She first spoke about the end of this life as a tennis player in February 2021, after a defeat in the second round of the Australian Open. “Right away, I want to say that this is my last year. » And moved forward: “I will not go until Paris 2024.” Some time has passed, but she won’t actually go that far. Alizé Cornet announced on Saturday on Canal+ that she would put away her rackets after her twentieth Roland-Garros (May 26 – June 9), where she will obtain an invitation. “It is the result of a long journey which lasted more than two years, she recounted, moved. I feel like it’s time. I went all the way. » Rafael Nadal paid tribute to him, saluting his “incredible career”.
Cornet will say goodbye to Paris, where it all began in 2005. A duel on the Suzanne-Lenglen court against one of his idols, Amélie Mauresmo, whose poster adorned the head of his bed. She was 15 years old and had fulfilled her childhood dream.
The world number 3 had brought her back to her revisions for the French baccalaureate but had whetted her appetite: “I had a very strong rage to win, an inner fire that contaminated all the people around me. »
The time of confirmation came in 2008, in Rome. A final, lost against Jelena Jankovic, entry into the top 20. But the top 10 was denied to her the following year, when she failed to convert one of her two match points against Dinara Safina in the round of 16 of the Australian Open. For a long time, Cornet believed that she would not reach the quarterfinals in the Grand Slam either. So when she got there in 2022, she couldn’t hold back her tears, kneeling on the hot ground in Melbourne. His tenacity was rewarded. “She never gave up a point! When she was at the end of her rope, she managed to find the resources to go back into battle, greets Patrick Mouratoglou, who knows her very well since she has been training at his academy in Biot (Alpes-Maritimes) for almost ten years. She is the prototype of the fighter and the hard worker. »
“The roller coaster for twenty years”
Off the court, the Niçoise has breathed a breath of fresh air from the start of her career. “She is super frank, very natural, without tongue-in-cheek. I always found that, in a very sanitized world, where there is distrust and jealousy, she was a great customer who said what she thought with great kindness. The system hasn’t changed it.” praises Mouratoglou.
His career has been full of highs: an 11th place in the world in 2009, the 2019 Fed Cup won with the French team in Australia, six titles, twenty-five victories against top 10s including four against a world number 1. Her greatest success was against Serena Williams in the third round of Wimbledon 2014, a few days after the death of her grandmother. And its longevity will be a landmark. She was in the top 100 from April 2012 to October 2013 and played in 68 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, a record for men and women combined.
Cornet has also experienced disillusionment, slumps or painful defeats, in the Fed Cup in particular. “It’s a sport that drives you crazy, that inhabits us, that obsesses us. I had immense joys and great disappointments, moments of depression, it was a roller coaster for twenty years. »
This will all end soon. The future is this life as a writer – her third novel will be published on Thursday – and undoubtedly as a television consultant. Before, there will be farewells at Roland-Garros, in front of his loved ones, his former coaches. The opportunity to fight one or more battles as she loves them so much