2023-11-06 02:30:41
If it had not been necessary to free the Central of the Accor Arena for the singles final, Édouard Roger-Vasselin would have spent his entire Sunday on the court savoring his doubles victory with Santiago Gonzalez against the Bopanna-Ebden pair ( 6-2, 5-7, 10-7). The only French title missing from his list of achievements, notably a Roland-Garros in 2014.
“The words don’t come to me because it’s so big,” he smiles. It’s obviously not up to the standard of Roland-Garros but it was so long ago that I’ve kind of forgotten those feelings. It’s certainly the second best title of my career…”
The current strong man of the discipline in France will now head to the end-of-year Masters in Turin (November 12 to 19) for his probable jubilee with his Mexican partner. Because with the Paris Olympics in mind, ERV should team up with Nicolas Mahut all next season. Except that Mahut, slightly lacking in tact, released the information in a live Instagram on Friday evening while his compatriot still has great goals on the ground in 2023.
Suffice it to say that Roger-Vasselin, faced with a fait accompli, hardly appreciated the timing and refused to publicly confirm the name of his partner. “We will plan in two weeks,” he says. For years, the winner of Bercy, who celebrated his first Davis Cup cap just a few weeks ago at the age of 39, was the eighth wheel of the carriage. Today it is the benchmark tire.
Thanks to his Parisian coronation, he now occupies 7th place in the world doubles rankings. And the Olympic rule is simple. Each member of the top 10 is automatically qualified for Paris 2024… and chooses the one who will support them in the quest for a medal. Enough to become very courted.
“It’s certain that this wasn’t necessarily the case before Basel (which he won) and Bercy,” he sighs. I scored points, that’s obvious. In my mind, I want to perform well at the Games. It’s my engine. When I lose a little motivation during tournaments or training, I know that there are the Games that I really want to experience… It’s better to have done a lot of tournaments before with the potential partner rather than settling for a preparation test. It has to be clear enough for everyone from the start of the season. »
There was no plethora of unavoidable candidates. Above all, there is one who would do anything to set foot on the clay at Roland-Garros and benefits from very strong federal support. At 41, Nicolas Mahut, whose two experiences at the rings (Rio and Tokyo) ended in two defeats in the first round with Pierre-Hugues Herbert, has never hidden his obsession with the Parisian meeting. Herbert, for his part, would seem to favor a return to the ATP top 100 in singles (he is 372nd).
It’s hard for the Blues…
The French team does not continue its journey in the 1/4 finals of the Davis Cup, following the defeat of Mahut / Roger-Vasselin in an unbreathable doubles 1-6 7-6 7-6 against the British pair Evans / Skupsky pic.twitter.com/I7xH4xCbpE
— We Are Tennis France (@WeAreTennisFR) September 17, 2023
“I think there is nothing more powerful in terms of emotions,” he often repeated. Which gives him something in common with his comrade from the Blues, who scheduled his hip operation for 2021 with the aim of giving himself time to return to cherish an Olympic ideal.
If it is confirmed under pressure from the FFT, the team will have 82 candles on the clock next July. The two players have already won eight ATP tournaments together and played in a Grand Slam final (Wimbledon 2019). They were also involved in the Davis Cup defeat against the English in mid-September. The duo lost in the decisive match despite four chances to qualify France for the final phase.
If by June 2024 (deadline set to establish the list of blue-white-red participants in the Olympics) Roger-Vasselin were to leave the top 10 (and if no one else accesses it), a specialist team of doubles would be entered at the discretion of the FFT (and the other formed by two of the four players selected in singles).
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