Love stories end badly. In general. United for a little more than five years, the (tennis) couple formed by Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, seeded n ° 1 of the Australian Open which opens this Monday, almost came within a few wooden wedding month, which seals a five-year union, in the mouth of the same name.
Melbourne, January 2019. While the most prolific pair in French tennis has just won the only Grand Slam that was missing in his trophy cabinet, Herbert announces to his alter ego that he wants to pause their double "I" to get conjugate in the singular until the end of summer.
"I was playing pretty well in singles and if I didn't make that decision at the time, I never made it in my life," recalls the Alsatian. But it was paradoxical. We had won and I felt very bad. I knew we were going to come at a time when there might be a problem. I didn't think it would be that complicated and that it affects us so much. "
A mermaid named Andy Murray
The Angers, 37, did not see this violent passing coming. If he does not share the analysis of his younger brother, 28, he hears and understands his arguments. "What he told me held up," he explains. But I found myself struggling to find someone else when all the guys were already engaged. We tried to tinker while playing the Indian Wells tournament together . "
The heart isn't there anymore. Mahut teams up with Austrian Jürgen Melzer for the clay season and therefore Roland-Garros, then decides to go and see if the grass is greener at Wimbledon with Édouard Roger-Vasselin. On the court, the wheel of misfortune turns and the tricolor duo reaches the final. In the locker room, it's cursed grass. Because "P2H", in the meantime, did not resist the siren Andy Murray. The prospect of playing in the temple of tennis with the local legend is worth in his eyes a little penknife in the moral contract signed in early February.
"It put a huge mess," agrees Herbert. For Nico, it was the last straw but for me it was hard to miss such an opportunity. Almost fatal bond. "It is true that it was a bit like the Fires of Love ," breathes Mahut, who had also been approached by the former world No. 1. I felt betrayed. On these things, I am uncompromising. We talked about it in early June and he didn't feel like refusing because the experience was really strong. But it was no longer consistent with the simple. With Murray, you give everything because there is so much pressure that it becomes a goal. You can't go there just for fun. "
"We asked ourselves the question of continuing"
"Arnacoeur" rhymes with resentment. "Wimbledon is the worst moment in our relationship," sighs Herbert, beaten in the second round with the British idol. He was unable to look me in the face so badly did he live it. It was sad. Nothing had changed for me. I did not feel like a bad person and yet he made me feel like that. "
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The height of discomfort, the two men find themselves one day involuntarily side by side in training. “There are still 22 training courts and here we are side by side, me with Edouard and him with Andy, breath Mahut. In the middle of the tournament, this was not the time to have an explanation and it was hard. Suddenly, all the friendship we had, everything we had built was wiped out. It is as if he were there, before me, with his mistress! "
In view of the Olympic Games in Tokyo in the summer of 2020, where gold is one of the rare objects that resists their desire, the duettists manage to speak to each other last August. A long and tense phone call. Then difficult to reconnect on the ground in Cincinnati before reaching the bottom in the first round of the US Open (3-6, 1-6 against Bopanna and Shapovalov). “It was catastrophic, coward Herbert. We asked ourselves the question of continuing. But this period of deep doubt allowed us to finally tell ourselves things honestly and move forward. Our story could not end on this. Too crumpled after taking such a sheet.
The Davis Cup, a breath of fresh air
Everything then plays out this day after a debacle in Mahut's New York hotel room. "It was the worst game of our career," said the elder. I was ready to stop. We had done too many beautiful things together to leave an image like that on the ground. I told him: if our objectives are no longer the same and you no longer want to play with me, we must not force ourselves. It won't change our relationship, the fact that I love you, but we have to stop hurting ourselves. It doesn't matter if we are partners or not, I didn't want to ruin everything. Divorce has never been closer.
Herbert asked for a little time to think. And don't hesitate to put your ideas straight. Their common life is not over. "The biggest defeat we could have had was to finish like that and not talk to each other," he says. It was no use having built so many memories to let everything go. I want to be able to sit and talk over a beer in ten years. We still experienced incredible things! So when we met (Editor's note: in Vienna, mid-October) , it was magic. We were just happy to be together and ready to sacrifice for each other. It is as if nothing had happened. "
Despite an almost white season, the captain of the French team Sébastien Grosjean trusts them to compete in the Davis Cup. "It was a plus," thinks Mahut. We had lost the fire and there we wanted to seduce the other again. Look, I'm playing well. I also play well. We work a lot on the affective and everything was united. "
Each has taken a step towards the other. "I found Nico more smiling, relaxed, less anxious," says Herbert. It can have a little psychorigides sides but there it was extremely open, it brought a lot of joy. And above all, a lot of resilience at the twilight of a tennis life that brought him some hard knocks. In particular a non-selection in the final of the Davis Cup 2017 won by France (in favor of the pair Herbert-Gasquet) which he still has not forgiven captain Yannick Noah.
"We still have beautiful things to live for"
“This character trait probably comes from my mother (Editor's note: died in 2005) , analyzes Mahut. When I set goals, I try to go to the end and I accept many, many things to reach them. I imagine that I must have limits, but I have always pushed them… ”
To celebrate their reunion, the buddies offer their first Bercy tournament and their first Masters! "Mentally, we were both very strong," says Herbert. We are two emotional, we see things differently but we manage to respect, understand and accept each other. This is the greatest pride we should have. We owe it only to us. "
So on the way to the Tokyo Olympics ... and the wedding of Cyprus. "When you play doubles, the problems you encounter are the same as a couple," smiles Mahut. I have no trouble saying that I love Pierre-Hugues, not of love but of friendship. Each one must take it upon himself from time to time, to know the susceptibilities of the other. It is never linear. My feeling tells me that we still have beautiful things to live… ”Herbert also wants to take advantage of this“ second chance ”. Union is their strength.
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