ATP Tour

Mannarino reflects on Federer heartbreak & how 'the stars aligned' at Wimbledon

On 29 June 2021, Adrian Mannarino found himself in the middle of one of the finest performances of his career against Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon. Then, in an instant, everything changed.

Having carved out a two-sets-to-one lead against the record eight-time champion, Mannarino appeared poised to pull off one of the biggest victories of his career. It was the kind of tennis that the Frenchman has used to make him one of the most dangerous opponents on grass. Instead, the match took a cruel twist.

As Mannarino split-stepped behind the baseline in the fourth set, he slipped awkwardly and crumpled to the grass. The lefty later revealed he heard a crack as he fell and, despite briefly attempting to continue after treatment, retired before the fifth set.

Federer had begun to edge his way back into the contest, serving at 4-2, 0/15 in the fourth when the accident occurred. Reflecting five years later, Mannarino still views it as one of the cruellest moments of his career, made all the more painful because it came on his birthday.

“It was a really disappointing match,” Mannarino told ATPTour.com. “First you're starting to lose and then instantly when I fell down on the court, I knew that I would have many weeks to recover. It's a double pain in the a**. It was on my birthday, too, so you feel like all the stars are aligned and at the end of the day it went wrong.

“It’s definitely not a good memory. I remember taking the Eurostar the next day. I wasn't able to walk. My coach was carrying like five pieces of luggage by himself. It was really complicated.”

_{^{Adrian Mannarino tumbles to the grass at Wimbledon in 2021. Photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images.}}

Mannarino believes he had the game to finish the job that afternoon, only to see the opportunity disappear in heartbreaking fashion after suffering the injury, which would keep him off the Tour for two months. It was a stark contrast to his previous Wimbledon meeting with Federer in 2018, when the Swiss eased through in straight sets.

By 2021, however, Federer was entering the closing chapter of his glittering career. Returning from multiple knee surgeries, the Swiss was no longer the dominant force that ruled Centre Court for so many years. Mannarino felt the momentum had shifted, even if nobody will ever know how the match would have ended.

“You never know what would have been the outcome of the match,” Mannarino said. “I think I was playing better than Roger that day or he was playing worse than me because he was definitely not the player that he used to be. I was leading on the scoreboard, but maybe I could have been a little bit tighter at the end. You don't know how it would have been and we'll never know.

“This is what makes sports a really good thing, a nice thing. You never know what's going to be the outcome until the end.”

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Time has softened some of the pain, allowing Mannarino to look back with perspective, and even a touch of humour. Federer recovered to reach the quarter-finals that fortnight before losing to Hubert Hurkacz in what proved to be the final Wimbledon match of his legendary career.

“It would have been Roger's last match [at Wimbledon]. Losing to someone like me, he would have realised it was the end,” Mannarino said with a wry smile. “There were a lot of things going on in my mind. I'm not used to playing on Centre Court and playing this kind of big match, but on that day, I felt like I was handling all that stuff pretty well. This is the kind of memory you're trying to get out of your mind, but that's it.”

Despite being able to joke about the occasion, Mannarino admits there remains a lingering sense of what might have been.

“I will never be able to play that match again,” Mannarino said. “Even if people are trying to get your mood up, you know, they're always telling you, ‘You'll get your chance again’. But you're like, ‘No, that chance is over. I will never be able to beat Roger on that day on that Centre Court. It's done’. So maybe I'm going to do some nice things in the future, but what I know is that it's done and it was not the best end for me.”

The result has long since faded into Wimbledon history, but the image of Mannarino pushing one of the sport's greatest champions remains in memory. Now 38, he arrived at Wimbledon this year with the third-most tour-level grass-court wins among active players, behind only seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic and 2017 finalist Marin Cilic.

And the Frenchman is still forging wins on the slick lawns of the All England Club. He will on Thursday face the No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Alex de Minaur for a spot in the third round.