New York (AFP)
Grégoire Barrère, 109th in the world at age 25, qualified for the final draw of the US Open and on the eve of his first match against the Briton Cameron Norrie (60) on Monday, he said he hoped to have progressed enough to integrate now directly the big paintings.
"It's clear that at the beginning of the season my goal was to play the Grand Slams well, for now it's going pretty well, I'm hoping now that it was my last qualifier and I will not have to to go through qualifying in Australia next January, "he told AFP.
This year, in Melbourne, he failed in the second qualifying round. Then he received a wild card at Roland Garros where he reached the second round and qualified at Wimbledon where he was also eliminated in the second round.
"I feel that at the level of Challenger (2nd Division, ed) when I play solid tennis it often turns in the right direction, I know that now the players fear me on this circuit there, there must be progress for it to be same on the top circuit ", ie the ATP circuit, he added.
To face Norrie, who beat him at the beginning of the month at the ATP 250 Los Cabos, he believes that these three qualifying matches have allowed him to "get used to the conditions" and thus to store confidence.
Especially as the weather in New York can be very challenging with high humidity and high temperatures.
On this point, "I had everything during these qualifiers and I have a better idea of what I should expect tomorrow (Monday)" against Norrie, he said.
© 2019 AFP