Amélie Mauresmo - 22.05.09

Q. We have perhaps been cruel and difficult about writing about you in Paris and your difficulties here.

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: I don't know what you're talking about.

Q. Good. I seldom know myself. (laughter.) But I wonder if you feel you've overcome all your difficulties here.
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, maybe we will know also in few days, few weeks, whatever. No, I'm doing my best every year.
I've been trying different kinds of preparations, different ways of arriving here for the French Open. Nothing really seemed to be working that good, so I guess it has really nothing to do with results at the end of the day.
So I'm just trying to accept the pressure that is on every French tennis player coming here in Roland Garros before the tournament, and try to deal with it.

Q. Are you glad to have that opportunity?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: It's good. It means we have a home Grand Slam. It's a great privilege, but it's also bringing a lot of pressure. So it's up to me and us, speaking on behalf of the players, French players, to do what we can and do our best and make sure we improve every year.

Q. Compared with former years, you talked about the pressure. You said this year would be a year for you to enjoy. Apparently things are going well. This state of mind, is it going to change something for you in this French Open?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Not really. Compared with the two former years where I was lacking confidence, this time I feel I have my style of game back, and my style is better adapted to clay now.
I am convinced my game can adapt to this type of surface. Of course, there will be other factors, like the opponent, for a start. But with years passing, I always try to come to this month of May with different approaches. As I said, trying to have different preparations.
And now I decided that here ,indeed, there was great attention compared with other tournaments, and I had to deal with it and accept it as it is.

Q. Do you have the same feelings on this clay here than in Madrid?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, when I started hitting here the first day, I thought the balls were very hard. Madrid was a bit high in altitude, higher than here. But now I practiced several times and I feel better.
I think what is different is the fact that the ball here is slower. I had the feeling here that the courts were slower. But apart from that, everything is well for me.

Q. It's been a few years. You always wanted to go more to the net, and you did this very well in Madrid. Is it a turning point for you? Does it give you more enjoyment as you play?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: That was my goal for this 2009 season, trying to enjoy myself on the court. And I know enjoying myself cannot be true if I play very long rallies.
What I like is going up to the net, as I did in Madrid. Of course, I should not rush to the net either. But if I build up my point wisely, then I can go up to the net. Now I can do that a bit better.

Q. Same sort of question. Apparently the cooler you are, the better you play. So how are you able to be so cool?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, this is the challenge I have every time. Sometimes it's more difficult. It can be during a match where I can feel more tension because of the score, because it's coming to the end of the match, or for different reasons.
The challenge is always to remain focused on my game. And as far as possible, I should not forget about the tactics I chose. I should really try to stay into the match. This is a key for me, to be able to remain focused and to forget about the environment, forget about the score. I should just focus on what I have to do.

Q. It is now familiar to you to have short rallies to go up to the net?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: It comes naturally, but you need to be very fit physically to do that. Everything has to be done to be able to do this. Meaning when I practice, when I do my physical training, it's different. I need better fitness for that.

Q. For you, it's more demanding to go up to the net, or is it more demanding to play long rallies from the baseline?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, I have a sort of explosive nature, although with years I worked on my endurance a lot. So I believe this game, this attacking game suits me better.

Q. In the past, you played several Grand Slams having physical problems. Now apparently you are very fit, so it seems that everything is on your side this year.
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, it is a positive point indeed. It's been two or three years I had problems with my health, among others. And of course I want to play my best tennis. I want to continue in the line of what I did in Madrid, and I hope this will be the case this year.

Q. Around you people you are meeting here in the French Open stadium, your friends, did they change attitude towards you compared with former years?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: You mean other players?

Q. Do you feel less expectations?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, in the past years, every time I came here in very special conditions. But compared with the past two years, I would say there are more expectations because there was this result in Madrid.
So it's a bit different. There were ups and downs. I think, of course, when I will step into the court for my first match there will be some tension, but I need to learn how to manage that.

Q. Did Madrid convince you you're able to play on clay, or are you still tentative about this?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, it's more difficult to play serve and volley very aggressively on clay. But I do think being aggressive, going up to the net, hit the ball early, is a good solution. I think that will make a difference.

Q. At this stage, what is the key for you to win the French Open?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: If I knew. If only I knew. I don't really have an answer to this question.
During a long time I was part of the three, four, five top players in the world, and I never was able to do well here. And so what you did before, or what I did before this tournament, never helped me in this particular tournament.
I will need to play at a very high level. I will need to manage my emotions the best I can. I need to be very fit, because this surface is very demanding.
And over two weeks, I need to be consistent, and I should not have ups and downs.

Q. You're not gone yet, but would you prefer to have more younger players coming behind you? Because Alize is not in a good period lately.
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, when I started playing on the tour, we were five players among the fifteen top players, and this was very good because we were encouraged. And Mary Pierce came back, and she pushed me at the time. Her second career was very successful, and she pushed me.
Sometimes even she was giving me the desire to show how I could do also very good things, whereas now maybe it's more difficult to find this same motivation.
Alize had a very good year in 2008, and this often happens after a very good year. You need to take it in. You need to adapt. I think she really did a major step forward in 2008. It's quite rare, this kind of thing, so it takes her a bit of time now to adjust.

Q. Do you dream of a relationship with the crowd like in Coubertin?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Oh, yes, it was a dream then. I was asked what is the difference at the time, and I said, When you come to Coubertin, I don't even need to convince them. They're there. They're supporting. Every year it's the same, and it's fantastic.
Of course, this gives me a lot of pleasure. Now it's going to be up to me to create the same relationship with the crowd here, because this doesn't happen naturally. It is up to me to share my emotions with the crowd in order to have them be behind me.

Q. Would you like the crowd to be more supportive?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, in the French Open, my feeling is that the atmosphere is less enthusiastic. Maybe we should sort of get it started, and it will work.

Q. Do you have a sort of medium term goal here during these two weeks and a further goal?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: No, not at all. I have no goals at all. I don't expect any particular result here. In the long term, of course I want to play well. I want to do my best. I want to go very far in this tournament, if I can. But in my mind, there's nothing very precise.

Q. Could you talk about your first opponent, and how far did you look at the draw?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: I just looked at the first match. So my first opponent is Groenefeld. I know she's very tough. I'm not changing my habits, and she also has a very good serve. Her serve is her best weapon.
I haven't seen her play on clay for a long time. I played on hardcourts recently in Indian Wells against her, and she gave me a tough time. It's a very serious match. I will need to be very precise from the first match on.

Q. Since the first rounds should be okay for you, is it a good tournament this year for you?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: I think we should see the tournament in a more global way. At the present time, I'm not part of the top players. Maybe Safina played well during the past weeks on clay, but Safina is not as good on other surfaces.
So apart from that, I mean, what I can say is that there is some space considering the past weeks. I think there's not one or even two players dominating all the others. There's not one single player winning all the time, so there's always some space for other players.