On March 10, Arthur Reymond played his last game in Toulouse, a modest 'indoor' tournament organized by the ITF that awards 15,000 euros to the winner. The illusion of competing in his city did not prevent his defeat in the second round, which gave way to the forced halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Reymond, 22, was then confined with his parents and older brother in a country house. His only obsession was to take up his racket again.

From his country house in Villemur-sur-Tarn, a town of just over 5,000 inhabitants north of Toulouse, the 589th classified in the ATP ranking kept on turning his head. And in late March, his father started talking to him about the abandoned court of his neighbor, former president of the local tennis club.

"They had abandoned it almost 10 years ago and you could not even see the stripes. In that area you could not even put a basket", Reymond admitted in the pages of L'Equipe , where he has related this story of passionate love for his sport. Challenging the vegetation and the first heats of spring, the whole family got down to work.

"It was hell"

Among the greatest difficulties, Arthur remembers the dozens of acacia roots "thicker than a tennis ball." "It was very, very difficult. Hell. We did not see the end," he endorses the work with his father, owner of a small construction company, who years ago had already built his own house.

The fatigue to smooth the surface, the sweats with the shovel and the innumerable trips with the wheelbarrow lasted almost three weeks. Then the clay had to be ordered and spread. Also endure several days of rain that forced them to resume work. Her brother and mother also collaborated on the last touches.

"It is not the Central of Roland Garros, but it has become like a pool table," proclaims Reymond, a "total addicted" to tennis, the sport that will return to normal in France starting Monday.

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