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Malek Jaziri: Roland Garros - Paris a home away from home

Malek Jaziri: Roland Garros - Paris a home away from home

World No84 Malek Jaziri is the highest-ranked Arab in both men and women's tennis. The Tunisian will be giving us a behind-the-scenes look each day from Roland Garros.

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My first day was good. I had an hour of fitness in the morning then I played an hour of tennis, practicing with Sam Querrey.

I’m feeling great and been focusing on my fitness for the past week. So following the ankle injury I picked up in the semi-finals at the Challenger in Aix en Provence, I’ve been feeling better. I played a set with Sam and I won 6-3.

I picked up my clothes for the week, they were adding the patches from my sponsor. I grabbed a bite, had a quick meeting, rested for a bit then I taped up my ankles, which is just a precautionary measure.

I have another practice with Daniel Gimeno-Traver and then I have to go do some TV.

I’ll head home, rest then go out to dinner with my team. It’s a full day that is pretty hectic.

Setting up practice sessions with other players differs from day to day. Sometimes my coach sets it up, sometimes if I bump into a guy, I can suggest a practice or I could text one of my friends to see if they’re available. Most of the guys plan their sessions three or four days ahead, so that’s how it works.

I was practicing when the draw was being shown on a TV close to the court and I saw that I’m playing Andrey Kuznetsov. I’ve never played against him or practiced with him before. But hopefully it’ll go well.

I don’t always have a coach and a full team with me at tournaments but I’m lucky that my coach Dejan Petrovic is here with me in Paris. I also have a fitness coach with me, he’s a friend of Dejan’s and he lives in Paris, so he helps me out when I’m in town.

It feels good to have a proper team around me at an event, I feel normal, like the other players.

Dejan has been traveling with me for a few tournaments now so he keeps me working hard and hopefully my results will reflect that.

I know Paris really well because I lived here for two years before. When the weather is nice, Paris is really one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Every day you can do something different.

I haven’t been to any of the museums since I was young. I’d love to see more art when I’m in town but there’s barely any time. When you have a day off, you prefer to rest rather than go out.

The Players’ Party for Roland Garros is special. They hold it at the Eiffel Tower and it’s not every day you get to go there. The view is amazing, it’s a special place. So it was nice to do something like that before the tournament starts.


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