Having started out as a “child prodigy”, Moutet found himself without the support of the French federation also due to his behavior on the pitch. Now he will play the first eighth in Paris and he will have Sinner in front of him. Roland Garros is live on Eurosport (channels 210 and 211 on the Sky remote control and streaming on NOW)
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Every world tennis capital has its “Coco”. If the star of the US Open is Coco Gauff, Roland Garros has rediscovered the brilliant and, why not, crazy creativity of Corentin Moutetthe last transalpine left on the scoreboard and who, on Sunday, will have a sometimes prohibitive task: to become the first to defeat Jannik Sinner in a Slam in 2024.
An alternative personality
“I like to think I have an alternative personality, because I am an authentic person. I am the same as always both on the pitch and in life and I don’t even try to pretend to be someone else”: this is how Moutet himself described himself in an episode of “The Insider” broadcast during the Italian Internazionali. And to better understand who the Frenchman is, an anecdote that dates back to not too long ago is enough. Forced to undergo surgery for a ruptured tendon in his right wrist in February 2023, Corentin decided to return to the field well in advance… avoiding using the operated joint and passing backwards to one hand. Performed, among other things, with the same stylistic and aesthetic ease compared to its natural two-handed fundamental. And although the Frenchman suffered more defeats than victories last season, the victory in the Helsinki Challenger still allowed him to remain in the top 100 orbit, where he earns a place in the main draw of the Slams and Masters 1000.
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From child prodigy to bad boy
It is probable that Moutet’s choice was dictated by the need to demonstrate to others rather than to himself that he can manage himself. Started as a “child prodigy” and convinced by the French Federation to leave home at the age of 12, ten years later, Corentin he found himself lonely and sad, without funds, without support and, above all, without wild cards for those who boast a maximum of 51st position in the rankings as best ranking – a position that can be adjusted in the event of a dream victory against Sinner.
Not that the French Federation had no good reasons to cut him out of the project. In January 2022 Moutet was disqualified from the ATP 250 in Adelaide for insulting the chair umpire after losing the second set in the second round match against Serbian Laslo Djere. In October of the same year, the Frenchman was the protagonist of a real brawl in the Orleans Challenger after losing against the Bulgarian Andreev, with the referee forced to intervene to separate them. Smokey character, but awareness that growth is possible, change a little less. “Many times I try to control myself to be the best version of myself on the pitch, but in the end I can’t help but be myself. There are people who like this, while others don’t, but I cannot be a different person,” Moutet himself explained.
The feeling with the public
And perhaps, Corentin’s own excesses of character they allow him to more easily connect with the French publicand, who knows how to be strict, but who also knows how to inflame the atmosphere in home tournaments. Lobs, back cuts and impossible dropshots, combined with the unpredictability of being left-handed, could worry Sinner who will surely find himself facing someone who has no intention of giving him pace. To his advantage, Jannik will be able to exploit his greater arm speed to pin Moutet from the baseline and prevent him from taking the net or even just thinking about implementing his magic tricks which allowed him to confuse the finalist in the order of Rome, Nicolas Jarry, the Kazakh Shevchenko and the Austrian Ofner. And then, as much as Moutet will surely have the public to push him, it is not certain that he can go beyond the physical limits of 12 sets played, compared to Sinner’s 9. The certainty is that Philippe Chatrier is waiting for the two, to try to upset the cold Jannik. “Victory will belong to the most tenacious” as he reads, raising his eyes to the sky. And who knows if being tenacious will be synonymous with being whimsical or being geometric.
