You had a breakthrough moment playing against Serena Williams at the 2014 French Open. What was that experience like?
First of all, it was crazy because her coach was the director of my academy—so I knew her pretty well. We were training at the same place with the same people, we had the same fitness coach and we had a locker room next to each other. She was the defending champion who was doing the draw. I asked. ‘You did the draw, so who do you play?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t know. I never look.’ And then maybe 15 minutes later, I took the draw and I saw that [I’m playing against] her. 

I was super excited. It was one of my best experiences. The crowd was amazing, they carried you through. It was like they make you fly even if you’re nervous.

I remember when we started warming up, I had this strange feeling that Serena was standing very close to me. But no, when I looked over, she was standing behind the baseline like normal. But I felt that way because her presence was so strong.

But when the match started, I managed to focus on just the ball and forget that it was her. We had a great game and mostly the French crowd was unbelievable.

You’ve had the opportunity to compete at all four Grand Slam tournaments. Which one holds a special place for you and why?
The French Open holds a special place for me because this is where I live, five minutes away from the venue in fact. And when I play there, it’s my home, and all my friends and family are there. It can be really stressful, but it’s also really special.

Otherwise, I really love travelling to Australia for the Australian Open. Even after the tournament would wrap up, I wanted to stay on. 

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How excited are you for France to be hosting the Olympics this time?
It’s unbelievable. Even when the construction [work for the Olympics] was happening, we felt like, ‘Oh, it’s so far away’. We didn’t know what it was going to look like and it felt a little bit unreal. But obviously, I feel really proud we’re hosting it here. I think I will wake up early in the morning to go watch.

I’m also going to be hosting the coverage of various new sports for French television, including surfing, skateboarding and rock climbing, so it’s going to be really exciting. 

Tell us more about what we can look forward to.
I think it’s going to be huge because some of the events will be held in iconic locations such as the Champ de Mars Arena right under the Eiffel Tower. I know the breakdance competitions will be held in the middle of Place de la Concorde; and the opening ceremony on La Seine. It’s going to be legendary. And I also can’t wait to see how the Roland-Garros gets completely transformed with new looks. I was training there last week, but this week they were painting with completely different colours.

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What motivated you to return to the sports arena—for sports coverage—after a four-year break?
Though I took a break from playing tennis professionally for almost four years, I was still practising and competing in some tournaments—though I didn’t go on tours. I wanted to explore other things, such as TV presenting, because I still have so much passion for the sport. I thought, ‘okay, I am 33 years old now, it’s now or never to do one last dance’.

I started practicing again this year in January thinking I wanted to take part in professional tournaments. I don’t think I’m going to be able to play forever, because I am older and I have injuries to deal with. But at the same time, I don’t want to miss any opportunity, for example, hosting this Olympics.

I’m practicing on the side trying to maintain my levels. So every time I have a break, I want to compete, because it’s also what makes me feel alive — and I’ve missed so much. It feels like it’s still my identity and I feel like I have a little bit more to give.

How have you maintained this resilience throughout the ups and downs of your career?
You don’t have a choice when you’re passionate about something. Your goal is really to be stronger than anything. I got addicted to tennis because there’s always one more tournament, there’s always next Monday, and if you go wrong, there’s always next week.

Injury for me is the toughest part, because you can’t control it. You can only focus on what you can control, this is everything that you can tell yourself because if you start wasting energy on something you cannot control, it’s going to be a waste of time.

What advice would you give to young aspiring tennis players?
I would say to trust the process, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Tennis is a sport in which you always build in the long term. Every time you start a new season, you start building during the off-season, training a lot—it’s every single week you build all together. So I think it’s a great lesson for life too. It teaches you to be patient, you don’t work to have the result right away. If you don’t enjoy the process, it’s going to be tough; but if you learn to enjoy the process—the difficulties and all—it is going to help you.

Off the court, you've explored other passions: what’s next for you?
I wrote a book—Éloge de l'inconditionnel—three years ago, and it was a really great experience. And hopefully, I will have more of that in my life. And acting is my new passion. I really enjoyed it so much. So I’m doing auditions and I am doing some short movies for now. I’m trying to act more in English too. What’s really funny is acting reminds me a little bit of when I started tennis because I feel like it’s a performance that should be focused. And you have to control your body and your mind to be able to repeat quite a lot and always stay in the zone.

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