A lover of marathon matches that are won with the sweat of the brow, Adrian Mannarino probably paid for his Stakhanoviste tournament at the Australian Open on Sunday, in the round of 16 against Novak Djokovic. After more than twelve hours spent on the courts since the start of the tournament, the “Divine Bald”, as he is nicknamed by his many groupies present in Australia, was twisted by the Serb in three dry sets of incredible violence.
Result, 6-0, 6-0, 6-3, hvala ti laku noć (thank you, good evening, in French). It took more than an hour (1h19 to be exact) for the world number 19 to score his first game on the Rod Laver Arena, the roof closed after a downpour which delayed the start of the match by a few minutes, to the cheers of a public won over to the cause of the Frenchman in distress. A first game that will bring a smile to his face because the situation was so funny.
Mannarino prefers to laugh about it
Before that, the French left-hander suffered a stunning 6-0, 6-0 in 67 minutes, surely damaged physically by his efforts over the first three rounds completed in five sets. Even he preferred to laugh about it: on his chair, between the second and third innings, he ironically formed two zeros with his fingers around his eyes. But no matter, if the landing was slightly rough, the rest of the journey for “Manna” will have been fantastic for this player, a newcomer to the world top 20 at 35 years old.
“The first two sets were the best I’ve played in a while. In terms of the game and in terms of form, it is going in a positive direction,” appreciated Djokovic, who said he was “a little woozy” after his first match. The 36-year-old Serbian, in search of an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam coronation and an 11th in Melbourne, confirms his newfound form after a turbulent start to the fortnight. In the first two rounds, he had dropped a set each time. He seriously accelerated in the next two. Mannarino eliminated, there now remains a French player – and what a player, children! – competing in the men’s draw: the young Arthur Cazaux (122nd) who will challenge world number 9 Hubert Hurkacz in the round of 16 on Monday.