His voice still trembles.
Still caught up in emotion when he thinks back to that moment.
Wednesday, at “exactly 2:50 am” in the morning, when the city sleeps, Hippolyte and a handful of fans had been waiting in front of the Roland-Garros gates for long minutes when their idol left the stadium.
Rafael Nadal.
Exhausted, exhausted, but a hero after his epic quarter-final won in four sets (6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6) ahead of Novak Djokovic.
"Despite the fatigue, he took the time to stop to thank us for being there and for our support", says the young Boulonnais who lives "two minutes from Roland-Garros".
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