Down 2-6, 1-5, 15-40, Alize Cornet manoeuvred Zheng Qinwen around Philippe-Chatrier, before placing a backhand up the line, in the Goldilocks zone between power and softness that meant it just died before the world No 8 could scoop the ball back. Three points later, a drive volley saved a third match point, and the brass band that willed compatriot Gael Monfils to victory last night struck up once more.
The first shot was a fitting reprise before the denouement for Cornet — a player with absolutely masterful tennis IQ, a penchant for slaying top-10 players when they least expected it, and a self-knowledge that her talents, in the era she played, would never quite nudge her into the stratospheres of the game that she so often brought down to earth.
Born in Nice, the 34-year-old had her most celebrated sequence 10 years ago, when she beat Serena Williams three times in 2014, most notably at Wimbledon. In a rain-delayed epic on Court One, Cornet triumphed in three sets having never beaten a top-25 player at a Grand Slam in 13 previous attempts. Cornet’s grandmother had passed away before that match, and she had spent the preparation time on journeys to-and-from France making arrangements.
Her reaction was fitting: “It’s the biggest upset of the tournament. A dream. I cannot believe I did it myself – me!”
Others on her list of upsets include current world No 1 Iga Swiatek, also at Wimbledon in 2022; compatriot Caroline Garcia twice, in 2018; and Garbine Muguruza, who retired herself in April, at the 2022 Australian Open. She has 25 wins over top-10 players during her career, and reached the second week of every Grand Slam tournament, winning six WTA Tour titles and being ranked as high as world No 11. Her remarkable consistency of fitness was also noticeable, appearing in a record 69 consecutive Grand Slam events since the 2007 Australian Open.
A master of disrupting rhythm with speed and spin, luring opponents into parts of the court on which she found her feet and on which they looked lost, Cornet’s tennis IQ — like that of many players — also extended into wringing every last sense of an edge out of every situation, often with a signature note of dramatic flair. One of her most memorable Roland Garros matches came in 2016, when she defeated Germany’s Tatjana Maria in three sets. Having cramped multiple times, and having dropped ice out of a pack meant for her leg while getting treatment at the end of the second set, Cornet had to be helped off court — visibly agitated — when 2-1 up in the third. She recovered to win, but Maria was apoplectic after the match, telling Cornet that she “knew what she did” and threatening to sue tennis’ governing bodies over the application of medical treatment rules.
Speaking on court after her defeat, Cornet said that she had given everything to the sport, and that despite wanting to “do more things” in tennis, she knew it was time to call it quits. Cornet is a published author, with not a bad average on Goodreads (easier said than done), having published fiction in French as well as “Transcendence: Diary of a Tennis Addict”. When reflecting on her career and what she has given and had taken away by tennis, she said that “the inner child within me still likes to play tennis.”
“When you live it so many times for such a long time, then you grow weary after sometime,” she said.
The match at which it came to an end was symbolic. Flanked by an adoring crowd, against a player who outmatched her for power, movement, and ranking, at times she was able to force Zheng Qinwen to play her game; just not for long enough.
It didn’t matter. Cornet had a whole career playing her game, and she has ended it on her terms.
GO DEEPER
Tennis Briefing: Why are defaults so inconsistent? Why one underarm serve and not six?
(Robert Prange/Getty Images)
