Earlier this year, YouTube sensation Jules Marie was walking through the players’ lounge at the Australian Open, where he was competing in the qualifying draw. The Frenchman came across Carlos Gomez-Herrera, the former touring pro who is a member of Novak Djokovic’s team.
“He said, 'Hey Jules, how are you? You know Novak knows your channel? He wants to play with you once here’,” Marie recalled to ATPTour.com. "So I said, 'Okay, I will give you my number', and the next day he said, 'Hey Jules, are you free this day to play with Novak?' I said, 'Yeah, of course. Is it possible to film a little bit?’”
World No. 1 Djokovic is not the only one who knows about Marie’s YouTube channel, which has more than 120,000 subscribers, with fans who call themselves “Les Breakers”. They follow Marie's journey as a professional tennis player.
The World No. 240, who in March reached a career-high No. 203 in the PIF ATP Rankings, spent most of six years away from professional tennis (2016-2021). But during that period, he stayed in shape by playing prize-money tournaments in France and even contributed to Roland Garros as a training partner.
In 2021, one of the players he practised with was Djokovic. Marie’s YouTube video documenting their session is the fifth-most popular vlog in the channel's history, with more than 235,000 views.
Marie once again vlogged his session with Djokovic at Melbourne Park this year. That video has already earned more than 163,000 views.
“I played with him like five times when I was a sparring partner but at the Australian Open I did not have the same status. I was a player and not sparring partner, so it was a bit different,” Marie said. “I enjoyed it a lot. It was funny that at the end, I interviewed him for five minutes and at the end he said, ‘Salut Les Breakers’. That was funny.”
Djokovic spoke in French in the interview without difficulty. “It's amazing. He is a machine on the court, but outside of the court as well,” Marie said.
The Frenchman explained that while he practised with Djokovic, he focused intently on his own game to ensure he played well, but also kept an eye on the other side of the net to see what he could learn from the Serbian.
“We can see some differences between the [other] players and him. He is taking his time. If there is a fault he doesn't play that ball,” Marie said. “He doesn't stay too long in the middle, he does like five, six shots and then he can go for a winner, so it's a bit different than playing with other people.
“You have to be so, so focused. I was telling to myself, ‘You cannot miss a ball, you have to play good and not miss a ball’.”
Marie will hope to apply some of those lessons this week at Roland Garros, where he is competing in qualifying for the first time since 2015.
“It's not easy, because it was my goal since the beginning to play the French Open again. I know now that the court will be like full, because I have a lot of support behind me,” Marie said. “So yeah, I feel like it's a little pressure because I have to show people even if they watch me on YouTube every three days, I have to show them that I can play good, that I play good. And I want to show some good parts of my game.
“It's a bit of pressure, and I don't play often on clay during the season. It's not my garden. [It will not be] easy to go on court mentally free. I have to handle the pressure because I think I will have some a little bit.”
Marie will face countryman Titouan Droguet Tuesday first on Court 15 at 10 a.m.
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