This was Gilles Simon, the tennis chess player

Gilles Simon tennis has been the antithesis of what Ronaldinho to football. ‘Ronnie’ played for the ‘hunters’, for the quick eyed people. A rabona, a feint and you fell in love with him, like the teenage boy who meets the new girl in the class in the corridors. Of course, facing the popular story, the strength of this magnetism is evident. Much will be written about R10 and very little about people like Gillou. The ‘Pollito’ is one of those who plays, you know, for those who truly understand this sport. And it’s not any form of classism, far from it: it’s about enjoying yourself in different ways, paying more or less attention to the shades. It is one thing to appreciate and enjoy them; quite another, at least, to value them.

It was not easy to enjoy the French game. There were days when it really was a arduous task. I have stuck in my mind the image of an exchange between him and Gael Monfils at the Hamburg tournament. It corresponded to the year 2011, the year in which my server had given himself completely to tennis. A decade has passed since then and I perfectly remember that rally hypnotizing, capable of lengthening a single YouTube video for almost two minutes. Two players passing the ball to the other side of the net, one of those videos that, even sped up in speed, still made you dizzy. And it was Simon who won that point, driving his compatriot crazy in one last charge.

Gillou drove you crazy. It made you play bad. Like that day when he made Novak Djokovicin one of the best years of his career, committed over 100 unforced errors in a single match! It is possible that Nole left the locker room with a very bitter aftertaste on his palate… and that he won. Who could have a good time with a match like this? Who could take up this sport in a game where winning shots are conspicuous by their absence? Moreover, surely many who did not see the Frenchman play will be wondering how it is possible that this guy, apparently without weapons in his blows or followers in the stands, has become top-10.

Forget everything I’ve said. Let’s say we’ve only entered the first dimension. We have remained in a superficial analysis of Gillou’s game, in the final result, in the product that is sold in the supermarket. What was behind all this and why should we go further? Well, first of all, because in any sport we need variety. A menu with the same type of food would end up tiring us out. Simon was that type of seasoning that we overlook, but is necessary for the final product. It seems like it’s not there… but don’t worry, it’s always there. And it is necessary.

THE CHESS PLAYER

Gillou approached each duel as a chess game. In supersonic hitting tennis, he slowed down the ball and challenged his rival, inciting him to use his brain. Few players like him when it comes to using the spaces and not giving you anything to work with. The Gaul caressed the ball, he seemed to treat it as if he was terrified of it… and yet he was able to place it in the same corner. Finding holes was an impossible mission due to its magnificent placement. Gilles had eight senses, a natural knowledge of all areas of the track, an anticipation of what was going to happen.

He didn’t always manage to overthrow his rivals ‘just’ with that. Tennis is a sport where so many things come into play, and spatial intelligence, placement and vision are just some of it, not all of it. It is commendable that a guy with these weapons was able to defeat absolutely every member of the Big Three, was #6 in the ATP ranking, reached two Masters 1000 finals, became Davis Cup champion and lifted a total of 14 titles. His debt will always be the Grand Slams, where the quarterfinals served as an impregnable barrier, a kind of perennial reminder of the limitations of his game at a time when having limitations has been a greater punishment than in other times.

But even those layers that made up Simon’s shoe sometimes showed us a much more offensive version. The simplistic thing would be to say that Gilles was always a passerby, but his intention to attack him was there, present. Was being offensive playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga? Gillou lacked those weapons: he will never meet those standards. But, based on his arsenal, the Frenchman left games where his blows made a lot of noise, where he took on the role of the aggressor, although without abandoning his cerebral perspective of a sport in which the mind is the most important element. Let them say it, for example, to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Madrid tournament, back in 2008 (what a season finale Gillou left us, for God’s sake).

The guy who was nicknamed ‘CNN’ because he wouldn’t stop talking. A wonderful mind, a different way of understanding tennis. Example for many young people, his calm and tranquility were transferred to the table through a style that may be anachronistic in several decades, where the most important thing is not to destroy the ball, but to know where to place it to generate problems in tennis and the mind. of your adversary. All my respects to someone who triumphed like this, and who invited people to go further, to understand tennis from another perspective. Thank you, Gillo.