Mannarino's rare aversion to clay courts

Let's face it, Adrian Mannarino's career is a creditable one. The Frenchman, ranked 20th in the world this week, is still doing very well on the ATP circuit (eighth finalist at the last Australian Open, knocking out Ben Shelton and Stan Wawrinka among others). That said, as is often the case, the 35-year-old is not enjoying the arrival of the ochre. After a poor debut in Madrid (losing 6-0, 6-4 to Auger-Aliassime), the left-hander failed to reassure himself in Aix-en-Provence (beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Gasquet).

The Frenchman's aversion to clay is confirmed once again. Such an inability to win matches on a surface, especially for a player in his category, is quite rare. "Jeu, Set et Maths" has just published an edifying statistic on the subject. Of all the players who have played at least 50 matches on clay (since 1990), the Frenchman quite simply has the worst win ratio (21.9%).