Career Slam achieved, focus on Tokyo for Herbert-mahut
MELBOURNE: Not long after Pierrehugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut completed their career Grand Slam in men’s doubles, the Frenchmen were already turning their attention to the next goal. And that’s gold.
Mahut and Herbert beat Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia 6-4, 7-6 (1) in the Australian Open doubles final on Sunday, a match featuring just one service break. In doing so, they became the first French team and just the eighth men’s doubles team overall in tennis history to win each Grand Slam tournament at least once.
The 37-year-old Mahut was asked if he’d now consider retirement. He ruled that out immediately, preferring to instead focus on his next significant priority: the Olympics in Tokyo. The Frenchmen were the top seeds in the Olympic doubles tournament at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 but were upset in the first round.
“We have so many things to achieve. If you remember well, in 2016 in Rio, we didn’t play that good, so I still have this in mind,” Mahut said. “So I won’t think about retirement (until) after the next Olympics. You can wait at least one more year, and then of course at the end of my career, at least, I could say that we won all four slams.”
If you remember well, in 2016 in Rio, we didn’t play that good, so I still have this in mind. So I won’t think about retirement (until) after the next Olympics
NICOLAS MAHUT , After winning the Australian Open men’s doubles final
Herbert and Mahut won their first major doubles title together at the U.S. Open in 2015, then added Wimbledon in 2016 and the French Open last year. “We knew when we won Roland Garros that it was the one missing, so for sure it added maybe a special motivation” for Australia, Herbert said. “It’s always tricky because when you want something, you have to make the good decisions and to be in the good state of mind to be good on court.
Mahut said he didn’t need any extra motivation when it came to winning major titles, and came here with a focus on the final rather than the title. “But now we can talk about it, and here we are,” he said. “We have the four slams. So it’s a great feeling.”