He made the fun last.
To the delight of the French public, in fusion, Gilles Simon has decided to extend his slides on the Parisian clay courts for a few more days.
This Thursday, the future retiree from the courts - he will draw his reference at the end of the season - won his ticket for the 3rd round of Roland-Garros after his victory against the mustachioed American Steve Johnson (7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6)) on the Philippe-Chatrier court.
A great performance for the one who, this season, had not gone further than a simple quarter-final in Pau, in February, on the anonymous Challengers circuit.
🎾 Gilles Simon dominates Steve Johnson for now!
The Frenchman has just broken his opponent in the 3rd set.
Let's go đź’Ş
▶️ LIVE: https://t.co/2wiazE1BCv pic.twitter.com/qIGH45A9we
— francetvsport (@francetvsport) May 26, 2022
But since the start of his 17th and last Roland-Garros, the 37-year-old French veteran seems to have found his 20-year-old canes, the freshness of his younger years.
It's been ages since we've seen the Niçois, nicknamed the "prof" for his tactical knowledge of the game, so mobile and so precise in his strikes.
We could however fear the worst after his marathon match (6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4 in 3:54), finished more than 1 hour in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, against the Spaniard Pablo Carreno (18th in the world) in the first round.
Rightly because the former world No. 6 quickly finds himself mistreated and led to the score before reversing the situation.
He won his 500th victory on the circuit.
“Thank you all, it was fantastic, confides the Frenchman on the Central court.
I had an unreal match two days ago, I'm still having trouble recovering from it, and I started the match under enormous stress.
At 3-0 I felt like a draw.
I didn't want to play a disgusting match, but it didn't start well… I tried to manage my energy to finish but I knew you were there.
You don't realize how fantastic it is (
from the side on the audience
).
»
Stopped as soon as he entered the competition in the last two years, he finds the 3rd round of the tournament for the first time since 2018.
The challenge promises to be even higher in the next round as he will face Croatian Marin Cilic, world No. 23 and former winner of the US Open.