"There is the fact of not having managed to match his intensity," says Rinderknech after France's elimination in the Davis Cup
The equation was simple for Rinderknech this Tuesday evening in Bologna during the Davis Cup quarterfinals. After Moutet's loss to Collignon, the Shanghai Masters 1000 finalist had to respond against Bergs to tie at one victory each against Belgium, but the latter proved very solid to allow his country to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2017. The world number 29 reacted to his defeat in a press conference.
"If you ask all the players who are present for the competition if they are in great freshness, I think there isn't one who will say: 'yes, I'm at 100%, it's true'. We are all in the last week of the year, we have all worked all year. Now, I felt good. There is no problem about that. But there is the fact of not having managed to match his intensity, who is a player who puts a lot in, who plays a bit like me.
He managed to do it more than me. That's why he wins tonight. When you play for the team, for the country, you don't care about the state you're in. If you have a broken wrist or a broken racket, you give everything you have and you dig deep to find solutions. I wasn't far off in this second set. Congratulations to Zizou (Bergs).
Already, the defeats all year are not easy. Even more so when you play for a team, for friends, for a staff, for a captain who are exemplary, who push us. We started in February. We played a good match in Croatia. I have a thought for Ben (Bonzi), Pierre-Hugues (Herbert) and Gio (Mpetshi Perricard) who didn't play tonight. And it hurts me not to have given them the chance to play," Rinderknech thus reacted after his defeat this Tuesday evening for the Team.
