N. DJOKOVIC/J. Tsonga 6‑1, 5‑7, 5‑7, 7‑6, 6‑1

 

JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA

 

 

Q.  What’s in your mind?  I guess you’re very disappointed.

JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA:  Well, I’m disappointed.  I am disappointed.  But now it’s over.  Nothing I can do.  I can’t play the match again, so I’m eliminated.

It’s a bit of a shame because I was pretty close.  I’m not going to regret many things in that match.  I gave everything I had.  I fought as much as I could.

Unfortunately at the end I had no energy left in my legs.  That’s it.  That’s the way it is.  I’ll have to close that chapter and start practicing on grass.

I’ll try and remember this match and this loss so I have more confidence in tournaments like Wimbledon.  Because if I can hurt top players on clay, I can do worse on grass.

Q.  Congratulations.  All the same, it was a wonderful match for everyone.  The small difference there was today, is it because before the match you said you thought no French would win Roland Garros this year?  Is this the slight lack of confidence?  Do you reckon it had an impact on the crucial points?

JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA:  No, no.  I was not playing to win the tournament.  I was playing to make it to the semifinals, so I was still far from winning the tournament.

And, no, I haven’t got a lot to say about this question.  No, not much to say.  I said that, and I think I wasn’t wrong because we have not won it.  Next year we’ll have the same question and we’ll have the same answers.

And as long as none of us wins it, we won’t be able to claim we can win it.  That’s all.

 

Q.  The second and the third sets were wonderful.  What happened during the first one?  It’s as if you were not really on the court.

JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA:  Well, no, I mean, the first set he was playing real well.  He was playing real fast.  He was hitting the ball very early.  I had no time to get organized.

You know what?  Tennis is a sport in which you have two players and you can feel very well and you can still be defeated 6‑Love if the guy on the other side of the net plays far better than you do.  This is what happened.

He played far better than me; he was hitting very early on the rebound.  Then, you know, sometimes you’re down 6‑2, 6‑Love, but I decided to fight back.  There’s no shame being dominated like that.  It’s tennis.  That’s sports.

All I know is that I’m not going to give him any point for free.  Had I been defeated 6‑Love, 6‑3, 6‑1 fighting all along, it would have revealed my level.

But I fought, and I had match points.

 

Q.  Would you say that this was one of your best matches in your career but also the most difficult loss in your career?

JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA:  Yes, that’s true.  This is probably the most difficult defeat or loss in my career.  I haven’t lost that many matches after such a big fight.  If I remember well, I think I lost one, a match in which I had match points.  I can’t remember which one it was, but I think there was just one.

It’s very rare for me to have match points and not win the match, so I remember that because it was Roland Garros; it was a quarterfinal.

But then for the match points, there is I feel nothing I can feel sorry about.  There was a passing shot, I played a passing shot and he ran on the good side.

It was like in Australia when he was on the right side.  That’s it.

 

Q.  At the end of the match you kept sitting on your chair.  People were calling your name but you were sitting there.  Why?  Were you tired?  Were you disappointed?  Were you angry?

JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA:  Well, it was a bit of everything.  I was tired; I was frustrated; I was disappointed.  You get all kinds of feelings going through your mind.  You want to break your racquet.  You want to shout.  You want to cry.  You want to laugh and say, Oh, come on, that’s a joke.  How could I lose this match?

You sort of want to wake up.

 

Q.  Could you say a few words in English for your fans in the UK?

JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA:  (In English.)  Now is time to have a cup of tea.  (Laughter.)

Q.        What about your match points at the end of the fourth set?  What happened?

JO‑WILFRIED TSONGA:  (In English.)  I did a good return on one of them, and then, I mean, he play well.  He just play well.  He was aggressive on this one and he did it.

I had one passing shot to finish it, but he choose the good side.  It’s like this.  I mean, it’s