Cornet: "What an adventure! A page of 30 years has been turned. It's scary, but I've been incredibly lucky."
Alizé Cornet played the last match of her professional tennis career this Tuesday on the clay of Court Philippe Chatrier. The Frenchwoman logically lost in the first round of this 2024 edition of Roland-Garros, beaten by the outgoing finalist and world No.8, China's Qinwen Zheng, in two sets (6-2, 6-1). The former world No. 11 (2009), who holds the record for consecutive Grand Slam tournaments played (69), was very emotional as she took the microphone.
Alizé Cornet: "It means a lot to me to be able to celebrate the end of my career here at Roland-Garros. It's great, because I was already in tears yesterday after Rafa's match, and now I'm in tears again today. I've been preparing for this moment for weeks, but I don't think you're ever ready to say goodbye.
It's quite a page that's being turned, a page of 20 years of professional tennis. But actually, it's more like a page of 30 years, since I started playing tennis at the age of 4. And so I'm going to have to put all that behind me, and start a second chapter in my life. It's scary in a way. I've been incredibly lucky to live this life.
Now I'm seeing the images again (on the giant screen), and I've been holding on until now, but now the emotion overwhelms me because I can see how far I've come. And... I'm super proud of myself, super proud of what I've achieved. I would have liked to do more, like always, like today, I would have liked to win, to do a better performance.
But I've given my all to my sport and, as I said, I'm really incredibly lucky to have lived this life. Of course, it's taken a lot of effort, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of work and a lot of questioning. There have been a lot of ups and downs. But all the same, what an adventure!
Dad, Mum, Bastien (his brother Sébastien), if we'd known when we arrived here in 2005, when I was 15, that 20 Roland-Garros later we'd still be here, on Centre Court, after a busy career, I think we'd have signed up for this adventure. Thank you for always being there, right from the start, from my very first steps."
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