Alizé Cornet, who is playing her 60th consecutive Grand Slam in Melbourne, finally secured a place in the quarter-finals by beating Simona Halep.
The Frenchwoman, who can claim to be still competitive at 32, is one of the players whose voice and attitude count on the circuit.
There are accomplishments that don't say much by themselves, but that make the profession ride in unison: we have the right to have our little weaknesses. Thus, Alizé Cornet's first career qualification for the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam delighted almost all the followers, up to our glorious colleague from the
New York Times
, who had devoted an article to our Frenchwoman before her win over Simona Halep that night.
However, we freaked out properly when the Romanian, more decorated than a retired Soviet marshal (two Grand Slam victories, ex-world number 1), saved two match points in the third set.
We know our classics.
Same place same time, thirteen years earlier, against Dinara Safina, then 3rd in the world.
The young 19-year-old from Nice, on the rise, has two balls for qualifying.
Missed.
The closest she's ever been to a Grand Slam quarter-final, before this year.
No words 😭🤯
QUARTER FINAL BABY 💥💥💥@AustralianOpen
P.S.: huge respect for Simona pic.twitter.com/1wF9EKNwoT
— Alize Cornet (@alizecornet) January 24, 2022
Safina's ghosts driven away
She often went over the images, she told us one day: "When I'm really at the bottom of the mine, I tell myself that I'm going to bury my head in the bucket even more by seeing this end of the match again on Internet, there is no better way to get demoralized! “A confidence released at the time of the release of his live
Without compromise
, after the first confinement. Not Balzac, of course, but after all we don't spread Proust either, and then we appreciated that Alizé Cornet wrote every line of it, when any top athlete delegates that to the first scribbler who passes by.
The approach itself tells the personality of an endearing player, who has become our Grand Slam comforter. Sixty consecutive participations since 2007, historic record within reach of rackets by the US Open. Never higher than eleventh place in the world, the only small regret of a lifetime. The explanation is worth the detour, moreover. The young girl had fallen in love: “I wanted something else, we were at a distance, I had let go of the reins for a few months. Nature, enthusiastic, almost naive. Everything Alizé, what.
Love at first sight, however, did not happen immediately.
He reminds us of having been a little circumspect in the face of the media hype around his first participation in Roland-Garros, in school mode for Jacques Martin fans.
There too, she had returned to us with a disarming frankness: “Oh, I was 15 years old, I was a baby what!
I win my first round at Roland, behind I play Amélie Mauresmo, I meet Andy Roddick, of whom I was an absolute fan, I get interviewed by Nelson Monfort… I live the thing from the inside, I am a professional at Roland at 15 year !
In my memory, there remains the impression of having an immeasurable adrenaline peak.
»
A unanimously appreciated warrior
We also had to understand his penchant for drama on the courts. His fits of tears interspersed with cries of joy, his winning shots sabotaged by unpredictable anger. Pierre Bouteyre, the trainer of her youth, had tried to appease us: “As a child, she could be in tears for a moment and her head in the tarpaulin, and the next point running everywhere. We always have the impression that she overplays a little. It's true that this "too much" side can be annoying. And then we got used to it. »
"As I'm very emotional, you either like it or you don't like who I am on the pitch.
But I feel like saying that these are two sides of the same coin.
On the one hand, I'm going to give everything and turn into an outstanding warrior, but on the other, I'm going to get angry, I'm going to shed three tears, because I want too much.
Everyone has their own personality.
»
His offers all the colors of feelings, and allows the craziest reversals, in both directions.
The third round in Melbroune, here: Cornet took the broth against Zidansezk, 6-4, 4-1, before getting up no one knows how.
The opposite against Halep, a match that she should have sealed in two sets, before getting the fear that we know.
All the girls on the circuit, from the youngest to the oldest, have learned to respect the 61st player in the world and her “fighting spirit”.
Madison Keys, also qualified for the quarter-finals: "When we see that Alizé is able to be competitive at the highest level like that... Everyone can see that she wants to win every point, it's very very impressive to watch.
Aryna Sabalenka, world number 2: “I think that in tennis you have to believe in yourself and fight with every stroke of the racket.
She puts everything she has into every game.
»
The first to worry about the fate of Peng Shuai
Without abusing this status of innkeeper, the French even allows herself to get out of her playing field, when she deems it necessary.
Thus, she chose to take the tide for a tweet of support for Novak Djokovic before his expulsion, because the Serb "is the first to defend the players and no one has defended him".
It was also Cornet, who was the first to alert on the fate of Peng Shuaï, in November.
Without bragging more than that: “I usually open it when something bothers me, and I think the world needed a player to take a stand on this serious subject.
I'm still worried about her, but I don't think I have the power to do much more.
»
Although, we would pay dearly to see the face of the Australian organizers if Cornet had a word for the Chinese during her victory speech next Saturday, they who are shamefully hunting for Peng Shuai support t-shirts in the aisles so as not to not displease their Beijing sponsors.
After all, there are only three games left to win.
“Since the start of the tournament, I've tested a technique: before going to sleep, every night, I tell myself that I'm going to win the tournament!
It doesn't hurt to build up a bit of positive self-belief.
We are always asking questions.
There, I said to myself: “Why not me finally?
Why not go all the way?”
If I'm not the first to believe it, no one will believe it for me.
Count us in, Alizé.
Sport
Roland-Garros: "I wanted to stop tennis many times", and yet Alizé Cornet is still there
Sport
VIDEO.
Roland-Garros: L'Instant Gérard Klein ... At 11, Alizé Cornet shone in an episode of "l'Institut"
Alize Cornet
Australian Open 2022
Tennis
Sport
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