Cruel disillusion for Adrian Mannarino.
The Frenchman was having one of the games of his life, pushing icon Roger Federer in his Wimbledon backyard.
For the first round of the London Grand Slam, Mannarino left the court in tears, injured his knee.
Impossible for him to continue the fifth set of a fierce fight against the former world number one in the 20 Grand Slam titles.
The Swiss are therefore qualified for the second round after the Frenchman abandons.
Mannarino, 37th in the world, however, did better than defend himself against Federer, who had preferred to leave the last Roland Garros prematurely to better prepare for Wimbledon, his major objective.
After losing the first set, Mannarino won the next two.
Federer was then able to come back to two innings everywhere (4-6, 7-6 [3], 6-3, 2-6).
It was in the penultimate game of the 4th round that the Frenchman hurt his right knee.
He surrendered after trying to play a point in the fifth set.
But the pain was too much.
On his 33rd birthday
The disappointment is immense for Mannarino, author of a solid match on the center court, the very day of his 33 years.
A birthday spoiled by this nasty injury.
Federer, seed number 6, is doing well, he who struggles to find, at 39, his level of play on grass.
It was released in the second round of the Halle tournament last week by the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (21st in the world).
" It's horrible.
It shows that a blow can change the course of a game, commented Federer.
He could have won.
I wish him the best.
“In the next round, Federer, who has already won Wimbledon eight times, will face the Japanese Yuichi Sugita (110th) or the French Richard Gasquet (56th).
Another Franco-Swiss duel after the Euro?