From our special correspondent,
We don’t claim to know tennis inside out, but colleagues can confirm, we never had any doubts. Ok, Ofner was on fire, “top 5” even, according to Petar Popovic, the Frenchman’s coach, but with 7h48 in his legs, half of which the day before, it was only a matter of time before the game broke. Moutet’s legs send the Austrian’s knees to the infirmary. Besides, Lenglen, whom Goffin must have heard all the way to Brussels, never lost his faith. He waited, like us, for “Magic Coco” to come into action. Slice galore on the backhand, one or two spoon serves per game with maximum success, and the turning point came at 6-3, 4-2 against him in the 2nd set.
“ “It was annoying, I played pretty well, but he impressed me, hit hard on the backhand, served well, returned well. It was really hard to find solutions, it went quickly. But I knew I had to stay focused, because physically, I knew he had played two very long matches, I knew I could play on him.” »
Ofner’s physique had suddenly failed. Seven games in a row on the noggin, and the certainty shared by the entire stadium that the affair was expected, Ofner included, even if the physio’s visit put him back on his feet for a while. The Austrian, a fine player, even took advantage of the moment a little, claiming Lenglen’s ovation with a winning drop shot in the last set. “I was too physically damaged to win this match, when you play five sets in a Grand Slam, you should have a day of rest,” he testified afterwards. But the atmosphere was incredible. The supporters didn’t bother me at all. I even want to say that I took advantage of it a little, you don’t play in an atmosphere like this every day.”
“Sinner?” I never trained against him.”
Moutet is the first French finalist Porte d’Auteuil since Hugo Gaston in 2020, a sort of physical and tactical twin. At the time, we didn’t give little Asterix any chance against Dominic Thiem, then almost unplayable on earth. He was not that far from the miracle by pushing the Austrian in five sets over an astonished Chatrier.
Can Coco Moutet do the same against Sinner, who has been wandering around since the start of the tournament, and drive him crazy? “Well, it’s not my first goal to drive people crazy!” I’m trying to play my game. I don’t know what you mean by that… Sinner I never played against him. We never even trained together. It’s a first time for me. I watched him play a lot, he is very aggressive. He might be the best player in the world right now. I’m going to do my best tennis-wise, we’ll see how it goes.” We know someone who doesn’t know what awaits them.