Seven days. Six matches played. Five won. 13 hours spent on the courts. 17 sets contested, six of which went to a tie-break. These are the staggering statistics of Gilles “Marathon-Man” Simon.
The player from Nice experienced an exceptional week in the Spanish capital, overcoming in succession the Russian Igor Andreev, the Americans James Blake and Robby Ginepri, the Croatian Ivo Karlovic, and especially the world number 1, the local Rafael Nadal. This match against a player who had lost only nine matches out of nearly 90 encounters this season sums up Gilles Simon’s stay in Madrid. Presence, winning passing shots, and above all an enormous mental strength after being one set down to zero. In fact, he told the audience after his defeat yesterday that he would “never forget the way they welcomed him.”
He received a standing ovation from the 9,000 people present in the hall even though he had just eliminated their idol moments earlier. This is rare enough to be noted. The young man from the French Riviera can be proud. After a battle lasting over three hours, he wore down and defeated a four-time French Open winner at his own game: endurance.
For this is indeed the strength of the Frenchman. He is capable of going the distance and wearing out his opponent. In agony, the opponent then starts making avoidable mistakes and, above all, can no longer reach Simon’s powerful shots. However, yesterday, the man from Nice could do absolutely nothing against an Andy Murray who was much fresher physically and had no trouble challenging his rival. Yet Simon did not give in, even having two set points in the second set before cracking and letting the match slip away on a final missed volley.
Today, Gilles Simon has risen to ninth place in the Race, the season’s ranking, and is six and seven points behind the two players ahead of him, Juan Martin Del Potro and David Ferrer. The top eight will go to Shanghai after the final tournament of the “regular” season, the Paris Bercy Masters Series, which takes place next week. To go to China, Gilles Simon will need to go at least one round further than one of his two competitors.
After what he experienced in Madrid, anything seems possible…
