Sometimes you just have to go back to basics. This is what Alizé Cornet did before Roland-Garros. Game, more game, repeated strikes, revised scales, recalled patterns. The French has “grazed for hours and hours on earth”. It was necessary for the one who was coming out of a first part of the season on complicated ocher. An elimination in the first round in Madrid, against a qualifier, then an entry exit in Rome against Simona Halep.
After the Italian setback, the 32-year-old Niçoise was a bit distraught, lacking rhythm and confidence. Annoying as close to Roland-Garros, where she wanted to have all her feelings after her pretty Australian adventure at the start of the year. She hesitated on her program. Align with the Strasbourg tournament by taking the risk “to lose in the first round and to be even more at the bottom of the hole”promote his first novel The Waltz of Days or inflict two weeks of training on yourself hoping to find your bearings. She slipped into a half-smile as she left the Foro Italico: “With my 50 years of experience, I hope I can find the best solution. »
Grinning, she ran little Friday in training
The experience accumulated in sixteen years (still) of professional career has spoken. Cornet did not go to Alsace, did a few outings for her book, including a signing session in Cannes, but above all she inflicted hours of tennis on herself. “Actually, the only thing I could control was doing two weeks of cleat training.she rewinded. I think I needed this to regain my bearings, to regain confidence also without having any negative preconceptions about a lost match. I spent hours there, as I know how to do so well. »
Thursday, for her first sessions at Roland-Garros, she went into overdrive with an hour against Paula Badosa, half an hour against a sparring partner and an hour against Aryna Sabalenka. Something to slowly regain confidence. The magic of Philippe-Chatrier, where she played her first two matches and where she will play her third, this Saturday, against the promising Chinese Zheng Qinwen (19), did the rest.
Tennistically, the French responded present. Mentally, an area she also worked on a lot, she was not caught up in her expectations. And physically, she held the fight against Jelena Ostapenko, her first victory against a top 20 since the Australian Open. But you will have to watch your adductors. Friday, the French ran very little in training, showed a few grimaces and stretched several times after certain exchanges. “She has a little embarrassment, she preferred to give her all for the simple”, confirmed Diane Parry, with whom she had to play the double before giving up. The pain, the price to pay to continue to believe in his dream of a new round of 16 Porte d’Auteuil. She has not had such a party since 2017.
