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Under cover
On the clay court of Roland-Garros, the young French tennis player Quentin Halys, opposed in the first round to the American Marcos Giron, covered his head with a zipped sweatshirt to escape the pressure of glances and concentrate on the game. Efficient? Not really. Halys ended up losing in five sets. Perhaps he should have been inspired by Jim Courier who, during a Masters meeting in 1993, had immersed himself in reading the novel Maybe the Moon, of Armistead Maupin, at the change of sides. It had certainly not brought him victory, but an additional elegance.
Thirty glorious steps
Despite the sweatshirt and the towel, it is easy to distinguish (difficult to miss) the top worn by Quentin Halys. The player wears a polo shirt from the revolutionary Nike Challenge Court collection, created in 1990 for Andre Agassi and reissued this year, on the occasion of his thirtieth birthday. A memorial initiative for marketing which allows us to see that the said collection is, thirty years later, much less revolutionary and still just as ugly.
Forced laugh
To make matters worse, the outfit du Français is completed by a pair of neon yellow sneakers for the worst effect. If we were not deeply attached to the values of freedom allowing everyone to dress as they wish (even badly), this set could convince us to support the recent proposal of Guy Forget, tournament director, to establish a dress code, like the one requiring the exclusive wearing of white at Wimbledon.
Plastic artist
In addition to holding Andre Agassi, did Quentin Halys sting the neuroses of Rafael Nadal? The presence of three plastic bottles between his legs recalls the mania of the Spanish champion to line up, before each meeting, three containers at his feet, perpendicular to the baseline, then to put them back, after each sip, at the same place, with a precision bordering on madness. By the way, she also reminds us that it is time for the tournaments to go to gourds.
Bagging
This imposing red bag occupies a special place on the professional circuit. The work of the Wilson equipment manufacturer, the 3-compartment Super Tour is indeed used by many players, seduced by its astonishing storage capacity. It can thus transport many bottles (we understood that it was a stake), several spare clothes (we would like it to be a stake) but especially rackets in shambles, up to fifteen. Because you can never be too careful.
