ATP Paris-Bercy: Gilles Simon beats Andy Murray – end of career postponed
Gilles Simon 's retirement has been postponed. The Frenchman surprised Paris-Bercy Andy Murray at the ATP Masters 1000 event and is in round two.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit:
Oct 31, 2022, 10:56 pm
It's over at the age of 37 , Gilles Simon said to himself a few months ago. Now the moment has actually come and the veteran finally says goodbye to the big tennis stage - in front of a home crowd. A little treat at the start of Simon's farewell tour: Andy Murray went against an old friend. Incidentally, the match-up Murray vs. Simon with today's duel is the most common duel at the ATP Masters 1000 level without the participation of the Big Three. An announcement.
Gilles Simon has won 14 titles on the ATP tour in his long career, the largest of them at the ATP 500 event in Hamburg. In 2008, the Frenchman would have made representations at the ATP Masters 1000 level, and Andy Murray of all people prevented the final coup at the time. In the world rankings, Simon made it to sixth place, and the 37-year-old reached his career high in 2009.
In what was supposed to be his last match, the Frenchman, with Amelie Mauresmo, Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and many long-time companions looking at the racket from the stands, showed a fighting performance against Murray from the start - won in round one, for example, an exhausting 25-stroke rally. In many tight games, however, the Scot initially had the better end for himself, and the former world number one quickly pulled away 4:1. Although Simon managed the rebreak in the finish, because Murray immediately managed to break again, round one went 6: 4 to the favorites.
Simon strikes back
But the veteran didn't want to give up that quickly. Murray was able to equalize an early break in the second set and even served on the match - Simon didn't give up, left everything in place and sensationally won the second round 7:5. Now the Frenchman had finally gotten the upper hand, followed by an early break in round three and played safely in front. After thwarting two of Murray's break chances, Simon then acted in a relaxed manner - and made the 4: 6, 7: 5 and 6: 3 success perfect with another break.
So the end of the 37-year-old's career has actually been postponed. The local hero now meets top 10 man Taylor Fritz from the USA in the round of 32. And of course he goes into this duel with a lot of confidence, especially since in addition to the strong performance, the Parisian audience also showed an extremely loud performance.