At 8:45 p.m., there was still a large crowd around the Accor Arena who waited without being able to enter the complex for the evening session. The organization of the Parisian Masters 1000 was however not in question. No, the person in charge was simply Gilles Simon who once again pushed back his farewell to the profession as much as his physical limits. After a marathon of 3:05, the future retiree offered the scalp of Taylor Fritz (11th) who must still wonder what happened to him.
In the first set, we have the answer. With just 38% first serves, the American came to Simon without his primary weapon and let him settle into the rally. But the French don’t like anything that much. And even if he had to save three set points when Fritz led 5-4, it was he who finished stronger. The second set was essentially a copy of the first, with an exchange of breaks at the start and two players holding their serve afterwards. Simon let out three break points that would have allowed him to serve for the match. Recovered, Fritz broke in stride to equalize at one set everywhere. But we were not yet in the epic.
Simon crippled with pain
For that, we had to wait for the last set. The “decide” as our English-speaking friends say. This set which was therefore going to decide, or not, the career stoppage of Gilles Simon. Crippled with pain, feeling spikes in the back, in the left thigh or the right shoulder depending on the moment, Simon gave all that remained in his meager reserves on the court. Fritz himself lost his tennis, regularly wondering how he could have missed such and such a shot. Simon, devil of plaster that he couldn’t take off, had a lot to do with it, but his lack of accuracy in many choices when attacking also weighed in the balance.
At 3-2 Fritz, Simon bravely saved three break points. Almost match points, given his condition. To the greatest satisfaction of an audience that has always pushed him, Simon broke at the best time (5-4). He only had to serve for the match. Almost a formality. At 37, Gilles Simon is still a professional tennis player and he will play Félix Auger-Aliassime (whom he has just sent to the Masters by eliminating Fritz) in the round of 16.