In 2020, the tennis planet has not escaped the seismic tremors of the coronavirus. Professional players have only been a handful to be able to replay in competition. Others like the Caledonian Maxime Chazal, took the opportunity to rethink their future.
The last contact with Maxime Chazal dated back to last April. The New Caledonian tennis player then lived like the others. Confined. But confined… to Guadeloupe. From the West Indies, Maxime was to join the United States for an ambitious tour. The professional player had just returned to the Top 400 in the standings ATP. With some good results on American soil, he could hope for an invitation to the qualifiers of the Roland-Garros tournament. At 27 years old, Maxime was finally regaining the level that the many injuries had prevented him from maintaining. Except that the global coronavirus pandemic has taken the entire tennis circuit out of service. For many months. At the time, the Caledonian told La1ère that he had no precise vision of his future. Like the others after all. Nine months later, things have changed a lot.
2020, a necessarily different year
In the Chazal family, the first confinement will have made at least one happy: his right ankle. With the forced shutdown of the circuit, Maxime was able to take the time to treat her. Seriously. Failing to operate. “I consulted surgeons who wanted to operate on me, he confirms. Others advised me against it. I finally opted for a large treatment protocol. I always play with an ankle brace. I have a significant weakness in the ligaments but today, things are better. “
A rested Maxime Chazal. A well-groomed ankle. A tennis circuit which gradually reopens from August 2020. The champion’s life would be able to resume its normal course. “I did play a few exhibition matches during the summer. It was very pleasant to play again. But to participate in tournaments, the logistics had become hellish. Often only the best ranked could register. Then, you had to arrive on place several days before the start of the competition. Not to mention the second wave which was beginning to threaten. All this made me think. “
Maxime Chazal deep in thought.
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2020, year of reflection
Maxime then decides to see further. To take a break. “Be careful, I still keep talking. Anyway, I need to play sports. For my balance.” In September 2020, he becomes a student again in a subject he knows well: tennis. Maxime Chazal is preparing for his coaching diploma. “At the beginning, it was not easy because health constraints imposed videoconferencing for sessions usually in the field. But things have evolved. It’s very fascinating. Also fascinating. I am currently doing an internship at the National Center of Roland-Garros training. Diploma in sight next June. “
In mid-2021, Maxime Chazal will then have a double hat: professional player and coach. Hence our very simple question: could player Maxime influence Coach Chazal? “It will depend on my audience. If I’m with a youngster, I think I will be accommodating. Even if there are rules not to be broken. Now it will be totally different if I have to supervise at the top level. I I will be harder, more strict. Because I know everything it takes to get there. There are very few chosen ones in tennis. That’s all the difference between an exam and a competition. In tennis , having the average is not enough! “
In full training at CNE Roland-Garros, Caledonian Maxime Chazal pauses for a few moments to take a break.
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2021, the year of the return to New Caledonia?
Maxime dreamed of it in 2020. Will he be able to make his wish come true in 2021? Find her dear Caillou? Go back to New Caledonia for a few weeks? “It seems complicated to me in the very short term. I am fully preparing for my coaching diploma until next June. After that, I am open to all eventualities, but the sanitary conditions will have to improve. right here there. For now, being in quarantine in a hotel near the airport, very little for me. I may not be hyperactive but I still need to move regularly. “
No immediate trips to New Caledonia. But in the medium or long term, Maxime Chazal would be very honored to be able to guide the young shoots of the territory. Especially that he will then be trained for that. “We are capable of bringing out very good players in New Caledonia. I am convinced of it. In my time, it was necessary to go into exile in order to progress. Go to France. Today, it seems to me more interesting to work with Australia and New Zealand. For young people, I hope to be an example to follow and above all that many will do better than me. “
Since we are at the dawn of the resumption of the world circuit, the opportunity was too good to ask the Caledonian how he sees the coming weeks of competition. “Let’s say it should gradually get better and better. Now I’m afraid the closed-door will become the common ground for a while. It’s not worrying. Just sad.” And the winners? Again and again the same? “No, I think the new generation will take the lead. The Austrian Thiem won the US Open. The Russian Medvedev won at the Masters. We are at a turning point. Except maybe at Roland-Garros where I don’t see who could come and shake Rafael Nadal.”
In 2021, the Caledonian Maxime Chazal does not see who could deprive Rafael Nadal of a fourteenth coronation at Roland Garros!
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