This Wednesday, there was only one Frenchman left in tennis at the Olympics: Corentin Moutet. The 25-year-old from the Paris region had his work cut out for him against the American Tommy Paul, ranked 13th in the world, and the step proved too high: he lost without demerit (7-6) [6]6-3) in the round of 16.
Not seeing a French player in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games is a first since 1996. After the failure in Atlanta, French tennis had always managed to place at least one representative in the quarter-finals of the Olympic tournament, with a bronze medal in Sydney in 2000. The French tennis team have not brought home a trinket since the London Olympics in 2012 (silver and bronze in men’s doubles).
“It’s frustrating. I was the last in the race so I had a lot of hope, pressure and the desire to do well. It’s shared, I just left the court. I’m disappointed, the impression that I could have done a little better, been a little more consistent. And on the other hand, I did my best, I got going again after each point, declared Moutet after his defeat. I tried not to give up but I had some low points in the match that cost me dearly. There was a crazy atmosphere, they were encouraging me at every point, at the end too. There’s a sharing that’s created, we’re all united in this match. And that’s important, I’m not doing this just for myself or my emotions, it’s to create something common, these are the Games. We’re playing for our country, it’s bigger than just playing for yourself.”
Six match points saved
On a Suzanne-Lenglen court where the atmosphere was once again boiling, Moutet played with his weapons, hung on and showed his full range of shots. The world number 69, broken quickly in the first set, finally made up for lost time to come back to 4-4, was broken again before catching up at 5-5. But Paul, coached by Brad Stine, did not panic and showed himself to be very solid to win – 8 points to 6 – the tie-break, launched with a spoon serve by Moutet, and ensure a decisive advantage under the eyes of Bob and Mike Bryan.
Supported by his former coach Laurent Raymond, who became coach of the French Davis Cup team, by the captain of the Blues Paul-Henri Mathieu and by Ivan Ljubicic, the head of high-level at the FFT, Moutet fell behind at the start of the second set and was unable to come back, despite saving six match points.
