These days, we don't necessarily have the heart to smile.
Behind his anti-Covid mask, however, Lucas Pouille has a sparkling look.
After only one match played in fifteen months and an operation on the right elbow last summer, the Northerner, 26, is finally preparing to return to competition in ten days at the Quimper Challenger.
That is to say around the time when Clémence, his wife, is due to give birth to their first child, a little girl ... Installed this Monday in the rest room of the National Training Center (CNE), near Roland-Garros, number Global 71 confides.
Where are you today?
LUCAS PUGLIA.
I did four weeks of preparation at Villeneuve-Loubet
(Editor's note: at the All In Academy)
then I spent the holidays in Brittany and I trained in Rennes where we moved in for a while
(Editor's note: nearly his in-laws and his wife's best friends)
.
I'm typing at CNE this week and the resumption is scheduled in Quimper on January 25th.
Then, if all goes well, I will continue with the Challenger of Biella (Ita), then Montpellier, Rotterdam and Marseille.
I'm in a good state of mind after going through some weird times, positive and very negative, all last year.
I finally see the end of the tunnel ...
What was the hardest part?
It is that each time, I was given recovery objectives.
In December 2019, I play an exhibition in Saudi Arabia, the next day, I can no longer spike.
The doctors tell me to wait until February, then March.
Even if the exams are good, I have a lot of apprehension, I don't dare to serve 100%.
I go to the United States, I do a Challenger… then the season is interrupted.
We arrive in June, I play a game and the next day I can no longer serve.
There, I know that my year is over.
Doctors thought infiltration would suffice.
But I had a lot of things in my head that made the operation inevitable.
After that, you never know if you will be able to recover 100%.
It took a while before we could serve normally without having problems elsewhere.
Because we tend to compensate and we find ourselves in a gear that is not very healthy.
How did you keep the motivation?
There are times when it got complicated to go to train.
When we say to ourselves: "P ... the next game is in five months ..." It's a long time, knowing that we have already made six!
This is all the complexity of managing well.
Sometimes I didn't feel like it at all.
I had to cut, because I had made an effort to be disappointed in the end.
I didn't do anything during the summer, just the maintenance.
I came back on September 1st and it was getting a little more concrete, with the start of the year in mind.
Are you taking more care of yourself?
Yes, I listen to myself a lot more.
Before, when I had pain, I didn't care.
I gritted my teeth and played.
Now I'm more careful, especially on the shoulder, elbow and right wrist.
I know very well that to start competing again, I have to be able to play several sets without pain anywhere and that is what is happening.
We must not be in a hurry and tell ourselves that we must at all costs make up for lost time.
I made this mistake in the fall just after Roland Garros, wanting to do four or five hours a day more physically when it was not the time.
But I had seen the US Open, Roland-Garros, I saw that everyone was playing and it pissed me off ...
In 2018, you were feeling tired of tennis.
Did this long absence give you even more desire?
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I realized that I love tennis.
I missed going on the field, packing my suitcase to leave, feeling this adrenaline, this stress, this little lump in my stomach before going to big matches.
It's like a drug.
I also told myself that I had not yet gone to the end.
It's true that in 2018, it had become a job.
I had lost the pleasure of the game. We never spoke about it again with Manu
(Editor's note: Planque, his coach at the time)
but the mistake is never to have taken the time to settle down and digest the victory by Davis Cup 2017. We pretended nothing had happened.
Yet I was burnt, washed out.
We finished on November 27 and on December 8 I was in the field training like crazy.
I had three days for Christmas.
I had a good start to the year, but I was on the rope.
In Dubai, I got up every day at 1:30 p.m., my eyes swollen with fatigue.
And by March, in Indian Wells, there was nothing left.
You have separated from the Mauresmo-Courteau duo.
What do Thierry Ascione and Nicolas Renavand bring you?
My game is quite simple.
It's easy to see how I have to play to win.
Thierry and Nico form a beautiful duo.
I have enormous confidence in Nico with whom I have spoken a lot in the past and that facilitates communication.
We push my game even more forward, with the idea of not being subjected.
Thanks for everything, @AmeMauresmo!
After two years of good collaboration, our path stops but I will keep some precious lessons.
🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/jKgHOqZoGj
- Lucas Pouille (@la_pouille) October 24, 2020
In Villeneuve-Loubet, you came across Tsonga, soon to retire, and Ugo Humbert, the next generation of French tennis ...
I am a bit alone in the midst of these two generations.
They were all four
(Editor's note: Tsonga, Gasquet, Simon and Monfils)
, they pushed each other and I had almost no emulation with them.
There, I loved the sessions with Ugo.
If we can train more often together, that can only pull me up and do me good.
He is young, he has enthusiasm, desire and an incredible level of play that will take him far.
We don't really know each other but he has great values.
I hope he and the others all play well, do great results.
It always stings you when someone does better than you, it pushes you to be better.
What are your new ambitions?
In the short term, it's being patient and humble.
I preferred to resume in Challenger even if my ranking allowed me to go to Australia
(Editor's note: "thanks" to the freeze of the circuit due to the pandemic)
but that's not why I'm going to win in Quimper!
I'm not going to panic if the results don't come right away.
In the medium term, it is trying to come back in the 30s and participate in the Tokyo Olympics.
I missed Rio for nothing and that's a real goal.
Then it's staying healthy.
Every time I've been good for 6 or 7 years, I've found myself in the 25's and playing tournament wins.
Your imminent paternity may still upset some plans ...
(Smile)
Even though it never really turns out the way you expect it to, I still had some time to think about it!
There was no need to come to an agreement with Clemence.
Tennis will remain my priority and our life will revolve around it.
My wife and my daughter will be traveling with me, we won't be apart for long.
I didn't want to take too much advice from other players to avoid taking my head with all the advice.
I talked a bit about it with Jo but I'm going to do my experience.
The room is ready.
I can't wait to take her in my arms ...