27 March 2023 , 09:05
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Tennis star Lucas Pouille has set his sights on returning to the tour after battling a dark period in his life.
The former world No. 10 burst onto the scene at the age of 22 in 2016, and had been tipped to be one of the next brightest stars of French tennis. That year he reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon and beat Rafael Nadal en route to the last eight of the US Open.
His best Grand Slam result came at the 2019 Australian Open where he was defeated by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. But Pouille was soon beset with injuries and the Frenchman has not played at the top level of the ATP Tour since last May, having also suffered depression and alcohol issues.
At the end of a hospital stay in Nice following a rib fracture at the beginning of the 2022 grass court season, Pouille hit his lowest point. “I started to have a darker side and go into a depression that led me, after Roland-Garros, in England, to sleep only one hour a night and drink alone,” he told French outlet L’Equipe.
“It was impossible to close my eyes. I was all alone with Felix (Mantilla, his coach at the time) and I would go back to my room and look at the ceiling. I was sinking into a creepy thing. I stood up with my eyes blown up. Every morning, Felix asked me: 'Don’t you sleep?' – “Yes, yes, I have allergies, carpet, pollen, grass…” I was lying to him.
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“I locked myself in, I didn’t tell anyone. (…) I was in a bad phase. And I made the decision to say stop. Otherwise, I would have ended up in Sainte-Anne, at the crazy house. For my mental health, I had to stop.”
Pouille’s ranking has plummeted to 459 since his time away from the game and this year has returned to the Challenger Tour as he bids to return to his best form. It has been somewhat of a reality check for the 29-year-old, who commented on his eagerness to return to the top level amid the struggles of essentially having to hit the reset button on his career.
“When you’re young and you make money, you take advantage of it, you see priorities where they aren’t in reality,” the 2017 Davis Cup winner added. “Today, “I mourned that period,” he said. “I think the ego plays a very important role. The impatience to return to the highest level.
Pouille's ranking has taken a significant hit and he is currently competing on the Challenger Tour (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)“I had the chance to experience great emotions, to play the biggest tournaments in the world, to make a Grand Slam semi-final, two quarters, win the Davis Cup, titles and then go from that to getting beaten by the world No 300 in the first round of a Challenger. If we are not in tune with that, we cannot win. I didn’t have the necessary humility and it’s not nice to think that you lack humility.”
Pouille had reached the quarter-finals of the Quimper Challenger, but his progress was halted for a few weeks because of yet another physical problem. But he is now feeling fit, and desperate to return closer to the summit as he competes in Challenger tournaments in the United States.
Crediting his improved mindset on becoming a father, the tennis player said: “I have more maturity now. I have my daughter. That is more important than buying nice clothes or a nice car. That was not my case before. Today, I am happy with simple things. But inevitably, your lifestyle changes. From Grand Slam semis to Challenger first rounds, there are a few zeros less.”