From our special correspondent in the Bermuda triangle of French tennis,
One day it may be a question of requesting the registration of the Roland-Garros site from the City of Paris. Maybe if we dig carefully, we will find lifeless bodies of fallen tennis players, we don’t know. It would be better that, in addition, because how can we explain otherwise that the parent company of French tennis every year is a sad theater of the falling dreams of French tennis? To be able to knock the teeth there every year at the same time, we want to hear. To be honest, we are used to it and it is the difference that may surprise us.
But among the paratroopers, damn it, we can have the ambitions of the medal with Stéphane Houdet who has been keeping it for almost fifteen years. But at the age of 53, the native of Saint-Nazaire will leave the Paralympiad without a single medal, and this, for the first time in his life. After being beaten in the quarter-finals individually, the winner of many French medals also failed in his quest for bronze, on Friday, in doubles, with Frédéric Cattaneo, against the Spanish duo who gave them almost twenty years on the clock.
A very double infinitely?
But you don’t talk to him about age anymore. “Without being too young… No, I’m not saying this because I’m not tired at the end of my game,” he continued in mixed media after the defeat. I’m one of those, in the 8th grade, who didn’t work much before the Games. With two small children, short nights, diapers, bottles and a wife who is a businessman who travels around the world, what was most important was not always tennis this year. »
And when his friend turns the knife on the wound by reminding him that this is the first time he leaves the Paralympic Games without anything around his neck, Stéphane Houdet brings out his constant humor, which can melt the hearts of many people. the coldness of people. Kadi baby, as they call it at Pampers. “My medals, they are in my hands,” said his young son hanging on his shoulder. Here we are on the ground, we have been brought down. a beautiful, timeless approach to everything.
Widowed by her doubles partner, Nicolas Peifer, with whom she won doubles gold in Rio and Tokyo, Houdet seemed out of step with her new partner. We must also say that the age of the two men is not the same and that the Spanish people will understand this very well by looking at Frédéric Cattaneo a couple of times. Very intelligent in the mix, almost restrained, he showed himself as a good player: “We knew it would be a difficult and close match. We have the opportunity to go ahead with the second set, but we miss. They were stronger than us, thanks to them. »
Yannick Noah is disappointed and is not sure about continuing the tour
But in the end, very disappointed, his appearance, appeared Yannick Noah, the coach of the French tennis team who agreed to answer the invitation of Stéphane Houdet almost a year ago.
« In singles, we were outnumbered, Stéphane was equal but he fought someone stronger than him. Double, it’s very disappointing, admits the winner of Roland-Garros 1983. We experienced such strong events… We knew that we would have a special moment in our lives, and therefore the desires increased tenfold. I saw us with a medal, but that’s what it is, the game. The joke would be to say that he has been winning and that, as soon as I arrive, he has lost. But I don’t feel that way. » »
Not even him, who a few minutes earlier had praised the “amazing” support of the former Davis Cup champion. “Yannick is the best. In just a few months, he changed the way we work,” said Stéphane Houdet. Enough to consider extending the tour to 2028 in Los Angeles. The result is that the violins are not really heard.
Although the first confirmed that he has no intention of retiring despite the age of 53 and that “Yannick too” will continue – “he announced to us”, confirmed Houdet after the game – the second n is not very different. “It’s hard to say right away,” Noah reveals. When faced with such thoughts, I know from experience that we will all have a strong problem. We’ll see each other again to talk.” It still feels more like goodbye than anything else, but we could be wrong, that’s how we perceive it.