the essentials The qualifications finally begin without the Toulouse left-hander, in search of precious points to enter the final table of the first Grand Slam 2024 and still in contention in the Brest Challenger. He dominated yesterday in the quarters Arthur Cazaux, his friend from Stade, who will be able to try his luck at Bercy today.
They both benefited from an invitation to compete today in the qualifications for the Rolex Paris Masters in Bercy. Only one will be able to honor him. By dismissing Arthur Cazaux yesterday in the quarter-final of the Brest Challenger, Hugo Gaston sent his fellow Stade player to the capital. A really nice consolation after a duel which ended short (6-2, 6-2). The protégé of Younes El Aynaoui opened the doors to the last four in Brittany without ever having thought of giving priority to the Masters 1000 in Paris.
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An accounting choice, explains his Moroccan coach: “Hugo is at a ranking (84th at worst on Monday) where he has not yet secured his place for the final draw of the next Australian Open, especially since he will soon lose the benefit from his Challenger title in Roanne last year. The half in Brest already gives him 36 points and that could rise to 100 on Sunday if he lifts the trophy. To take more than 36 points at Bercy, he had to he comes out of qualifying and reaches the third round of the final draw in an extremely tough context. The choice was obvious.”
Gaston-Bonzi in the half in Brest!
Nobody has sacrificed anything, in fact, since Arthur Cazaux (119th), who hopes to participate in the NextGen Masters (like Hugo Gaston in 2021) and can still access the Top 100 at the end of the season to fly serenely towards the Australia, also had a lot to gain in Côtes-d’Armor. Despite a little muscular discomfort in his left thigh, which was also bandaged, Hugo Gaston appeared sober, efficient, constant in his concentration, less obsessed with drop shots, more patient in the exchange. After erasing four break points at the start of the match, he said: “I still love creating but I also try to do more simple things.” Today he will be entitled to a new duel of Stadistes, against Benjamin Bonzi, in the same waters (82nd), and who will head to Paris after Brest to face a player from the qualifications in the first round, Monday or Tuesday .
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For Hugo Gaston, it was also pragmatism that prevailed when drawing a line under the splendor of Bercy, where he reached the quarter-finals in 2021, taking out Carlos Alcaraz after getting out of qualifying. “I knew this situation could arise but I consider it a good problem to manage. Even if I experienced some crazy things in Paris, I must above all lock down Australia and try to complete the season as high as possible, so as not to have any doubts about my winter programming. It’s on track and I will still have Metz (ATP 250), if necessary.”
“I was never afraid of sinking”
Finding himself in this ranking on this date is happy news for Hugo Gaston, who fell to 137th in June, caught in the washing machine of the ATP fine for a ball falling from his shorts in Madrid (April) , again in the viewfinder after abandoning on match point in Verona (July); “which allowed him to obtain a medical certificate to skip the following tournament without damage or an imposed site visit,” says El Aynaoui. The Toulouse resident then found himself in balance between two worlds and even two destinies. He switched to the right side, also benefiting from the contribution of Sergio Antonelli, his new Argentinian physical trainer with whom he sculpts both his body and his mastery of the Spanish language.
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“When you leave a coach like Marc Barbier, who you had for more than 15 years, there is bound to be turbulence. I learned a lot of things this season but I don’t want to go into too much detail because it remains very personal. I can be proud of not sinking even though the year was average in many areas. I could have found myself much further behind but I was never afraid of sinking. I always felt that my level of play was there. Overall, I feel even stronger than at my best ranking (58th, July 2022).”
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The Toulouse player pocketed two Challengers in July in a row (Iasi, Trieste), beat three members of the Top 100 this year including two last week in Antwerp (ATP 250) by reaching the quarter-finals (Rinderknech, Struff). Limited damage. “Given the events, we started in the points race without necessarily being able to do the in-depth work that I would like to do this winter,” explains Younes El Aynaoui.
Thinking about Melbourne, it would make the efforts less difficult to bear.
2023-10-27 18:08:00
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