Say what?! Best French Open day eight quotes

As we get to the pointy end of the French Open, the world’s best players are as sharp in the press room as they are on court. These are the highlights from the day eight press conferences…

“We are all competitors, but in the end of the day, firstly we are human beings. Me, I could never imagine that I personally could have that many followers and people who appreciate what I do. So I’m very grateful for that. I always try to remind myself where I came from and where I am at the moment.”
Novak Djokovic speaking about being a role model and how sport can bring people together

“No, I think she speaks like 25 languages, I heard, so…”
An upset Garbine Muguruza on whether Kristina Mladenovic celebrating in Italian annoyed her

“I think the crowd today was a little bit obviously tough for me. I understand. I just think that they were a little bit, sometimes should be a little bit more respectful, even though for the game, because we had to, you know, stop. The chair umpire has to always calm the crowd down. I’m not here to create enemies. I mean, I love playing here. Is not a good feeling”
Garbine Muguruza did not appreciate the crowd in her fourth-round loss

“The atmosphere was just, yeah, amazing, I thought, which is not easy to handle for both of us. I mean, you know, it’s lots of pressure, like it’s an amazing atmosphere. You know, even for me, even if I had like a thousand people screaming and cheering up for me, it’s not easy to control the nerves and the pressure and everything, you know.”
Kristina Mladenovic has a different perspective on the crowd

“I coach myself, so I prepare my matches with myself. And that means that everything that a coach does, I do myself. I prepare my matches. I follow my opponents’ careers. I watch their games. I take notes.”
Kristina Mladenovic can do it all

“It’s still something very special to enter the second week. I think it’s a quite big difference between third round and fourth round.”
Dominic Thiem on reaching the second week of a Grand Slam

“We could have, because one is winning everything and now the second one decided to win a lot, Grand Slams, as well, Roger and Stan. So we could organise a Grand Slam, right (smiling)?”
A Grand Slam tournament in Switzerland sounds like a good idea to Timea Bacsinszky

“Yeah, sure, no? Gonna be very arrogant if I say not after the result, no?”
Rafael Nadal on whether he was happy with his fourth round performance

“It’s going to be very interesting what is going to happen, who is going to be the champion. But, you know, I think sometimes it’s good to have a new champion.”
Elina Svitolina on what is going to happen in the women’s draw

“This match that you dream when you are young, playing Roland Garros, five sets, four hours and a half. It was really tough, really tough. But I just try to do my best. I enjoyed. I suffer, but I enjoyed. And of course if you win, you enjoy more.”
Pablo Carreno Busta on his epic five-set win over Milos Raonic

“Heavy disappointment. That’s pretty much the best way to describe it.”
Milos Raonic’s contrasting view

“There’s a lot of stuff happening in the world today. I don’t have any answers. I really don’t. If I did, I promise you I’d fix it.”
Venus Williams on terrorism

“It’s not that easy to find a grass court so you have to practice on hard.”
Venus Williams on her Wimbledon preparation plans

“I think he’s definitely one of the best players on this planet. I think he just playing super big. He’s physically a monster.”
Gael Monfils on his next opponent, Stan Wawrinka

“I feel like I can play well on any surface, and I really believe that. I have won tournaments on the red clay, too, so it’s not like it’s foreign to me. But, yeah, it’s a surface where it’s been very much up and down throughout my career.”
Caroline Wozniacki on her relationship with red clay

“Karen is a — it’s weird saying that name. It’s my mother’s name. Sorry.”
John Isner talking about third round conquerer Karen Khachanov

“I think my forehand is quite okay, I would say, or it was okay today. But yeah, I hate my backhand today. It was terrible”
Karolina Pliskova dissects her third round performance