THE BRAVEST COMEBACK OF ALL
Norrie next after Pouille has to beat depression and alcoholism
FORMER World No.10 Lucas Pouille will take on Cam Norrie at the French Open today after giving up tennis last year to battle his alcoholism and depression.
“For my sanity, I had to stop,” admitted the 2019 Australian Open semi-finalist. “I couldn’t do it anymore. I would have ended up in hospital among the mad-men.” The blond
Pouille, whose mother is
Finnish, had looked like the dashing future of
French tennis.
He beat Rafa Nadal at the US Open aged 22, won the Davis Cup in
2017, became France No.1 and reached the last four in Melbourne when coached by Amelie Mauresmo. But elbow surgery in 2020 started a downward spiral of injury and loss of form, which saw him hit rock bottom during last year’s British grass-court season.
“I started having a darker side and going into a depression that led me, after Roland-garros, when I was in England, to sleeping an hour a night and drinking alone,” Pouille told L’equipe. “It was impossible to close my eyes. I stared at the ceiling. I was sinking into something creepy. I was lying to my coach, Felix Mantilla.
“I shut myself away, I didn’t tell anyone. I was in a bad way. And I made the decision to say stop.
“Otherwise, I would have ended up in Sainte-anne psychiatric hospital among the madmen. For my sanity, it had to stop.
“The trigger was in the middle of the night, I received a notification on my mobile and I saw a photo of my daughter. I said to myself, ‘This is not possible. Ciao!’”
Now 29, Pouille said his two-year-old daughter Rose and the motivation of playing the Paris Olympics next year helped spark his return.
The five-time winner on the ATP Tour started hitting again in November and played Challenger Tour events this year in Thailand, France, Mexico and the USA.
After coming through three qualifying rounds, the world No.675 became the lowest ranked man to win a main draw match at Roland-garros since 2013 when he beat Austria’s Jurij Rodionov 6-2 6-4 6-3 on Sunday.
He led the crowd in an emotional rendition of La Marseillaise after his win and said: “It’s really special. There were so many good emotions.”
Norrie (left), who beat French wildcard Benoit Paire in the first round, will have to silence another fervent home crowd in the last match on Court Suzanne-lenglen today. The British No.1 lost to Pouille in 2018 in his first French Open when he was ranked No.85 and the Frenchman No.16.
Norrie has insisted he will not change his pumped-up game style after clashing with Novak Djokovic in Rome.
The British No.1 revealed the Wimbledon champion never apologised for delaying the start of their match to get late physio treatment.
Norrie said sorry when he hit the unamused Serbian with an overhead during his 6-3 6-4 defeat. But Djokovic accused Norrie of saying, “C’mon in my face after more or less every single point”.
But Norrie hit back: “I didn’t think I was in his face. I’m pretty vocal in some matches. I’m not trying to distract the other guy.”