Nicolas Mahut praised by the fans at the Newport Casino
The man is now fully aware of his popularity in the world of tennis as he is not simply a first round loser from the grass court Grand Slam tournament. The fact of the matter is that, Nicolas Mahut, the player of the marathon match received tons of praises from his lovers and fanciers at the Newport Casino.
“ It sounds simply remarkable, what I have been listening about me”, said Mahut on Tuesday after triumphing in his round number one match of the Fame Tennis tournament in the Campbell’s Hall.
“My fans come after every two to three minutes to greet me. It’s an incredible feeling. I am extremely thankful to everyone. I knew it was a superb championship, but this it is simply unusual. People are very generous to me. It is really a great feeling. I cannot explain in words, but the fact is that this love from the crowd actually boosted my spirits today and that is why perhaps I won it easily in the end today”.
The French Tennis player Mahut, knocked down the third seeded player from Colombia, Alejandro Falla 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, in front of a huge crowd of 1,957 people in his first singles contest since falling down to the American tennis ace, John Isner in a total of five sets at the grass court Grand Slam Tournament previous month.
Isner and Mahut contested in the lengthiest tennis match in the history of sports stretching over a period of eleven hours and six minutes from June 22nd to June 24th, 2010. The final match score appeared as 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68.
Mahut survived Tuesday in warmness that surpassed 97 degrees, but he kept aside his uneasiness, smashed shots when it was actually required and yelled “Yes!” when he hammered a service winner at a match point.
“What I actually did at the grass court Grand Slam Tournament this season, now everything seems easy for me”, he said.
Mahut, a friendly young man who was knocked down by his compatriot tennis opponent Fabrice Santoro in the final match here back in 2008, admitted that the Marathon Match will stick to him for the rest of his professional life. He seems to be perfectly ok with that as people are admiring his game rather than criticizing his defeat.
“Fans are coming to me and commenting, ‘I hardly experience something like this earlier. It’s simply startling. You both are the real winners.’ This is a great compliment,” he said.
It’s been two weeks now and , Mahut is still not out of the spell of the marathon match contested on the court number eighteen at the All England Club.
“Every second,” he laughed when questioned how often does he thinks of it “Even when I am asleep I saw the historical match in my dreams, so it’s definitely a silly tale”.
Isner, the winner of the marathon match was also knocked down in his second-round battle in just 74 minutes. Mahut contested in doubles, lost in the round number one and then departed.
“To be truthful, I was alright. I’m just starting to feel the tiredness now,” he said. However, “after the marathon match, I do not feel that fatigue that I used to complaint earlier”, Mahut added.
There is no doubt about the fact that Wimbledon 2010 will definitely be the focal point of Mahut’s professional life unless he grabs a tournament victory or another major.
“This contest is surely one of the favourite moments of my professional life and at the same time the worst one as well,” he said.
“It however still hurts a lot, but I’m also extremely honoured to be in the Hall of Fame Museum as well as the Wimbledon Museum, and all that stuff it means a lot to me, to be straight, I feel really grateful when I consider all these things”.
There is certainly no doubt about the fact that Nicolas Mahut will be remembered for ages because of his historical performance in the longest tennis match in the history of the game.
Tags: