Former World No.6 Gilles Simon To End Career At Paris Masters - UBITENNIS

Former World No.6 Gilles Simon To End Career At Paris Masters

It is only fitting that the Tour vetran will play one of his long-time foes on the Tour in the opening round.

By Adam Addicott
4 Min Read
Wimbledon 2015 - Gilles Simon (foto di Fabrizio Maccani)

The Paris Masters will see one of France’s best-known players in recent years participate in the last tournament of his 18-year career on the ATP Tour. 

Gilles Simon confirmed earlier this year that he will step away from the sport after playing at the Masters 1000 event which is held in the Paris neighbourhood of Bercy. It will be his 16th main draw appearance at the tournament which he was a semi-finalist at back in 2012. Overall, it will be Simon’s 110th appearance in a Masters 1000 event. 

“I’m just trying to remain focused on what I have to do, as I always used to. That’s the only thing I can do and on which I have control,” he told reporters during his pre-tournament press conference on Sunday.
“I’ll try to focus on the first round match. As for the rest, of course, there will be a lot of feelings, contradictory feelings mixing up, and I don’t have the energy right now to put them back, to put my ducks in a row.”

Simon’s first round match in the French capital will be against somebody who has been a nemesis of his throughout his career – Andy Murray. It will be the 19th time the two have locked horns on the Tour but the first since 2016. He has only ever won two matches against the Brit. 

“Andy Murray is a difficult opponent, especially for me. I never liked his play. It’s always been difficult to play him.” He said. 
“But I won twice, so I think that I can still win it. Several times I was able to get the upper hand at one point. There were some tight matches at some point. Especially during the last matches. But we haven’t played one another for quite some time now.” 

Earlier this year at the French Open, Simon claimed his 500th Tour win to become only the third male player from his country to do so after Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils. He has been ranked as high as sixth in the world back in 2009 and has won 14 ATP trophies. He also reached the final of two Masters tournaments in Madrid (2008) and Shanghai (2014). 

The 37-year-old did at one stage face the prospect of being unable to play the final tournament of his career after falling ill last week at a Challenger event. 

“I got sick after the first round. So Wednesday was hard. I played very well. But I was coughing continuously at every point. It was not pleasant,” he explained.
“(Then) I started to feel my back flaring up. I thought, oh, my God, if I continue in the same condition, then things will get worse. And then every time, every match, every tournament I’m always afraid that I can’t play because of a physical glitch. It won’t change for this tournament. It’s going to be no exception.”

It remains to be seen what the future has in store for Simon who intends to take some ‘downtime’ from the sport when his career comes to an end. Although he doesn’t rule out the possibility of going into coaching if an opportunity arises. 

The date of Simon’s match against Murray at the Paris Masters is yet to be confirmed.

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