“I have always been seen as less strong than what I was”, assured AFP Gilles Simon. The former 6th player in the world (37) will put an end to twenty years of career after the Masters 1000 of Paris-Bercy. The Nice, invited by the organizers, will challenge Andy Murray in the first round, Monday, October 31 in the evening.
How do you approach the farewell tournament?
I try not to imagine it, I know it can be good, but also that it can be a disaster, so it worries me. At Mouilleron (early October), I suddenly felt a lot of pain. It’s happened a lot of times this year, to the adductors, the knee, the back… Before, there was a weak zone, at the level of the back. Now there are a lot of dangerous areas in my body, that’s also why I stop. It becomes a nice set of circumstances when things go well. All I hope is that I will have one last at Bercy.
Looking back, do you tell yourself that you have maximized your potential?
No way. It’s something that’s been said a lot about me, but it’s completely untrue. At the same time, people have always seen me as weaker than I was. I was already not the one we imagined first, if only in the hundred best players in the world, even less in the 50, 20 or 10.
Inevitably, once I’ve gone this high, it’s the logical conclusion to say to myself: “He exploited his thing”. It’s just that an image was stuck on me, like on others. Me, I was stuck with the image of the guy who would never be strong. Richard (Gasquet) on the other hand, even if he had been 3rd, we should have apologized, because people had decided for him that he would be n°1. But it’s no big deal. Either way, I decided I didn’t care.
Do you feel like you’ve been underestimated?
Still. Richard said to me: “Damn, it’s still a shame, here, they all think you’re useless, while in Spain, they all think you’re a great player”.
The place where I have been seen the weakest is at home. In the other countries of the world, they found me stronger than here
It’s like that. The blow to exploit the potential, for me, it is just in this logic, we say to ourselves: “We did not expect him there, he went there”.
If you had to remember only a few memories, what would they be?
The first time I did the third lap in Australia (in 2006), it was a super comforting feeling. I have just won Nouméa, it’s a moment when I’m only going up, the stages pass one after the other, we enter the top 100, in the Grand Slam tables, everything is fine.
Especially since it wasn’t always like that when I was younger. Obviously there is the year 2008. I start 30th, I beat Federer twice, Nadal once, Djokovic once, I play the Masters and I make half: it’s great. Afterwards, there are other more sentimental, very personal memories, like winning a tournament just after the children were born.
Do you know what your post-career will look like?
In the short term, I will be training for the state diploma (as a sports educator). Next year, I just want to be at home, take care of my children, and I can reconcile the two very quietly. I have no other project than these for the moment. I don’t pass it to be a coach the following year, but to train myself because tennis interests me, and I’ve always loved understanding it.
What would you change in tennis?
We break attendance records at each Grand Slam, so I would stop wanting to shorten the formats. These are false TV problems that would impact the game, so you shouldn’t touch them. In any case, I would like people who touch the game to be people who are interested in it. And it’s not just because the pub goes better at that time…
The thing I would like to improve is the remuneration, not necessarily that of the very best, but that of the players below. There is more than enough money generated, it’s just that many people don’t care to give money to these players, while it’s still a colossal performance to be in the 250-300 best players in the world.