From our special correspondent,
When you love tennis, court number 1 of the Rolex Paris Masters – aka “the Bercy tournament” – is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The place has nothing to envy of a Rungis market warehouse, with its large pipes coming out of the ceiling, its hospital neon style lighting and its ventilation which makes an impossible racket. The stands are tiny, but allow you to be as close as possible to the players, which is what makes the place so special for the informed spectator. For the players too, of course, and the world of tennis is divided into two categories: those who love this court, and those who hate it.
But why are we talking to you about all this when we are not at Bercy in November but at Roland-Garros in June? Well, imagine that the very first clash on the main circuit between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who meet this Friday in the semi-final, took place on this ground usually reserved for the second knives.
So yes, three years ago, the two players were not yet the terrors they are today, but still. The Italian, just 20 years old, was already 9th in the world, with four titles to his credit and a quarter-final at Roland the previous year. The 18-year-old Spaniard finished his first season among the big boys with the label of future Nadal. Enough to make this poster of the 2nd round “the shock of the “NexnextGen”, according to specialized sites.
The prospect of introducing the general public to these two future greats should logically have encouraged the organizers to schedule this clash on the majestic Central and its 15,000 seats. This was not the case, therefore, and observers and fans alike were very surprised. Especially since opposite, the match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexei Popyrin was not the poster of the year either – even less after the Greek’s abandonment at 4-2 in the first set.
“Sick people for putting them there”
Marius, better known under the nickname DRX on the Yellow Ball Internets, was in Bercy with friends on November 3. He remembers: “We thought it would be on the Central, and we were a little confused because we didn’t have good seats, we weren’t going to see anything… And in the end, it ended up on the “run of the dog”, as it is called. We thought they were crazy for putting them there. »
At this stage, it is appropriate to give the floor to the defense. And who better than Guy Forget, director of the Parisian tournament at the time, to explain the why and how? Crossed on the stairs of Chatrier, he has quite specific images of this match in his mind. But as for the way in which the programming was decided, it is more vague. “If we had put them on number 1, there must have been a favorite on the other side,” he imagines.
We talk to him about Tsitsipas, and the Franco-French clash between Monfils and Mannarino that followed. “Stefanos was very well ranked [3e mondial], and for the French duel the question does not even arise,” reacts the former Davis Cup captain, before adding with a smile: “It’s certain that one or two years later, we won’t would not have done the same thing. » Neither of them had complained, in any case.
Not every day you get to see them so close
What we would describe as a missed appointment, however, has a good side. The approximately 600 spectators of number 1 were amazed. Not only was the intensity of this duel which would quickly become a great classic – eight confrontations to date, including the divine quarter-final of the US Open 2022, for a record of four victories each – already there, as confirmed the score (7-5, 7-6 in more than two hours for the Spaniard), but the proximity induced by the places was in fact a real luxury.
“It was great to see them up close, there were big rounds being fired from both sides,” recalls Marius. It was close, the match was super fun. At first the public had a little difficulty getting into it but then they understood that they had two crackers in front of them. We enjoyed it, we suspected that it was the last time they played on annexes. »
After the meeting, Sinner had only complimentary words about the man he already knew would be one of his main rivals in the future. “He plays tennis at a very high level, me too. I hope we will face each other many times in the future, and that will certainly be the case, the Italian rightly projected. With this type of player, you feel when you have someone special in front of you. »
This is the mark left by this confrontation in everyone’s mind, this impression of having witnessed the birth of something which was going to become obvious. The kind of match that we keep in the back of our minds with the assurance of being able to say, one day, “I know, I was there”. Guy Forget on the microphone:
“ “I remember thinking while watching this match that it would be the final tomorrow. It was really impressive to see, they went all out on each ball, there was total physical commitment, significant risk-taking, even on break points. And above all, the two already exuded a great maturity, a serenity in their game. Their points were well constructed, it was well put together despite their young age. » »
Forget left there “bluffed” by the calm and mastery displayed by the two young men. Funny, when you think about what fell on Carlos Alcaraz’s head in the next lap. Opposed to Hugo Gaston, he had his brain turned by the Frenchman’s indigestible knitting and the pressure of an admirably chauvinistic public, only to lose in two sets after leading 5-0 in the second. A crazy thing, which the Spaniard had promised to use to be stronger afterwards. “In hindsight, we can say that we made a monster,” laughs Marius, who came back the next day to see it.