00:03Rafa, congrats.
00:04How did you turn it around today after dropping the first two sets?
00:07Yeah, it was a really difficult match.
00:10Pablo played very well during the first two sets.
00:15And yeah, I mean, I'm super happy with the comeback, you know,
00:19and to keep pushing and believing until the last point.
00:24Anything in English?
00:26Radio 1?
00:27Yeah.
00:31Congrats for the match today.
00:33Pablo has just told us that he felt that you were ready to compete
00:37with Carlos and Yannick very soon, or he didn't say very soon.
00:42He said it would happen.
00:43He doesn't know why, but it would happen.
00:47This tournament, Juan Carlos, rises the hype and the excitement
00:50around your profile in your game.
00:52So how do you react to this statement by Pablo?
00:55I mean, he's a great player, you know.
00:58He has done great things, you know, on tour.
01:01He reached, I think he was top 10, you know, at one point.
01:04So I want to obviously congratulate him for the match and not just for the match, you know, for his
01:09career.
01:10He has been, you know, a reference for the Spanish tennis.
01:14You know, it's difficult when there are, you know, these, you know, best players, you know, like Rafa and Carlos.
01:23But I think we have to give him, you know, credit for everything he has done and he has achieved.
01:28So it's great, you know, to share core with him, you know, and to have the chance to play against
01:34him here in the French Open in a fourth round.
01:39Hi. I guess at the beginning of the year, a Grand Slam quarterfinal would have been a long way away
01:45from where you would expect to be.
01:47I just wonder, have you have you stopped to think about everything that you're achieving or are you trying just
01:53to kind of stay in the moment?
01:55Yeah, I'm trying to enjoy the moment, you know, like I was, you know, talking to my friends and to
02:01my family, like before the match.
02:03And it's, you know, it's a gift, you know, like to play a fourth round in a French Open, you
02:08know, so my goal was to enjoy, you know, obviously you always want to win and to give your best
02:15tennis.
02:15And that's what I did. I think I did a great job, you know, accepting the things, how it came
02:20to me today.
02:21And Pablo was playing a great, you know, level of tennis in the first two sets and I accepted it.
02:27And then I had my chance and I think I raised my level in the next three sets.
02:35So very happy with how the week is going and the season as well.
02:40Some people say that if you are winning, you don't feel tired, but you've had two long five set matches.
02:46Do you feel at all tired physically or mentally?
02:50Well, I mean, no, I think I'm just, you know, trying to enjoy the moment.
02:56I'm not feeling, I mean, obviously I've played a lot of, I mean, four matches in this tournament.
03:04Some of them were like longer than the first two.
03:08Even the second one was, you know, a long match.
03:11So I'm just trying to recover while these days off are like really helping me, you know,
03:18that don't have a match between like half like a day off, you know, between matches.
03:23It's great, you know, to get the body ready.
03:26And yeah, I'm trying to recover well, but I'm not tired.
03:34Rafael, well done.
03:37You've, I imagine growing up you watched Sasha play in a lot of big matches in big tournaments against other
03:46big players.
03:47What is it like to walk onto court for the first time with someone you've been sort of watching on
03:53television for a long time?
03:55Yeah, I mean, it's my first year on tour, so I'm just trying to enjoy the process.
04:00You know, it's like everything is new for me.
04:03So I'm going to learn a lot.
04:05I think this year will give me a lot of experience.
04:08You know, like there are things that I don't know because it's obvious that it's my first year.
04:14So I'll miss some things, but, you know, walking into this big course, it's like it feels very special, you
04:22know,
04:22and I'm super grateful, you know, to be part of one of these matches against one of, you know,
04:29the greatest players from from Spain, like like Pablo.
04:33And to be to be part of that match is very special for me.
04:37And I'm super grateful also for the people that were supporting me in the box today.
04:42Obviously, my dad and all the people that came to support me.
04:47Raphael, we've now had 29 five set matches.
04:50We're heading towards a possible record at Roland Garros and so many players coming back from two sets down.
04:55I mean, you're relatively inexperienced in that area.
04:58But did you still really believe that you could win from two sets down today?
05:02I mean, I knew that I had my chances, like the match is not over until you finish the last
05:08point.
05:09So that was my mentality today.
05:10I tried to accept the things.
05:13Yeah, I knew that Pablo was playing a great level of tennis in the first two sets, even though I
05:19served very well the first one.
05:21But yeah, he played great.
05:23He deserved to win those two first sets.
05:26And I think one of the important moments of the of the match was when I was down, I think
05:314-0 in the second set.
05:33And I still like had believed that I could win that second set and push him, you know, to, you
05:40know, beat me in the in the in the it was 6-4, you know, so not let me go.
05:44And in that second set, I think that that was, I mean, one of the important points of the important
05:52moments of the of the match.
05:54So, so yeah, super, super happy how I managed the important moments and the pressure moments in the in the
06:00match, because there were there were a lot.
06:02And there were like sometimes where maybe other players could have just, you know, accepted that they they reached the
06:11fourth round.
06:11It's it's great, you know, like a great experience, you know, and I'm too set to lock down.
06:17So yeah, let me go, you know, and but I had the belief that I could give a little bit
06:22more and and fortunately, I won the match.
06:27Well done. Just specifically on the matchup with Sasha, how what you kind of think of the keys to that
06:32match and also whether you think of him as the favorite to win the title here?
06:36I mean, he's a great he's a great player, obviously, what he has he has done is, you know, amazing
06:42one.
06:43Yeah, one of the best players right now on the tour.
06:45So I'll just try to to give my best, try to recover well because I played a lot of matches.
06:51So I think this day of tomorrow will will help me to to get ready for that match and enjoy,
06:57you know, because it's a quarter finals, you know, match against one of the best players in the world.
07:03So try to enjoy the opportunity and take a lot of learning and obviously go with with everything and with
07:10the belief as today and as the other matches that if I do the things well, I can I can
07:16take the win as well.
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