22 hours.
With a red face, slow step, heavy legs, Gilles Simon settles down to talk about his qualification for the round of 16 of the Rolex Paris Masters after an epic match won against the American Taylor Fritz (11th player in the world) 7 -5, 5-7, 6-4.
The emotion of a molten Bercy arena for the French veteran has subsided a little.
Pleasure is, like fatigue, palpable.
But as he enjoys postponing the end, there will be a sequel.
A new challenge to take up.
Mainly physical.
Extracts.
The emotion.
“It went down because I'm very tired, but I think I managed well.
I may have missed a little thing in the second set because in the second set I had the upper hand in most games, I was doing my service games more quietly than his, I had the break, I gave it back by making a bad play, missing a not too hard volley.
I still had three break points at 5-5, I don't do it and behind I feel that I'm tired, it's getting hard.
Maybe there I could have used more of the public, I have the impression that I could have tried to push, to put more pressure at that time.
On the other hand, I did very well in the third.
It was a tough match, from start to finish;
very long match and as often in these matches,
there were things done well, others less well done.
It takes everything about 3 hours.
»
The look.
“What always worries me is the physique because today (Wednesday) I play Taylor Fritz who is 1.93 and 86 kilos and the guy moves everywhere, he is everywhere, he runs everywhere.
Not only does it serve hard, it hits hard, it moves, it runs, so you have to be in your best shape otherwise it's the direct door and severely.
It's always what worries me that the level.
I know that if I move well, we will talk a little.
I do what I have to do.
It's always: you win, you know you have another game the next day, so you have to keep going, try to show up on the pitch in the best possible condition, otherwise it will be very unpleasant.
It's short, because I play quite early tomorrow (Thursday).
I do what I have to do, I
try not to think about it too much.
»
The audience.
“There is a perception that certainly changed from the moment I announced that I was going to stop at the end of the year.
We must not forget that Jo stopped too.
He has often considered us as a group of four, when you have one, then two, you start to say to yourself “Good”... It becomes hard.
I felt a lot of sympathy and benevolence from the public who, in the end, no longer judge the result, because before, when I did a third lap, no one said to me "it's fantastic".
There, when I do a third lap “it's great”.
It's not really the result that counts, it's more the fact of managing to play at a very good level one last time in two very important tournaments for us, we played a long time,
maybe some people got attached to us, and especially when it was time to leave.
I really did my best and I really feel very lucky and very happy to have managed to play these events well.
»
From Roland Garros to Bercy.
"Roland (victories against the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta and the American Steve Johnson, before losing against Marin Cilic), it's just a miracle, but really a miracle, that is to say that the match has no connection, the level of play with everything I was able to do in the previous three years.
He falls there, you say to yourself: ''It's a miracle''.
It falls there, it's great, I take advantage of it, I feel the thing, I move well, I hit well, okay.
What's different here is that it's the other way around: I'm playing well there, I was playing well in training, I wasn't moving that badly either, so I know I can play well and I just hope I don't get too tense and manage to play the game.
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