"Upstairs, there was blood everywhere," the unusual anecdote from Sadio Doumbia about the secondary circuit

Arthur Millot

le 03/09/2025 à 11h04

1 min to read

Doumbia Reboul US Open

In an interview with our colleagues at "L'Équipe," Sadio Doumbia discussed the uniqueness of the secondary circuit, as he currently competes in doubles with his compatriot Fabien Reboul.

"There's no money, but in terms of life experience… With Fabien, our best memories are from Algeria, Nigeria, India. Over there, it's all about improvising! The Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 are nice, but they're much more sanitized."

The 34-year-old player also shared a completely unusual anecdote from his time in Nigeria:

"In Abuja, Nigeria, a tournament official would collect chickens from the surrounding countryside, pluck them, and we'd eat them at noon. Upstairs, there was blood everywhere. (...) For me, tennis is the secondary circuit. What I love are the people, the encounters."

As a reminder, Sadio Doumbia reached his highest singles ranking (250th) in 2016. Since then, he has mainly competed in doubles, such as at this year's US Open where he and his partner Reboul qualified for the quarterfinals.