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Nearly a year ago, Natanel Mahut had courted Philippe-Chatrier to greet his father, Nicolas Mahut, after the Frenchman won the doubles Roland Garros title with his compatriot Pierre-Hugues Herbert. On Sunday, Natanel was found in court, kissing her father again, but in totally different circumstances.
Mahut went from two straight sets to sing the semifinals of 2018 Marco Cecchinato 2-6, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 after three hours and 18 minutes. The 37-year-old had played only one round-level match this season and had played only one game on clay at all levels.
On May 17, before qualifying started on clay, Mahut did not feel well at training and had back pain. Every evening before the tournament, Mahut's wife said, "Relax, do not put pressure on yourself. Things will be fine. "
"I wanted to make the map wild and say I would not be ready. Then my staff said, "Look, you have until Sunday. Take time, get some rest, "Mahut remembered. "I felt better and better. Saturday and Sunday, I felt better. And I had a week of preparation with the coaches, with Jean-Michel. They did not let him go.
![<a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/nicolas-mahut/m873/overview'>Nicolas Mahut</a> stretches for a forehand to <a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'>Roland Garros</a>"width =" 100% "src =" http://www.atptour.com/-/media/images/news/2019/05/26/17/38/mahut-roland-garros-2019-sunday-fh. jpg? the = en "/></p>
<p>And Mahut no longer to the new Court Simonne-Mathieu. Player # 253 in the ATP rankings, who before this month was no longer ranked among the 250 best singles players since February 2003, saved seven of the eight point-breaks scored in the last three sets to win his first victory in the Top 20 at Roland Garros on his sixth attempt. It is safe to say that the Frenchman has justified his wild card.</p>
<p>"It was not [an] obvious [choice]because I had not played well and had been injured in the last few weeks and they trusted me, "said Mahut. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank them because it was not obvious.</p>
<p>"For the moment, I'm enjoying the pleasure of this victory. It was by far my best win at Roland Garros, in a French tournament, I had not had much. And playing on this extraordinary ground, I felt that if it was possible to play on this ground, it would be incredible and the atmosphere would be incredible. "</p>
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Mahut, who had won his last game at the circuit at the US Open last year, had not returned from two sets to love since the US Open 2011. He entered this match just 1-38 after losing the first two sets of the main draw of a Grand Slam.
"He won two sets, then I made an effort in the third, fourth and fifth, this is no longer the 16th seeded against my rank of 250," said Mahut. "It's also an advantage to be French when you play Roland-Garros, and this victory will be remembered."
Just 10 days ago, Mahut was planning to return his generic card. Instead, after a memorable five-set match on the opening day of a match against a former semi-finalist at Roland Garros, Mahut can put the pain aside and think of the German Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat the Dutch Robin Haase 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1, in the second round. This is the first time Kohlschreiber has been to the second round at Roland-Garros since 2015.
"Whether it's me, the staff, my coaches, my work environment or my wife, they put all of it in my head. And in the end, I started to believe it, "said Mahut. "When I saw the draw, I thought," It will not be easy. The next day I thought, "Well, maybe I'll play Simonne Mathieu," which was not easy. Then I thought, "I've already beaten him, even though he did not rank as high at the time, so maybe if I play that kind of strategy, it will work. "So it was a small possibility, but I entered it. , and they put that in my mind and it worked. "
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