Alizé Cornet: “Mentally, I really held the house” – US Open (F)

“It’s a success for which you had to hang on, fight, you saved five balls in the first set. Is it the victory of the resistance?
The whole game was all about resilience, in fact. It’s true that I took it in the face, the whole match I suffered from his game and his arm going at 10,000 an hour. She plays very fast, she serves very well and with her left-handed effect, it’s not easy to turn around. I felt like I was undergoing all the time. But I’m super proud because mentally I really held the house from start to finish and that’s how I managed to turn the situation around. The five or six set points I save is just survival mode, resilience, humility, whatever you want. It’s almost miraculous to get out of it, but it’s also no coincidence. I’m happy to be in the third round, because it wasn’t my best game in terms of tennis, but it was a great lesson mentally, to hold on and not to flinch.

You have indeed been able to remain calm despite the pressure it put on you.
Yes and that too is a bit miraculous. I was very frustrated because I saw that I was not playing well, that if I put a little more intensity there was an opening, but at the same time she would not let me play. It was very frustrating as a match, especially as the first set. But I told myself that my best chance was to close it and play, that by staying in the game I was going to have an opportunity at some point. I got her and jumped on her. It’s cool because I see that I can win matches without playing my best tennis but being present in the head.

The seven players who have been in very close contact with Benoît Paire could be forced to stay in New York until September 11. What inspires you?
I find that hyper excessive. I don’t know what is going on in their minds to ask players to stay. It is completely absurd. I wonder how they don’t realize it. it means that they will make them miss Rome, make them come home super late, while they are negative! I want them to take all the necessary precautions, and besides, we feel really safe and that’s great, but at some point, you have to stop being “psycho” like that. I’m going to swing a little, but we recognize the American mentality, where it’s extremist what. Let these poor players who have nothing to do with them come in, who spent half an hour with Benoît, who are tested every day and who are negative. Let them in! I can’t believe they stay on this aberration. “