What a match, what madness and what an atmosphere! Alexis Lebrun, manhandled throughout the match, won against Tomokazu Harimoto, the world number four, by saving four match points. The Frenchman, 13th in the world, showed his steely mentality to qualify for the quarter-finals of the WTT Champions in Montpellier.
“I told myself that I’m screwed, that it’s boring,” said Alexis at the end of the match when he was asked about what was going on in his head when his back was against the wall in the fifth and final round. While he had already closed two sets behind, Alexis had to save four match points against Harimoto. What he will succeed in doing, with perfect mastery, 12-10 for him. “I told myself to continue playing my game. The intentions were good. Go ahead, enjoy every point. You are in Montpellier, this is not the time to give up one more point. Each point will be a great memory. I told myself to continue point by point. After that, it doesn't come down to much. I couldn't do it again every time,” admits the 13th in the world.
Alexis Lebrun's quarter-final can be followed here live
Sometimes struggling to manage his emotions, Alexis Lebrun clearly won this match mentally. His power has always been talked about but less so his mental strength until now. And Friday evening, the eldest Lebrun showed all his resources. He who could often be carried away by his emotions. “Alexis is an emotional man,” points out Nathanaël Molin, his coach. “And I've always said that there are two sides to emotion. Obviously, there's the negative side, but there's also the very positive side.”
“82 mentally doesn’t suit me at all!”
The negative side can remind us of his defeat against his little brother Félix, during the French championships, last March in Levallois, at the beautiful (3-4), taken by his emotions and his frustration, Alexis had hit the table, injuring his hand, forcing him to miss several weeks of competition. A difficult time. Or even more recently, in the first round of the China Smash in Beijing, at the end of September. Alexis won the first set against Eduard Ionescu, a Romanian, before “breaking down” and losing the next three.
But Friday evening, at the Arena Sud de France, Alexis put all that behind him, showed his fighter face, endowed with a mind of steel. “And this positive thing of being emotional, we saw it. It's what makes us capable of transcending ourselves. And there, he put emotions at the service of his mind and his energy, of his ability to play”, analyzes, hotly, Nathanaël Molin, happy with the outcome of this match.
During this competition, RMC Sport presented Alexis with a FUT card, inspired by the game FIFA, with a score of 82 for his mentality, the worst on the card. “It doesn’t suit me at all,” Alexis smiled before the meeting. Before demanding an apology from the applicant who had dared to put it on him too. Don't worry, the card is now at 99 mental!
