“A word about your next opponent, Hubert Hurkacz?
It will be complicated against him. It serves really well. I think he’s #1 in aces and he was probably the best server last year. It will be the key to the match, yes. For my part, I won’t have to give him my serve and manage to break him or push him to the tie-break. His serve makes him a candidate for a Grand Slam title. He can push you to a tie-break in every set. He has already made a semi-final at Wimbledon, which is already huge. Of course, he had some early and stunning Grand Slam defeats. But he has already won two Masters 1000s and I think when you have won a Masters 1000 you become a candidate for a Grand Slam title.
You have a rather special relationship with the public. How is this happening now?
Pretty good. I already said that I wanted to change it a little. By that, I mean that I don’t want people to like everything I do, no. I just want to try to get involved less, think less about it. I communicate with my box, but I have to do less with the public. Last year, I left a lot of energy there. I mean, if there are 10,000 people watching the game and one guy applauds a double fault, there’s no point in going to see him. I want to change aspects of my life and this is part of it. We’ll see how it develops.
Borges made life difficult for you with his amortizations, didn’t he?
Yes. In general, I don’t fear cushioning. But his were very well hit, just behind the net, without rebound. I was often taken by surprise. After a while, it pulls on my legs, especially since my position is quite far away. But it wasn’t just that, his ball is really heavy. And I didn’t realize that when I saw him on TV eliminating Grigor (Dimitrov). On each of his shots, I was a little on the back foot and it was frustrating. But I was able to find the solution. »
