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Adam Walton a signé ce mardi sur le court Suzanne-Lenglen la plus grande victoire de sa carrière à Roland-Garros, en renversant Daniil Medvedev, tête de série n°6, au terme d’un match complètement fou : 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. L’Australien, wild-card et 97e mondial, a expliqué en conférence de presse avoir parfaitement assumé les conditions brûlantes de Paris, lui qui “joue mieux dans la chaleur” et s’est accroché dans un cinquième set irrespirable pour décrocher sa première victoire contre un Top 10 en Grand Chelem. Très lucide, Walton a rappelé qu’il n’était “pas le joueur le plus talentueux”, mais qu’il pouvait faire la différence par son physique, son endurance et sa capacité à tenir dans les moments chauds. Après avoir déjà battu Medvedev à Cincinnati, le natif de Home Hill confirme qu’il peut bousculer les plus grands et poursuit sa route à Paris.

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01:23Yeah, you know, I had the belief that I could definitely go out there and beat him. Obviously, having done
01:29it in Cincinnati was a huge confidence booster. And yeah, obviously, to get a first top 10 winner to slam
01:37is pretty epic.
01:39Hello, Adam. Why do you think you do play better in the Heat? And just in terms of the scorelines
01:46of those sets, very one-sided, all of them until the fifth set, do you think that the Heat was
01:52part of the reason for them being one-sided?
01:55Yeah, the answer to the first question, you know, I grew up in the Heat. I've always preferred when the
02:04court gives my shots extra, which is what the Heat does. So I feel that I have also the cardiovascular
02:14with the Heat is pretty good.
02:17I seem to be able to last. I'm not saying I last better than him, but I last better than
02:22probably the field in the Heat. So, you know, just given the way I play, I think that's one aspect
02:31that is huge for me because I'm not the most talented player out there.
02:34So to be able to last in hot conditions is an important factor for me. And then the second part
02:42of that question, you know, I don't think the Heat really affected how one-sided the sets were.
02:48So I kind of felt once a person was up in the set, we kind of freed up maybe a
02:56little bit and was able to go for our shots and maybe a bit more.
02:59And that's why I think the scorelines of those first four sets were maybe one-sided.
03:06I don't really think that the Heat contributed to a one-sided score, if that makes sense.
03:12Well done. How worried were you early in the fifth and how did you sort of turn it around, did
03:16you feel?
03:16Yeah. I actually felt a bit of an energy burst at the start of the fifth.
03:22You know, I felt like the crowd got louder and there was more people in there.
03:27And, you know, obviously to go a breakdown early, it sucked.
03:33But I just told myself, you know, just keep fighting, keep fighting.
03:36And I thought he was playing some pretty good tennis.
03:39And then the 3-1 hold was huge. I had some break points.
03:42I think if I lose that game to go 4-1 double break, I'm probably not a winner today.
03:49So I think just to hold there and then, you know, I took my chance at 4-3 and then
03:54saved some break points at 4-all.
03:56It was just, it turned very, it was very physical.
03:59And then, yeah, to obviously get it at 5-4 was great.
04:04Congratulations.
04:05I'm just curious to know about the decision to play in China on hard courts a little bit before the
04:11tournament.
04:12And in the end, now that you've come here and had this great result, would you say that it actually
04:16helped you build your confidence?
04:19Yeah. I mean, the decision to go play the Challengers in Asia was always set in stone.
04:25I was trying to chase the Wimbledon cut.
04:28I was actually needing a fair few points to be able to make the main draw.
04:33And then the decision to leave Asia after the first week to head to Madrid was purely just because I
04:40got into the main draw.
04:41And we saw it as a great chance with Madrid being a bit of altitude and the conditions being right.
04:47I was going to get there with plenty of time, so I wouldn't have been that jet lag.
04:51The hardest sort of part from that was to come back to China after that tournament.
04:56And I got, you know, really lucky.
04:58I won three matches in a row, seven, six and a third, to be able to make a final there
05:02and just got over the line for the Wimbledon main draw cut.
05:07So had I not gone to Asia, I don't know if I would have got the 60, 70 points that
05:12I needed.
05:14Adam, you're very self-deprecating, saying you're not the most talented player out there.
05:18But actually, you've just beaten, you know, the sixth seed.
05:22What does this do for you and your confidence?
05:25Surely it must make you think you belong with the best.
05:28Yeah.
05:30Yeah, look, I mean, anyone can beat anyone on a given day.
05:34But, yeah, for sure, it's a big confidence boost.
05:37I think also to do it in a five-set format is harder to beat the top guys.
05:43So, yeah, just really proud of my efforts and, yeah, definitely confident going into the next round.
05:49I do feel that every time I go back onto the clay, I get a little bit more comfortable on
05:54it.
05:54Like I even felt that when I was in Madrid a few weeks ago, going back onto the clay,
06:00I was a little bit more confident than what I was in Houston.
06:03And then coming to Paris again, training here, I felt a little bit more confident on it with my footing.
06:12And then, yeah, I just hope that as my tennis continues that I can get more and more confident on
06:19the clay.
06:21Well done.
06:22How do you think this will be received in Home Hill?
06:25And what sort of, I suppose, links and ties do you still have to the town?
06:30Yeah, I mean, I think it'll probably be in the newspaper tomorrow morning.
06:35So, yeah, no, it's great.
06:37I haven't been back there for a while, but obviously have so many connections with the local club there.
06:43And I think it's just, it's a pretty cool story to have been brought up in Home Hill
06:51and then moved to Brisbane, then moved to America and then now playing pro.
06:55It's a pretty special story.
06:58Any questions?
06:59Yeah.
07:01Just about the conditions, like you mentioned going to Madrid, playing at altitude.
07:06And now here we've got this weather where it's really hot.
07:08Everybody's talking about the conditions being fast, high bounces.
07:11Do you feel almost like you got what you needed preparing in Madrid conditions-wise?
07:16And what is your overall take on how the conditions are out there in this heat?
07:21Yeah, I mean, it's hot.
07:24So, yeah, I guess it's somewhat similar to Madrid in terms of the bounce, like, because obviously with altitude, the
07:30ball is bouncing and it's moving through the air faster.
07:32So, I think with the heat, the ball is doing that, but at the end of the day, like, we
07:38play in heat or we play in the cold.
07:39It's the same conditions for both.
07:41So, we've both got to adapt to the given day.
07:44You don't get to choose the day you play.
07:46You don't get to choose how hot it's going to be.
07:49So, I guess as tennis players, we just have to do the best that we can on that given day.
07:55What are your goals for the rest of the season?
07:58Say that again?
07:59Your goals for the rest of the season.
08:01My goals.
08:03Yeah, look, I don't have – I just want to improve.
08:06Like, I don't really have numbers that I want to try to hit.
08:11I just want to try – obviously, keep being in the main draw of slams.
08:14So, for the short term, that's trying to get enough points to make the U.S. Open cut.
08:21I've kind of felt this year it's been just relentless trying to – I don't want to say chase points,
08:27but, like, get the required points to get into the slams.
08:30I was unfortunate to not make the French Open cut.
08:34I think I was about 108 on the list, and it actually moved to where I was two out,
08:38but very fortunate that I was able to be a reciprocal wild card here.
08:43So, yeah, just very, very blessed to have gotten that.
08:46And then to just sneak in Wimbledon was a great goal.
08:48And then, yeah, the short-term goal is to make U.S. Open main draw.
08:53We saw you race up to your coach, Mark Draper, straight after the match,
08:58and you could see, obviously, how thrilled you both were.
09:01What were the tactics that you discussed beforehand,
09:03and how did you approach coming into the match today?
09:07Yeah, we knew that I'd have to be at my best to try beat him.
09:16We kept the tactics pretty clear, and we had a few ideas of what he might throw at us.
09:22But it's more than just tactics.
09:25It's a mental rollercoaster out there.
09:27And when the scoreline goes the way it does, I think, you know,
09:31we'd see it in our emotions that, you know, when I was winning in the sets one and three,
09:36he was getting a little annoyed, and then I was getting a little annoyed in sets two and four.
09:40So you just have to persevere, and I guess that was the one thing we were really, really happy about
09:46today.
09:47Last question, Phil.
09:49Hey, Adam. Well done.
09:51Thank you.
09:51We all know that Daniel is very unpredictable.
09:54He is one day loses to Lars, and the other day almost beat Yannick, for example.
10:03How do you prepare yourself to any different option, any different version of him?
10:09How do you manage and discuss it inside your team, which version you will face?
10:14I mean, we don't know that.
10:16We don't know which version that we'll get.
10:18I just know that we could draw upon a past win against him.
10:21So we used that, and we tried to execute my game,
10:26relevant of how what he was going to bring.
10:28We just tried to be clear with the way we wanted to play.
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