Australian Open: “I spent the whole night in the toilet”, Cazaux suffered from gastro before his round of 16

The young Frenchman Arthur Cazaux, who reached the round of 16 of the Australian Open, said Monday that his journey in Melbourne taught him “a lot” and is “very encouraging for the future”.

You called the doctor before the third set...Arthur CAZAUX. - I don't want to use this as an excuse, but I haven't had much luck. The evening of my victory against Griekspoor (in the 3rd round on Saturday, Editor's note), I got gastro. I spent the whole night in the toilet, it wasn't a pretty sight, it was a bit of a war scene in my toilet at the hotel. I had a very complicated night, and yesterday (Sunday), I couldn't train at all, I was on medication all day. This morning (Monday), it was still better, I had a good night's sleep. I had prepared myself mentally for the fact that I would be a little harder physically today, so I went with it. For two sets, it didn't bother me too much. But since the start of the second set, I couldn't eat or drink anything, my stomach said no and I was very nauseous. I felt the direct impact in the third set: I had less juice. But that's not what made me lose the match. Hubert (Hurkacz) was just better than me today.

What do you take away from this tournament? I take away a lot of positives from this week. I learned a lot and it will benefit me a lot for the rest of the season. I had a lot of firsts: first victory against a top 10, first second week in a Grand Slam... I didn't think I'd acquire all that so early in the season, it's sure that it will help me a lot for the future . There, obviously, I have to digest a little, the defeat and the gastro... I am a matcher, a winner, obviously I am a little disappointed, because I always want more. I had a good level since the start of the week and I wanted to go further. But I need to have some perspective and tell myself that I had a good week, and that that is very encouraging for the future.”

Does this make you revise your objectives upwards? My objective was to enter the top 50 at the end of the year, that remains the case. The fact of having won against very good players this week makes me want to move forward even more. Why not get into the top 50 even before the end of the season perhaps, but I'm not getting excited, I know it's going to be very hard, that there will be ups and downs during the season.

Comments collected by Elodie SOINARD.