He left the court Simonne Mathieu under a standing ovation and the “Merci Enzo, merci” which cascaded from the stands, as if to calm the little point of sadness which, inevitably must have stung him a little. Enzo Couacaud’s first Roland-Garros ended Wednesday evening, with a logical defeat against the Spaniard, seeded No. 12, Pablo Carreno Busta, in four sets (2-6, 6-3 , 6-4, 6-4). But it was good and beautiful and surely that the Mauritian of Curepipe will know how to appreciate it, when the defeat will be a little more digested.
“The first emotion that emerges immediately is disappointment. I miss the mark in the third set, when I have break points. Then, I didn’t necessarily find that I had fallen. I have a bad start to the fourth set, I concede a stupid break and I did not have the key to unbreak it and reverse the trend. But on arrival, I know it’s still positive ”, he analyzed half an hour after his match.
If Couacaud was thus tangled up in the contrasting feelings, it is because he also said to himself that he could almost have done better, he who in the end only achieved two of the ten break points he gave himself! Achieve the unthinkable. Because Wednesday, the quarter-finalist of the autumn edition of Roland-Garros rarely made a big impression. After an indifferent first set, Pablo Carreno Busta very rarely weighed heavily on the match. And the 165 places gap between the two players was only felt at times.
“Today, I tied the game for a good part of the match with a great client on earth, who is 12th in the world”
With his weapons, an effective first serve ball early in the match, a leaping forehand, a cunning little backhand slice and a lot of courage, the Frenchman made his match, full, while Carreno Busta was not often very frank in his attacks, his approaches and even his attitude, sometimes quite detached.
But, with a little more power, a backfiring game with four winning strokes at 3-2 in the second set, an ideal break at 4-4, while the Frenchman had missed three opportunities to take off in the previous game, in the third, and a new break from entering the fourth round, the semi-finalist of the US Open 2020 ended up taking cover.
For Enzo Couacaud, who was playing his first Major there, at the age of 26, he will necessarily have to feed on all this for the future. “The moment for analysis will come and many things are encouraging and positive for the future”, he confessed. “What happened from 18 to 26 is not the main thing. The bottom line is that today I was on a level playing field for a good part of the game with a great client on earth, who is 12th in the world. For me, I have my place to play big tables in Grand Slam. Today it is convincing and we must build on it for the future. “
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