When Leconte made the mistake of not taking the Olympic Games seriously

Think back. It was the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Tennis was making a comeback after an absence of over 60 years, since the sport had last appeared at the Games in 1924.

At this event, where several big names chose not to take part, Henri Leconte made headlines.

Invited at the last minute, he didn't make it to the Olympic Village and lost in the second round to Kim Bong-Soo, then 361st in the world (4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5).

On his return to France, Leconte played down his defeat, describing the Olympic tournament as a "beach tournament".

However, this statement did not go down well with the Parisian public. Indeed, when he arrived at Bercy the same year, he was booed quite violently.

Asked about this difficult memory, he recalls: "I didn't think it was going to be my party like that. My mother cried, my sister too."