The French team ensures two medals in these world table tennis championships in Doha in Qatar. After Esteban Dorr and Florian Bourrassaud, it is the turn of Félix and Alexis Lebrun to rally the semi-finals. They easily won this Friday against the Swedish pair Karlsson/Falck, three sets at one.
Félix, we imagine that it is better than Thursday evening (after elimination in the simple tournament) …
Félix Lebrun – Of course, it's better than yesterday evening. I am very happy. Very happy with this match. I think it's our best double since we got here. So much the better that it happens in the quarter -finals. We are very happy to win this medal. Above all, Esteban and Florian managed to do so yesterday. We wanted to get on the podium with them. It's amazing. We live all year round. We train together in Montpellier. Jérémy (Surault, physical trainer) told us yesterday that, for the new Montpellier room, we could put a photo of the podium every four. It's something big.
>>> Live table tennis worlds
Did the performance of Esteban and Florian help you get back in this match after the game that ended very late last night?
Félix Lebrun – Unfortunately, I'm a little used (Alexis is hilarious). No, but it's true. At the European Championships, it happened to me. In the finals (in Fukuoka), it happened to me. But each time, we went far in double. So, I tried to think about it above all. And then, when it happened to me, in the end, I finished the happy competition. And of course, at night, she was not great, quite short. I am happy to know that every time, I manage to bounce back. And also, with the choice that Alexis made not play the simple to focus only on double, I was also in heart to do well. I cannot arrive and be to the west, when he has put all our chances on our side to get this medal. So, I tried to do my best.
Suddenly, Alexis, you hoped that Félix will lose in simple so that he is well in the double!
Alexis Lebrun – Yes, at least, we are equal, we have only one table both! No, it's true that yesterday, I was obviously disappointed for him. I was also very, very happy for Este and Flo. So it was a little weird evening. But yes, I focused on me, on what I had to do. And I think I had completely confident in Félix. As he said, he has already proved it to me sometimes that he knew how to get back to the place, even after a defeat not easy to accept. So, I think there, we made our best match. And I have the impression that we go up level as the competition progresses. What is not illogical given my number of hours of training. I'm really happy. I hope we will play even better on the match we have left and maybe the two games we have left.
Alexis, did you feel more relaxed in this match, compared to that before?
Alexis Lebrun – Yes, I think I managed to manage it much better. Now that I have returned to competition, I have chained a few games. So, I manage to redo a bit as usual. Obviously, there was a lot of stress. It is a quarter -final at the world championships. But I managed to manage it well and take it in a fairly positive and cool way.
Precisely, among all your medals, how do you situate this world medal?
Alexis Lebrun – For me, it's not far from the best. Perhaps with the title at the European Championships because it is a title and it is exceptional too. But there, a medal at the world championships, it had not happened for many years. Finally, since yesterday already, it had not happened. It's still a long time! It's true that it's just incredible. I think we don't realize, what's going on is crazy. Este and Flo, did it. We do it. But it's historic. This is the first time that we have had two pairs on the podium, that we have two medals on the same edition. It's just fantastic. I think we're going to finish the competition well and celebrate it afterwards.
To come back to the match, technically, what did you do to block them?
Félix Lebrun – I think we were very fair in our choices. We have varied well between the fixing, between the short and the long. We also managed to manage the Karlsson service, which can be very annoying. We managed to dictate a little what we wanted. Having bullets favorable enough to engage the point as we wanted. Afterwards, they must always be put, but in the end, we put them. As usual, double, these are the beginnings of the most important points and we managed to do it well.
