00:00BNP Paribas, partenaire des plus belles histoires de Roland Garros, aux côtés des ramasseurs de balles depuis plus de 50 ans.
00:30Je me suis prêt à faire un peu de tennis et je me suis prêt à faire un peu de tennis.
00:38C'est parti.
01:08C'est parti.
01:38Well, look, I'm feeling good about my game.
01:44I think I've become a completely different version on this surface over the last couple of years.
01:52And I feel like it is a tournament where I can do some damage.
01:57Obviously, it is a Grand Slam and it's never easy by any means.
02:04But look, I'm going to keep my head down and hopefully the plan is to be in Paris for a long time.
02:11Let's just say that.
02:12I don't want my trip in Paris to be a short one.
02:20Hi, Alex.
02:21You're here in Paris.
02:23What are you expecting from the French crowd and the French atmosphere?
02:27I'm expecting them to be very loud, like we usually hear every time here in Paris.
02:37Obviously, the French public is very passionate and they support their home players, you know, with a lot of passion, as they should.
02:51And, well, I'm not playing a French player just yet.
02:56So, for the time being, I'm safe.
03:01Hi, Alex.
03:01I believe you had a lucky charm last year at the tournament with a young kid supporting you.
03:06Have you made plans to contact this kid?
03:08Are we going to see him again?
03:10Are you going to have another lucky charm this year, basically?
03:12Yeah, well, yeah, obviously, last year with Paul was amazing.
03:22We went on a pretty cool journey.
03:27Paul was, we kept in contact and Paul came to support me in Paris as well at the end of the year.
03:34So, you know, the plan, obviously, is to keep that tradition going.
03:38And, yeah, hopefully I can win many, many matches and he can be there to support.
03:47Alex, when you kind of talk about being a different version of yourself on the clay, could you just expand on that a little bit?
03:53Like, what is it that's brought that about?
03:56Has it been one specific thing or sort of a general rising of all areas of your game and the surface?
04:03Yeah, I think it's been understanding my game on the clay.
04:08Over the years, at least the very start of my career, I used to struggle a fair bit.
04:13I think there's an element of me getting physically stronger that obviously helped me out a lot.
04:19But also understanding what I can do on a clay court to be effective.
04:24And obviously there's things that I need to adapt and change.
04:27And that's play with a little bit more spin and height.
04:30But still understanding that there's a lot of things that I can do on a clay court to hurt my opponents.
04:38And understanding the balance between, you know, being too passive and too aggressive.
04:44So it's been kind of finding that happy medium that now I feel very comfortable on the surface.
04:52And it doesn't matter who I play.
04:54I think, you know, I'm in for a good shot.
04:57So you obviously play a very energetic game.
05:01You know, you're known for your speed, your fitness.
05:02Just wonder, like, how you feel before matches, during matches, even after?
05:07Because obviously you're getting through a hell of a lot of work.
05:10Well, look, I think I'll probably give the same boring answer that every other player does before matches.
05:17Before matches, it's extremely boring.
05:20It's just anything plain, whether it's plain pasta with olive oil or plain rice with olive oil.
05:27That's always the key.
05:30Now, for me at least, I tend to eat a lot.
05:34I like my food.
05:36So normally when it's dinner time, I'm definitely a guy that will have an entree, have a main, and potentially share another main with one of my team members.
05:49Yeah, depending on the day, for sure.
05:51Yeah, I mean, I've got, so far it's worked out.
06:01Over the years, I've obviously, I've gained a little bit more weight and more muscle.
06:05So what I tell myself is I've got to feed the muscles, right?
