We all had, at some point, matches we should have won and we didn't and that's the game. That's just the way the sport is. Otherwise, if everything was written before, we don't need to play.

The day I stop feeling the pressure and I'm just enjoying myself and taking it easy is when I'm 35, asking for a wild card and playing mixed doubles with Arnaud Clement.

There were many occasions in my career where I could have given up, where I asked myself whether I would ever make it.

When I finished the juniors I felt, perhaps for about a year and a half, that everything was going to be the same and that I would be able to go out there and win any match. But it wasn't the case. I struggled. It took me time to adjust and to realise it was not going to happen like it did in the juniors. It was three years between the junior ranks and reaching the Australian Open, and even then, having reached the final against Hingis, I wasn't really realising what it would take to go higher.

Well, I guess I needed this tough first round to really put me into that tournament, to really erase what happened at Indian Wells, which is now the case, you know.

I definitely wanted this win today and I don't want anybody to talk about my nerves anymore.

My coach told me I had to expect, you know, some long rallies and stuff. So, you know, I was ready for this.