(Paris) Gilles Simon ended his playing career at 37 on Thursday after his defeat in 8are final of the Paris Masters 1000 against the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (8e) 6-1, 6-3.
“Thank you Gilou,” Auger-Aliassime wrote on camera as he left the court to make way for a ceremony organized by the French Federation in honor of Simon.
The Frenchman announced in May that he would put away his racquet at the end of the season, his 21e on the professional circuit, and he received an invitation to enter the main draw of Bercy. He had managed to postpone the deadline twice by winning in the first round against the ex-N. 1 world Andy Murray and second against 11e World Taylor Fritz.
But he had fought 2 h 50 against the Briton and 3 h 06 against the American so that he no longer had the physique to resist Auger-Aliassime, one of the youngest (22 years old) most in form of the moment since he is aiming at Bercy for a fourth title in four weeks after winning in Florence, Antwerp and Basel.
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The public’s fervor was quickly extinguished when Simon found himself completely overwhelmed from the start of the game: 3-0 then 5-1.
Fears of a fiasco were further heightened when the Frenchman clutched his left thigh in pain in the final game of the first set.
And the more the match progressed, the more Simon staggered on his thighs. But as he has accustomed his opponents to throughout his career, he refused to lay down his arms and fought to the end.
New Musketeer
However, he could not prevent FAA from reaching the quarter-finals where he will try to clinch a 15e successive victory, against Frances Tiafoe (21e) who got rid of the Australian Alex de Minaur (25e) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
“I have enormous respect for Gilles and for everything he has done for French tennis and for the tennis community in general,” said the Canadian.
“I knew it would be a difficult match, for sure it’s a very special moment, it’s a huge moment to retire (from the circuit),” he added.
Simon, born in Nice on December 27, 1984, started on the professional circuit in 2002.
He reached the 6e world rank on January 5, 2009 and retired on a strong list of 14 ATP titles. The first in Marseille in 2007, the last in Metz in 2018.
He is the fourth most successful Habs in the Open era (since 1968), behind Yannick Noah (23), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (18) and Richard Gasquet (15).
In terms of victories, he has 504 and only Gasquet (588) and Gaël Monfils (525) have done better. In the Masters 1000 category, he won 124 games and only Gasquet (140) is ahead.
During his career, Simon has notably beaten Roger Federer (twice), Rafael Nadal (1), Novak Djokovic (1) and Andy Murray (3).
He notched his best Grand Slam result at the 2009 Australian Open and 2015 Wimbledon when he reached the quarter-finals.
With Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who retired from Roland-Garros this year, Richard Gasquet and Gaël Monfils, he is the “new Musketeers”. He won with the first two in particular, the Davis Cup in 2017.
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