Cazaux on his change in status: "After the Australian Open, I was a different person in people's eyes".

Arthur Cazaux was one of the pleasant surprises of French tennis in 2024.

After a fine run at the Australian Open, where he eliminated Djere, Rune and Griekspoor before falling to Hurkacz in the Round of 16, the 22-year-old from Montpellier talked about his changed status in the eyes of the French public.

"Personally, what I learned from this tournament was that I had the physical strength to go into the second week. Against Hurkacz, I was there, even if I lost in three sets.

I'd never experienced that before. I also realized that a Grand Slam is a very long tournament. When I got to the last 16, I told myself there was still a week to go if I wanted to go all the way," he begins.

"It also taught me that when you go further in the big tournaments, the journalists are more present. You lose a bit more juice on the outside.

I enjoy talking to the media, I like talking and exchanging ideas. Journalists have never held me back, but I feel that there was a before and an after to the Australian Open.

I had the impression that, in people's eyes, I was someone different, and that surprised me because I was still the same player.

The French media got very excited. Maybe it was because the French weren't doing so well at the time.

Okay, I'd beaten some good players in Melbourne, but I was barely in the top 100. I said to myself, calm down, there are still a hundred guys ahead of me and I've still got a lot to prove.

I've made it to the last 16 in a Grand Slam and that's good, but I hope to do more in the future.

It hasn't destabilized me, but the fact that I'm getting more requests from outside and learning to manage this exercise without having any experience has made me feel strange," he asserted in an interview with FT Sports.