Australian Open – 2nd round – Corentin Moutet: “I lacked humility”

5-2, 40-0, three set points. Corentin Moutet has a boulevard in front of him in this third set while Mitchell Krueger, who won the first set, is making life difficult for him. The Frenchman wastes his three set points, leaves a fourth on the way, and completely puts the American back in the race with poorly felt serve-volley sequences. Moutet ended up coming out in four sets but this mishap could have cost him dearly.

“In the third set, at 5-2, I played the game a little calmlyhe admitted after the meeting in comments relayed by our colleagues from L’Equipe. JI lacked a little humility to finish the set. It could have been a trap. He got back into it, he had a very good period again, 5-3 at the end of the set. I could have had a better attitude in this 5-2 game, been more humble.“In the first round, the 69th player in the world had already put Popyrin back in the race.

While the Australian was suffering physically, chasing the mark and trailing 4-0 in the third set, a spoon serve from the Frenchman, sent into the net, woke up the spans of the John Cain Arena, which exploded at each point scored by a Popyrin at that moment on the verge of abandonment. The Australian suddenly resurfaced and Moutet had to work hard to overcome the number 24 seed.

Twice, therefore, Moutet put his opponents back in the saddle. But he promises this Thursday that he has learned his lesson. If, in the first round, he created a sensation, this time he had to overcome a player from qualifying. A situation that is not necessarily easy for him to manage. “It was an emotionally complicated matchhe admitted. CHe's a lower ranked player so everyone thinks it's an opportunity to go to the third round. In people's minds, it's a match I can't lose.“