No third miracle at the Palais omnisports de Bercy (12th arrondissement). Gilles Simon, 37, has this time well and truly played the last match of his beautiful and long career. The former world number six gave up on Thursday afternoon against the young Félix Auger-Aliassime (22) to an incredible ovation after 1h33′ of the match (6-1, 6-3).
This round of 16 Masters 1000 will remain as the last outing of a French tennis personality. He has traveled the planet for nearly twenty years, including two Grand Slam quarter-finals (Melbourne 2009, Wimbledon 2015) and a victory in the Davis Cup (2017).
A grand ending
Could he dream of a nicer farewell? Six months after the retirement of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gillou dazzled the Parisian public all this beginning of the week. The 188th player in the world first beat another veteran, Andy Murray, who was one of his executioners on the circuit. We thought the adventure was already too beautiful. However, he extended it on Wednesday evening after a fabulous fight against Taylor Fritz (11th in the world). This Thursday again, and despite the fatigue, Gilles Simon did Gilles Simon, and for tennis lovers, that means a lot.
The French tennis family offered him a great tribute series on the Center Court of Bercy. Nicolas Mahut, Lucas Pouille, tournament director Cédric Pioline and federation president Gilles Moretton were present to celebrate his 20th anniversary on the circuit. During his first round against Andy Murray, the three other musketeers Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet and Gaël Monfils had already made the trip to celebrate their compatriot. Gilles Simon even had the right to short messages from Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on the central big screen: “You can be proud of your career”, “You have accomplished your dreams”. The new retiree ended up speaking, not without emotion: “I wanted to finish on these courts, to enjoy the public one last time. We play tennis for that. »