When he goes to see Julien Benneteau, the first thing Nicolas Mahut does is observe, with the eyes of a child, his friend’s bronze medal, the one he won with Richard Gasquet in doubles during the Olympic Games. in London in 2012.
Mahut has trophies in spades, notably five Grand Slam titles gleaned with Pierre-Hugues Herbert between 2015 and 2021. But he still lacks this Olympic charm that he has dreamed of for so long. In Rio in 2016 then in Tokyo in 2021, he and Herbert missed each other: two eliminations in the first round, against the Colombian pair Cabal-Farah (7-6, 6-3) in Brazil, then against the British Murray -Salisbury (6-3, 6-2) in Japan, who branded this absolute lover of the France team.
Mahut is in fact part of the generation that grew up with the exploit of Yannick Noah’s Blues in the 1991 Davis Cup final, in Lyon, against the United States of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. He built himself with the dream of one day representing France, winning the Davis Cup and a medal at the Games.
In the third episode of this “Olympic quest” series, Nicolas Mahut, who received us at his home in Boulogne-Billancourt in February, talks about his connection with the French team, dating back to childhood.
