ALEX CORRETJA PREVIEWS ROLAND-GARROS 2019

On whether this is the most competitive Roland-Garros on the men's side for many years:

Alex Corretja: Yes because I said it before but I can really see that Rafa and Novak are a little bit above the others but I see that Thiem is getting very close to them. I think Tsitsipas is improving so much, I think Del Potro is always tough to beat, there’s Roger back, let’s say Wawrinka how he’s going to get there, it depends how he plays, it will be important to see how he plays this week also.  So it’s going to be very interesting and also whoever they face in the third and fourth round is going to dictate a little bit the tournament because they are not as fresh, you know. Rafa has been playing a lot in the clay court season and Novak finished in Rome quite exhausted so he needs to recover very well so if he has a very rough first week that can really hurt him but I still see that they are the two most dangerous guys, well not dangerous but the two most in form or in good shape.

On how best of five-set matches still separate Rafa, Novak and Roger from the rest:

AC: Yes, because best of five, imagine the experience they’ve had there, they know how to deal with situations and are extremely better than the others.  They’ve got different points of view, they know when to push, when to wait a little bit.  They know they can maybe win 6-3, 6-3 and okay they can drop one set 6-1 or 6-2 and they don’t care and go again for the fourth set and they win, that’s it, you know.  They don’t panic, even if they lose in the first set, because they feel well on court, they’ve still got time and to keep the same level for at least three sets to beat them, there are not many guys that are ready to do that, not even physically or not even especially mentally because on clay after two and a half hours, three hours, you really feel very tired, thinking every time and what to do so I think they are way better in this situation against the others. 

On the younger players coming through and what they need to do to win a Grand Slam:

AC: Well I would say that Roland Garros will be always be the toughest tournament to play for Zverev to win, that’s a major and for Thiem it will probably be the best chance to win.  I think Tsitsipas with time will also have a good chance to win there because he knows how to play on clay very well, he loves the clay which is very important.  He knows how to move, he knows how to mix up the game, drop shots with backhands.  He will keep on improving his serve I think so that will help his game as well and then pretty much, all the guys are going to be tough but on clay they will need to be ready for long battles and get ready for three, four hours matches and then come back and get ready and physically be strong.  So in my opinion Thiem will be the toughest guy to beat on clay in the next coming up years when the super legends will start to go down a little bit.

On why we tend to see less shock results on clay compared to the other Grand Slam surfaces?

AC: Yes, because the difference, the big differences on clay, you don’t go out there like a rocket to destroy everything in the first 25 minutes and you are 6-1 and 3-1 up.  In 25 minutes you might be 2-1 up in the first set so that means that you can’t just go and give everything you have from the very beginning because you need to know how to deal with that.  Unless you are like Rafa, Rafa knows how to do that because he’s got the experience, he’s got the strength, physically he is super-strong, mentally too but there are not too many guys – not even Novak goes out there like it looks like he is going to rush their opponents out or cruise against them, no.  He needs time to adjust, he needs to get into the game while Rafa, he is the most dominant one because he knows exactly from the beginning till the end he can pretty much keep the same level which not too many guys can do that.

On his matches against Federer (two straight sets wins in 2000 and 2001) and how Federer's game has changed since:  

AC: Well on that day on those matches you could see that he had an unbelievable potential.  He had a nice serve, very faking one which was very difficult to read because he turned a lot his shoulders.  A big forehand, I remember when you played short he went for it, he steps in and he just rips it and he did very well.  I mean he could play flat but also very heavy.  Probably his sweetness was his backhand up high, over his shoulder.  He was slicing a lot, with the slice he was hurting a lot and his backhand was good but not solid.  You can see that he was a little bit desperate to win the point right away because he did not have many patience to play on the game and he was making more mistakes because he went for it and he needed to be aggressive but you feel with the way I played that I was, let’s say, solid and that if I stay stable and solid, high to the sides with a lot of balls and moving him around and especially up high to his backhand, he will get desperate.  With time he improved his forehand, his footwork, his serve, his backhand, everything.  He came more to the net, he mixed it up with some drop shots blah-blah-blah so that’s why he became one of the greats on clay too because he won the French but he won Hamburg, he won Rome and whatever, Monte Carlo, he became a very, very good player but on those days he was still young physically and mentally I’d say.

On the younger players coming through and what they need to do to win a Grand Slam:

AC: Well I would say that Roland Garros will be always be the toughest tournament to play for Zverev to win, that’s a major and for Thiem it will probably be the best chance to win.  I think Tsitsipas with time will also have a good chance to win there because he knows how to play on clay very well, he loves the clay which is very important.  He knows how to move, he knows how to mix up the game, drop shots with backhands.  He will keep on improving his serve I think so that will help his game as well and then pretty much, all the guys are going to be tough but on clay they will need to be ready for long battles and get ready for three, four hours matches and then come back and get ready and physically be strong.  So in my opinion Thiem will be the toughest guy to beat on clay in the next coming up years when the super legends will start to go down a little bit.

On the form and chances of Simona Halep: 

AC: Well Simona is always so tough to win.  I mean she is one girl that - a little bit like Rafa’s style - you know that she is always going to be a contender. She won already, she has the confidence and not too many girls can overpower her because especially centre court, it’s so big.  Physically she is very strong, she’s very smart, she uses the court very well so you always need to count on her and I think it’s more open than last year where I felt she really had a great chance or like two years ago when she lost by nothing.  But this year I don’t see her as the clearly favourite to win.  I think there are girls that are also on the same basket, you know. She will be one of the toughest girls for sure but I don’t see her as dominant as last year.

On the atmosphere at Roland-Garros and impact of the crowd:

Well people can get very involved.  In my case it happened that I beat two French guys in the semi-finals, who were the last two French Open guys that they had in semis before they had Monfils and Tsonga, so they were willing to see some of the French guys going into the finals.  Also I was a little bit lucky because Kuerten drew a heart on the clay, he already won Roland-Garros a couple of times so people adore him because he was such a great player. He gave thank you to people that helped him so much in the fourth round when Michael Russell had a match point against him. So, I wish Russell could have just put him away and beat him!  It didn’t happen.  You know, since then we played the finals and since they didn’t have any French guys in the final they felt like okay, this is our adopted player, you know. So they created an atmosphere and I was up a set and second set I was leading too and they create an atmosphere that was really like a Davis Cup considering it was a Brazilian and a Spanish guy.  I got mad and disappointed and they started cheering for me when I was 5-0 down in the fourth when I had zero chance to come back so felt like, what are you trying now, just leave me alone, you know!  So I think the crowd at the French can be very involved, especially if French people are playing or let’s say if they see Federer struggling they will for sure support him but I don't think, I don’t see them going with Rafa a lot or with Novak a lot.  I probably would say with Roger that will be pretty much the only one that they will really give 100% or if you are a French guy or a French girl of course.