Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Wednesday November 13, 2024 at 6:49 p.m.
Brand new world number 4, Félix Lebrun will even be on the virtual podium at the start of the last major tournament of the year.
The grand final WTT tournament, next week in Japan, from Wednesday November 20 to Sunday November 24 (in Fukuoka), will be the culmination of an exceptional 2024 season for the Lebrun brothers. And Félix like Alexis learned some real good sporting news, since world No. 3 and No. 8 Fan Zhendong and Ma Long withdrew. It is especially stimulating for Félix who, as No. 4, will therefore become the No. 3 seed in this event which only brings together the sixteen best players on the planet. Alexis Lebrun will also take the opportunity to move up to No. 12 since he is fourteenth in the world.
Alexis had “got taken down”
The two Lebruns each have bad recent memories against these Chinese opponents, Alexis having been beaten by Long in April and especially Félix eliminated by Zhendong in the semi-finals of Paris 2024, a clear defeat 4-0 (11-8 , 11-6, 11-7, 11-5). Live on France 2, he showed himself uncompromisingly: “I got taken down.”
The youngest of the siblings, who would largely remobilize later to win the bronze medal, had “the feeling that he was standing on his ground line and that he was no longer making a mistake, it was difficult “: “I admit that I was hoping to hold on a little more, or even win this match, but it doesn't matter, we will leave with my level today compared to his extremely high level. There was no way I could have had a match with a few points that turned a little more for me, gone a little further, but I wouldn't have been able to win.” More recently, Félix Lebrun also achieved a magnificent final success at home in Montpellier, the first success of his promising career during a WTT tournament (the highest level, the equivalent of Grand Slam tournaments in tennis).
