Released unscathed from the terrible course of qualifying in 1990, Thierry Champion has only one desire: to prove to the organizers that they were wrong not to give him an invitation for the final table.
« By having beaten Forget, one of the best French players, the pressure was important »
After a difficult year, Thierry Champion was trying to rebuild himself and find a rank more in keeping with his qualities at the beginning of the 90s. Descended in 1989 to 700th place in the world due to injuries, he had, on the approach of Roland- Garros 1990, regained a better rank with a 190th place in the standings; a close ranking not sufficient to convince the organizers to grant him an invitation:
“I had been upset not to have an invitation, I didn’t even want to do it anymore, but my brother convinced me to play the tournament. It is in this context that I embarked on the qualifying event ” explained Thierry Champion a few weeks after his Parisian feat.
Out of qualifying brilliantly, Champion then hopes to pass one or two rounds, but certainly does not think of reaching the quarter-finals stage. He is one of the good French players, but does not have the level to beat the best players in the world.
190th worldwide in 1990
However, at Roland Garros if we want to progress, we have to be able to beat the best. But as the final table unfolds its laps, Thierry Champion is still there. And we can not say that he has easy opponents in front of him.
In the 2nd round, he beats world number 6 Aguilera (3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2) then Guy Forget in the next round in five sets (6-4, 67, 6-4, 5- 7, 6-3). In the round of 16, he saved two match points against Novacek.
He is on the verge of cramps, but he fights and qualifies (6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3) for the quarter-finals against Andres Gomes, another big customer. The quarter-final stage will be too high a step for him. A baseline player who defends with a lot of self-sacrifice, Thierry Champion needs to be physically on top to have a good match, but since his match against Novacek, he has suffered from a contracture in his buttocks.
This injury will hamper him in the quarterfinals. He countered Gomez’s balls as best he could, used his lethal weapon, his forehand, but that proved insufficient against an Ecuadorian in great shape who would also achieve the tournament of his life since he won it.
Seeded number 7, Gomez will have shown his touch of the ball throughout the tournament. In the quarter-final, there was no match (6-3, 6-3, 6-4) as Thierry Champion appeared blunted by his qualifying matches and the large table played with a knife.
The first lowest-ranked player to reach the Roland-Garros quarter-finals
Despite this final defeat, Thierry Champion will have the satisfaction of becoming the first player so poorly classified to reach the quarter-finals of the competition since the Open era.
Seven years before, Christophe Roger-Vasselin had also had to manage an unexpected course which had stopped in the semi-final against Yannick Noah after a victory against Jimmy Connors. He recognizes that it is not easy to understand and manage:
“We play in France, the tournament is publicized. As you pass laps, people recognize you on the street, more and more people are talking about you. Journalists are interested in you. In addition to preparing for matches, there is this environment to manage.
Psychologically, it’s taking. You also have to answer interviews, things that you are not necessarily used to. On his superb course, Thierry had also beaten Guy Forget, one of the best French players, so the pressure must have been important for him after this match too. ”
After his Parisian epic, Thierry Champion achieved some exploits as in 1991 when he beats Pete Sampras in the 2nd round of Roland-Garros or at Wimbledon where he beats Pat Cash before reaching the quarter-finals against Stefan Edberg. He will not win titles, but he will achieve a nice career at the height of his talent, reaching his best world ranking in August 1991 with a 44th place.
