Adrian Mannarino beat Flavio Cobolli, world number seven, in Shanghai. At 38. His first top-10 win of the season. And then he tells L’Équipe that training less but better is nonsense, in a word more colourful than anything I’d use.
I read it in the bubble (the indoor court we rent by the hour), on my towel, while my hour ran down. And I felt called out. Because “less, but better quality” is exactly my programme. Tuesday evening, I arrive, court 4 is taken, I do quality on the side. Intentions. Patterns. No ball.
He says: “As soon as I put a bit less intensity into training, physically or even in my head, (…) I feel it straight away: the results are much worse.” That is technically my diagnosis from last Sunday. Except I blamed the strings.
He also talks about staying competitive “against guys of 20”. In club league (interclubs, Belgium’s weekend team league), it’s the same. The level has gone way up, people don’t realise. Last Sunday they put a kid against me who hit as if she’d paid for the bubble herself.
He lost to Karen Khachanov in the third round, on Sunday. It happens. I lost on Sunday too. We lost the same day, which creates a bond.
Céline, he beat the world number seven. You, against the kid, it wasn’t quite the same week.
I’m keeping his method. As many hours as before, with quality in them. I did the maths: to do as much as before, I’d first have to have done some. So Tuesday, I’m doing double. If court 4 is free. Two practice sessions away, mind you.
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
