The first night session reserved for women, this Thursday at Roland-Garros, almost came to an end (6-0 in 23 minutes), before proving to be indecisive, uncontrollable, harsh, exciting, noisy. A successful bet for the organizers. With the conclusion of an evening rich in twists and turns, a qualification for the 3rd round scored by Alizé Cornet who eliminated 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (seeded n°13, winner of the tournament in 2017). Quarter-finalist of the last Australian Open, the French n°1 goes on to a Grand Slam tournament. At Roland-Garros, she reached the round of 16 twice (2015 and 2017), taking part in her 61st consecutive Grand Slam tournament (at a record unit in the Open era established by the Japanese Ai Sugiyama). In the 3rd round, the French (32 years old; 40th in the world) will face the Chinese Qinwen Zheng who created the surprise by dominating Simona Halep. In a press conference, still carried by the fever, Alizé Cornet confessed: “I played it, but frankly, I had never experienced such an atmosphere. »
The night session: “When I walked onto the court, I didn’t expect so many people. I was pleasantly surprised, and they were ”hot potato”! From the first to the last stitch, they didn’t let me go, they carried me at arm’s length. In the third, I think it made a difference, she got a little annoyed, and me, it gave me a lot of energy. So, a first experience in night session just fabulous. I wasn’t expecting this, and I’m a happy player and woman tonight (Thursday). When we tell ourselves that all these people are there for us, it still does something. I had chills. In addition, there was the ola; I almost had tears in my eyes with emotion. It’s noisy, this stage, when people start getting into it. It’s like an arena. Yes, poor thing, it couldn’t have been easy for her. But you have to have this advantage a bit when you’re French, the public is there for that, to encourage us to go as far as possible. »
A disrespectful audience? “The French public is quite tough overall, it is much better to have them with us than against us. We boo easily. It’s easy to put players in misery, and when you’re not on your side, it can be very hard. But disrespectful, I don’t find, because every time there is a player who plays in his country, it’s like that, he has the support. In any case, me, tonight, it didn’t put any pressure on me at all, on the contrary, it really gave me extra energy, and that was exactly what I needed. »
Hurt? “My adductors are still a little on the go, I gave a lot in this match, I ran a lot, a lot, I did a lot of defense to always bring him back the shot more, I knew it was the only way to win this game. It squeaked a little right to left, I’m not 20 anymore! But frankly, at my age, I still surprise myself, I still have good athletic qualities, and in this match, I think that made a real difference. »
