Alize Cornet lit up the entire press room with her Rafael Nadal revelation following her last French Open appearance as the Frenchwoman shared that she dreamed of the Spaniard proposing her to play a match together.
On Tuesday, Cornet – who made her French Open debut in 2006 – concluded her pro tennis career by playing one last time in front of her home fans. Since Cornet didn’t have much luck with the draw, she ended up exiting in the first round after this year’s Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen handed her a 6-2 6-1 loss.
A day earlier, 37-year-old Nadal played possibly his last French Open match, and just like Cornet, he also lost in the first round.
“I slept well. I have to say I dreamt of Rafa all night long. I dreamt that he would suggest to me to have a three-setter in Strasbourg to play a match with me, and then I would be with his family, we would win, we would celebrate,” Cornet shared.
“So I woke up this morning, and I thought, ‘Oh, well, I’m saying everything this morning.'”
Cornet not too disappointed with her performance versus Zheng
After suffering back-to-back breaks at the start of the match, Cornet managed to get one break back in the fifth game but dropped her serve again as Zheng went on to easily seal the opener. In the second set, the two players were tied to one game apiece before Zheng went on to win five games in a row and complete a routine two-set win.
“When I warmed up, I thought, okay, it might be the last time. But the momentum was that I had to stay focused in the game and not think it’s over already. Now I can say it’s over. I did my best on the court. This player is very aggressive. She’s a very tough opponent. It’s hard to win against her,” Cornet said.
“I tried to do my best, and then with the emotion, I think I actually performed quite well in the end.”