatria, you know,
03:42but why the decision was to put me on that court for the second time, I don't know.
03:49I don't want to complain, to be honest.
03:51I got my win, I'm happy, hopefully from now, I'm going to be playing only on the Philippe Chatria.
03:57I mean, I think it should be, right?
03:59So, it's okay.
04:02Yeah, okay, so.
04:06Hello, Rina.
04:07You didn't lose, as I said, since the beginning of the tournament,
04:11next game against Zhang Kinwen.
04:14Do you expect a tough first game against her?
04:19I mean, it's always tough matches against her.
04:21She's a great player, and, of course, I expect a great battle,
04:27and I'm super excited to face her in the quarterfinals,
04:29and I want to get my revenge.
04:34Yeah, I want to get this win after Rome,
04:36so I'm happy to face her in the quarters.
04:38In the next round, you will face Kunwen Zheng again, who beat you in Rome.
04:45What do you think is the biggest change in Kunwen in Rome compared to before?
04:50I have to say I was pretty exhausted in Rome,
04:53and honestly, I was playing the tournament constantly thinking I shouldn't be playing,
04:58and I needed a little rest before Roland Garros.
05:02But I think maybe because courts are a little bit slower,
05:06so she has a bit more time to prepare her shots.
05:12But now I'm fresh and ready to go,
05:18so I'm super excited to face her in the quarterfinals.
05:23Hi.
05:25About your preference playing on the Philippe Chatelier,
05:29obviously your goal is to play the final.
05:34So you prefer to play on the Chatelier
05:36because you can have some visual information
05:40before the really big matches?
05:43That's it?
05:45Well, I think because when you play on the biggest courts,
05:49they show those matches on the TV,
05:53so it's kind of like more people watching,
05:55and you can show yourself to more people, you know,
06:00and also the court is so beautiful,
06:03and it's much bigger.
06:05It feels, you know, like you're...
06:07The moment you step on the Chatelier,
06:10you know, you feel like,
06:11okay, this is a big stage,
06:13and this is where I'm meant to be,
06:15and this is where I want to compete,
06:17and I want to fight,
06:18and I want to bring my best tennis.
06:20So I think it's all about the energy of the stadium.
06:26Irina, how do you feel coming...
06:30With this year's French Open
06:32compared to maybe just 12 months ago,
06:36when you consider last year you came in
06:38as the Australian Open champion,
06:40this year you're coming in this calendar year
06:44without a major.
06:46Does that change your mindset at all
06:49as you progress through the tournament?
06:53I mean, I think the mindset is always the same,
06:56is to win as much as you can, you know.
07:00So compared to last year,
07:02I think I wasn't that complete player
07:04that I am right now.
07:06I think in the last year I improved a lot in my game,
07:10and I think now going to the French Open,
07:12I don't have those doubts that I cannot play on clay,
07:18you know, so maybe I'm more confident this year.
07:21So I, you know, like going into the Australia Open,
07:26Youth Open, I know that I'm a favourite,
07:28and I know that I can do really well on the surface,
07:30so it's like it's a lot of confidence.
07:31And before going to the French Open,
07:33like previous years, I was like,
07:35I'm not sure there's like EG,
07:37there's like players who's like much better in,
07:39like much better in movement,
07:41much better in a lot of things,
07:43and I'm not sure that I'm ready yet.
07:44And now going to the French Open,
07:46I know that I'm ready,
07:47and I'm super excited,
07:48and I really hope that I'm going to be very proud of myself
07:52by the end of this tournament.
