“Daniil Medvedev recently said that you and Carlos Alcaraz will be the players who will win the most titles in the near future. What does this mean to you?
A lot. At the same time, I still have a lot to prove. I started the season really well, I really didn’t think it would be like this. But I stay in the moment. What’s done is done and each tournament will be a new opportunity. That’s how I see things. I have a great team that pushes me. We know what needs to be improved. Now it’s clay court season and usually it’s complicated for me. We’ll see how it goes this year. Of course, my life is good right now. I play a lot of matches, I won three tournaments. For me, that means a lot. But on the other hand, in three or four days, we will have to return to training to try to be better. So we’ll see what the future holds.
You mentioned your difficulties on clay. Do you have a particular goal this season?
Already, we don’t have much time to adapt to the surface. For Monte-Carlo, we will start training on Thursday, I believe. That barely leaves a week to adjust. There are often surprises in Monte-Carlo, so we’ll see what happens this year. Of course, the main objective is Roland-Garros. But first, there is Rome which is a very important tournament for me, with the public behind me, it is always special. But I’m relaxed about it. I feel like I learned a lot last year about what I can do best. Physically, I’m in better shape than last year, which is important on clay. We’ll see what happens.
You talked about how difficult it was to leave your parents at 13. They are still working and were not in Miami. Do you miss it?
They live their lives and I live mine. My father was in Indian Wells. There are a few tournaments where they could come. Monte Carlo, probably. Rome and Vienna too. And the Masters in Turin, if I qualify. But that’s all. They don’t travel much. And my grandparents are no longer young and they want to stay close to them, I know them. They live in a beautiful place and they have a beautiful life. Of course I miss them. I didn’t spend much time with them. I hope I can make up for that time in the future, but the most important thing is that they are happy. I know I’m happy, and when they know I’m happy, they’re happy. So, it’s all right. »