Q. It's very clear that you're a role model to the children of France, the whole crowd was screaming for you. It must be a wonderful feeling.

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: It's great.

Q. Can you talk about who were your role models when you were a little girl and do you feel comfortable being a role model and such a public face?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: I don't know if I'm a role model. If I can give them a good example, it's great for me. As far as my role model when I was a kid, everybody know I started to play tennis watching Yannick Noah. I really don't know if I had really somebody I was admiring a lot or whatever. I liked Steffi Graf a lot. I liked Sabatini a lot. I was following all the French guys, Leconte, Forget, Yannick Noah.

I think it's nice to have a Grand Slam in France for this, for all the kids coming on the Wednesdays, sometimes on the weekends, to enjoy the best tennis in the world, but also support the French. That's what I was enjoying when I was a kid. That's what they seem to enjoy now. That's nice.

Q. Could you also comment on how you came back to win the match?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, I struggled a lot in the second set. I think when I needed, really, to probably to stay a little bit more focused or to make sure I was not doing so many errors or whatever, I was able to control at least in the key moments. That's what made the difference in that second set.

But I have to say the level of the game was not as high as I wish it was for me.

Q. An abstract question about confidence. Players talk about confidence, but it's very hard to say exactly what it is. For you on the court, when you're confident, what does that actually mean?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Probably that you don't have to think a lot, that everything is coming together just naturally in an automatic way, just like, you know, everything is going right. For example, this afternoon was not ‑‑ you know, I felt like I was hitting shots, not constructing the points. I did that in the first set, you know, not the best game ever, but still was consistent enough to win 6‑1.

Suddenly I think I probably, yeah, in my mind went away a little bit. Then, you know, you struggle. You don't construct the points the way you should. I guess, yeah, that's how you can explain confidence.

Q. So you're thinking more about the shots?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Yeah, you're thinking more, you're struggling a little bit more. You don't feel these things I guess when you're a hundred percent confident.

Q. It seems to come and go. When you lose it, how do you get it back?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, you try to stay calm first because if you get frustrated or whatever, then it makes it pretty hard to come back. Then, you know, you have still your weapons that you can rely on, you try to do your best.

Sometimes, you know, you have a bad day and you have to deal with that and make sure you still win it so that you can have a better day the next game.

Q. Do you know it when you see it?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, you kind of feel it. You kind of fight against it. When it's there, you try to do something different to make it go. Yeah, it happens that you can feel it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French.

Q. Could you tell us about the conditions for the match. Cold, wind. Was that a problem?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: I think everyone can see the conditions are very difficult. That's it. It seems obvious. There's a lot of wind. It's swirling. It's not always in the same direction. Then the cold. It's not always obvious to stay in the right rhythm in those conditions.

Of course, we all try to do our best, to do our utmost. I think it's probably a bit of a pity for the overall level of our tennis, at least as far as I'm concerned today, what I've been seeing from other matches, as well. It's not too bad for the winter (smiling).

Q. We get the feeling this match was cut in two. There was a very good first set. What happened? Is it the fact she broke your serve in the beginning?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, we discussed this with Loic immediately after the match. The first set was solid, it was good, with overall control of the game, no problem. Then all of a sudden, I'm not sure if it's in my mind or I just relaxed too much, maybe it was perhaps the feeling that I was completely in control anyway.

Something happened. Things sort of weren't functioning any more: the serve, the tennis, I wasn't ahead, then the wind. In those conditions, everything sort of just adds up. It became a little bit more difficult in the second set.

But I think that experience and managing the important points helped me and made the difference in that second set.

Q. I know you don't really like comparisons. What about the Amélie of two, three years ago? Would she have let the second set slip, gone onto a third, possibly lost the match?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: I don't have an answer to that question.

Q. You're saying you used the important points to manage the match. We're talking about confidence. Is there something that enables you today to better use your strong points today that you didn't have a couple of years ago?>

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, yes. What I've learned is perhaps more important to me today at all levels from a mental point of view, physically, but also physical commitment. It's always something very delicate that you have to keep up. In those cases, it's the average level that has for me improved I think over the years and over the months. When you don't play your best tennis, you go back into your average level. I think that average level has improved slowly.

Q. These winter conditions, are they making the players' levels closer? The lower‑ranked players maybe play more dangerously?

AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, probably. I think we all need to be able to adapt and to play your best tennis in these conditions. It's not easy. But you can consider overall that it just levels the game downwards. I would consider that you should be able to still keep up the level of your game.