Roland-Garros: Hugo Gaston feels “a lot of pride” despite his defeat against Dominic Thiem – Roland-Garros (H)

“How do you feel after this epic defeat?
Disappointment. I feel disappointment, but also a lot of pride. In any case, I have no regrets. I leave the court with my head held high. And I want to say thank you to the audience who pushed me well. I had chances but even two sets everywhere, I do not tell myself that I will win. I tried to stay calm and focus on my game because I knew it was going to be difficult. I knew he would give points, that I had the possibility of winning, but above all that I would have to go and look for everything. I lost, but I’m happy with my game.

Dominic Thiem had very complimentary words for you after the game.
Coming from him, it’s really nice. On the court, just after match point, he said some very kind words to me. In particular, he told me to keep working hard and that everything would be fine.

What was your state of mind after losing the first two sets very close?
I told myself that I had to continue, that I had nothing to lose, that I had to do everything to enjoy being on this court. I had chances in the first two sets, so at the start of the third I said to myself that I had to try something as soon as I had a chance and it worked for me. In the fifth, I also have chances, but I didn’t know how to seize them and he played very well in the important moments. Well done to him.
Are you already able to project yourself into the future after this exceptional Roland-Garros? Already, for the moment I will enjoy and recover well. Even if I lost, I will still enjoy because I am very happy with my tournament. The goal is to get into the top 100 as quickly as possible (it should be 157th on Monday). But for the moment, I will take advantage and then we will concentrate on the rest. There, I will be returning to the Challenger circuit, but I hope that next year I will be in the table without an invitation. “