00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
01:00A little shift in perspective and of course like sitting here right now I feel like I should have finished my Turin campaign having won two matches instead of one.
01:17But you can't really change the past, you've just got to do your best to learn from it, get back up and keep on heading forward.
01:30So that's ultimately the goal now.
01:36Obviously I'm in a much better place and I think today there was a lot of good stuff and ultimately we just got to keep on improving.
01:48There's no other way.
01:49Hi Alex, Simon Eterno, Eurosport Italy.
01:53I don't want to sound cocky, but do you remember a set that you played better than the first one in your career today?
02:01Because to me it was almost your top, top level possible and still not enough.
02:07I'm curious, I'm just curious.
02:14I mean that's a tough, tough question to ask someone because it kind of sounds like my best is not good enough in your eyes.
02:29And I have won sets against Yannick in the past, so look, I'm going to say that yeah there was a lot of good stuff in that first set.
02:44I think one of the key elements was I dropped my percentage of first serve in the crucial stages, which allowed him to jump on top of me in that 5-all game.
03:02And he came up with some pretty good shots as well.
03:06So look, I've played him many, many times and even though a lot of people may not think so, I know how to beat him.
03:18It's just not that easy to do, right?
03:21You've got to hit the ball very hard, very flat, very deep and very close to the line.
03:28So it is something that I tried to do, but obviously it's not the easiest thing to do.
03:35And I do think for me to have genuine chances, I need to serve well throughout the whole match.
03:46And my serve dropped a little bit and I could have been better.
03:52Well done today and all year.
03:54How motivated are you now?
03:56I mean, I know the season just finished, but looking ahead to 2026 and kind of closing that gap to, you know, those two at the top.
04:05Yeah, look, it's always, it's always the goal.
04:08I, as I said, I still think that I've got more to give and, you know, I haven't hit my peak just yet.
04:16But I've also got to be careful with how much I push myself and how much pressure I put on myself because that's what gets me into dark places, right?
04:30I've got the desire to keep on improving and keep on wanting more and expecting more.
04:38So I've got to find a healthy balance.
04:41But as we've seen kind of the last two matches, I do have the ability to play with a higher pace and more aggressive style tennis.
04:51So I do think this is what needs to come out to be the best players in the world.
04:58Alex, congrats on a great season.
05:01After the French Open, you said you obviously mentally fatigued, you needed a reset, you know, burnt out.
05:07How important is it now?
05:08No Davis Cup coming up for you just to take that extra week off and the next few weeks heading into the new season.
05:14How important is it for you to reset?
05:16It is extremely important.
05:21Yeah, I've played a lot the last five or so years.
05:28And obviously Davis Cup has been always a huge priority in my calendar.
05:35And yeah, it's nice to have some time to switch off.
05:42And I'm going to need that because obviously we saw this year how I went through a tough stage.
05:50And I don't want to do that in the biggest tournaments of the year.
05:54So for me to take the next step is just being fresh, not putting as much pressure on myself.
06:01And ultimately just stepping up in the bigger tournaments.
06:06That's what it's going to take for me to jump from where I've been the last two years to potentially, you know, in the top five and pushing for bigger and better things.
06:20Alex, any reason for drop in serving percentage?
06:27I think it even dropped to about in the 50s at one stage.
06:31And with your career and the people that you've played, I know you've played Yannick the most probably.
06:38But is he the toughest for you when you compare playing Alcaraz and Novak and Roger and Ruffer and all that?
06:50I think one of the things that makes it very difficult against Yannick is his return of serve.
06:59That's one of the biggest things for me is that if I'm not serving really well, then I'm in trouble.
07:08If I'm missing a lot of first serves and I'm starting points with second serves, that's when I'm kind of behind in the rally.
07:17Against other players, I can manoeuvre that from time to time.
07:21But of course, you've got that and then the pace of ball, right?
07:26That's the biggest thing that when you are in baseline exchanges, his pace of ball is very large
07:35and it's got a lot of revolutions from both the forehand and the backhand side.
07:39And it's a lot easier to dictate play if you're landing first serves, right?
07:50That's the biggest thing.
07:52And it just got to a point where maybe I was trying to over-serve a little bit
07:59because I felt like he was getting on top of my serve.
08:03So maybe I started to push a little bit more and lost a little bit of rhythm.
08:08But yeah, I mean, again, I'm going in the right track.
08:15I think the level of that first set was very good.
08:19I had my chances. I had a lot of 40 early in that set that could have given me a little bit of buffer
08:29and who knows what could have happened.
08:31But hey, back to the drawing board and yeah, time to bring on a new season.
08:38Did you actually compare him to the others?
08:41Yeah, I do think there's more constant pressure.
08:46That's the biggest thing with Yannick.
08:50You know, more often than not, I feel like with Yannick that you can get into a bit of a snowball effect
09:00and after one break, the second break comes and all of a sudden you're doing your best to fight off potentially a bagel or 6-1.
09:11And that's mainly due to how well he's returning and his serving at the moment.
09:18His serving under duress in big points has been exceptional
09:23and I think I'm probably not the first player this week to talk about that.
09:28But that's been very impressive by him.
09:34Congrats, first of all, for reaching the semi-finals.
09:38And I think what's the best ranking?
09:41You both progressed a lot.
09:44I mean, in my opinion, in the last two years you both played much better.
09:48The results don't change too much.
09:50So I'm asking, what has been the biggest improvement of Sinner from your point of view
09:58if he hasn't lost, for instance, in this whole tournament,
10:02he served 39 times and never lost a game on his serve.
10:08While against you he had either break point or duress,
10:14every game but two.
10:16One in the first set and one in the second.
10:19The problem, in my opinion, was that your percentage of first serve was only 52%.
10:25What is your opinion?
10:27Yeah, I mean, again, Yannick is a little bit taller than me,
10:33has a little bit more length, which helps him on serve.
10:39And obviously, he's been serving at a very high level, not only today, but the whole match.
10:47As for me, my serve is something that's been a work in progress.
10:53And over the years, it definitely has gotten a lot better.
10:59And it's finding that balance because he's obviously, you know, he's two at the moment, but he's played pretty well for a couple of years.
11:15And he's been incredibly solid, right?
11:19So it means that I can't just make first serves against Yannick, right?
11:25I can't put my percentage up to serve at 75%, 80%, but just rolling it in, right?
11:33I need to hit my spots and go after my serves.
11:37And yeah, I served a lot better in the first set than I did in the second.
11:42And that's probably the difference in the two sets.
11:46And obviously, I had Love 40 early in the set.
11:55And he gave me a look at a second serve.
11:58He hit two good first serves, but I had a look at a second serve.
12:01And potentially, that was my chance to take.
12:06But we're talking about one of the best players in the world and his level is insanely high.
12:13So you're going to have to bring a very high level to beat him.
12:17So for me, as I said, the only way forward is to keep trying to improve those things.
12:26And the serve is one of the biggest things because returning, I'm normally going to give myself chances.
12:33I back myself on returns and then I just need to do a little bit better job on my serve.
12:40.
12:44.
12:49.
