Mahut reflects on the final match of his career: "The day went by so fast"

After a 25-year career, Nicolas Mahut has hung up his racket after playing one last match with Grigor Dimitrov at the Paris doubles tournament.

Mahut and professional tennis are over. The 43-year-old Frenchman lost alongside Grigor Dimitrov to the pair Nys/Roger-Vasselin at the Paris tournament (6-4, 5-7, 10-4).

After the match, Mahut, a winner notably of five Grand Slams in doubles and two ATP Finals with Pierre-Hugues Herbert in his career, looked back on his preparation for the tournament alongside the Bulgarian.

"The pre-match wasn't great. I had told Grigor (Dimitrov) that it wasn't impossible for me to be a bit emotional during the match. Frankly, he had some incredible words.

Ever since I asked him to play with me, he has been fantastic. Grigor, what can I say... Class, human. He told me that I had the right, that no one would blame me, and that if the emotions came, I should live them, that it was my match.

The preparation wasn't simple. My son was there. My father had a stroke last year and it was complicated for him to travel, but to see him there... He was there for the first match of my career, he is here for the last one, it's very symbolic. Yes, there were quite a lot of emotions.

I managed to play the match without projecting myself too much. Until that match point. But the whole day was special. It went by so fast, and at the same time, it was very long.

Every time you do something, you tell yourself it might be the last time. Even though I wanted to win the match, you know me. We experience things a little differently.

At the moment of match point, you realize that, if you count correctly, you lose one point and it's over! In math, I wasn't excellent, but I still knew it was better to win that one. At that moment, the emotions came and I tried to do the best I could," Mahut stated for L'Équipe.