Wimbledon: Out in the first qualifying round, Gilles Simon will not play the big picture for the last time

Even at 37 and in the final season of his career, it’s bound to be a disappointment. A few weeks after a superb last adventure at Roland-Garros (elimination in the 3rd round after beating Pablo Carreño Busta in particular), Gilles Simon will not have the opportunity to say goodbye to the legendary lawn of the All England Club as he would have desired. The Frenchman lost Monday in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying in Roehampton in two straight sets (6-2, 6-3) and just over an hour (1h06 precisely) against the Croatian Duje Ajdukovic, 235th global.

There will therefore be no 16th participation in the big picture of the British Grand Slam tournament for Simon who had also reached one of his two quarter-finals in Majors in 2015. Seeded 12 of these qualifications, the native of Nice was however protected and had recently made a good promising run at ‘S-Hertogenbosch where he came out of qualifying before falling with honors in the round of 16 against Daniil Medvedev.

Barrere and Guinard also fall from the start

On Monday, Simon was only able to hit 4 small winning shots against 38 for his opponent. Ten other French people are also involved in this first round of Wimbledon qualifying. For the moment, only Antoine Hoang and Enzo Couacaud have overcome the obstacle. It’s already over, however, for Grégoire Barrère, Antoine Escoffier, Manuel Guinard and Evan Furness.