Alejandro Davidovich Fokina swore and then apologised to his team despite a superb victory over Jack Draper in difficult conditions at the . The Spaniard confessed that he let his emotions get the better of him on court.
Davidovich Fokina 6-3 6-7 6-4. In a tense clash, which was paused during the second set for a medical emergency in the crowd, the 25-year-old came out on top. However, he admitted that Draper could quite easily have won and felt that the British star played better than he did. In an extremely candid interview with Sky Sports, the world No. 42 criticised his own 'mental strategy' and said his mind was "saying a lot of bulls***".
Speaking on court in an interview broadcast live by Sky Sports, Davidovich Fokina said: "That was not my best tennis and not my best mental strategy. Today was a rollercoaster with my mind. I thought I was playing better but my mind was saying a lot of bulls***.
"I don't know how to control today the emotions. I'm very emotional today to play here. I didn't respect myself first and didn't respect my team and I'm so sorry how I did it today. I'm happy for the win and I'm going to try to improve for tomorrow.
"I will not tell you but today Jack could've won, he was playing better than me. I was struggling at every point but I knew how to manage to stay on my serve for the first set and try all I have in my body in the last game. I'm happy how I did it, the last game."
Draper had also struggled to contain his thoughts during the match. Having won Indian Wells last month, there is heightened expectation on the 23-year-old to perform in every tournament.
The British No. 1 is now up to No. 6 in the ATP world rankings. However, he was clearly not happy with his own performance against Davodovich Fokina in Monte-Carlo. After being broken late in the first set, Draper screamed "wake up!" to himself as he failed to move through the gears.
Draper's next opportunity to add to his maiden Masters 1000 title won in Miami last month is the Madrid Open, which begins in two weeks' time. The clay court season will see him ramp up preparations for the start of the French Open in May.
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