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Mature Llodra enjoying new lease of life
A year pockmarked with both grief and joy has given Michael Llodra a new lease of life.
A year pockmarked with both grief and joy has given Michael Llodra a new lease of life.
On Friday the little-known Frenchman reached the fourth round of the French Open — having never won a match at Roland Garros before — and explained what was behind his reversal of fortunes.
"Well, first of all, my mother died very suddenly last year. That was extremely difficult for me," the 24-year-old Parisian said after beating compatriot Julien Jeanpierre 6-2 6-2 6-3.
"For a certain span of time, I was wondering what I wanted to do in life, what was next. I suppose these were good questions.
"I had to do a bit of soul-searching ... It's painful, obviously, but it was very important to trigger a number of things. Then I got married and had a child.
"All (this) would explain why I'm a more mature man now, and I feel much better. I feel much better on the court, as well. I think this has to do with my mental frame of mind."
That Llodra has matured no end is beyond any doubt and his approach to the sport would finally seem to match his natural ability.
"MORE AWARE"
"I can't say I haven't grown up a lot in the last year because I would be pulling your leg," he smiled. "It's true that I had difficult moments last year, and therefore I became more aware of a number of things.
"I think that my tennis was already technically good, but my mental attitude had to improve.
"Since the beginning of this year, each match I've played, I've really played fully -- mentally, at least. Maybe it doesn't show in the results, but I have the feeling I made a lot of effort, and it's showing."
Next up for doubles specialist Llodra is Britain's Tim Henman. The ninth seed is stringing together some great claycourt form and Llodra faces a tough time if his dream run is to continue.
The Frenchman is not worrying about that at all.
"Well, I lost against him last year at Wimbledon three sets to love," he said.
"He was much, much better than I was. I was very tense because we were playing an Centre Court, with all the legend of Centre Court in Wimbledon ... I was not in very good shape.
"Now, I have nothing to lose. I've reached the fourth round. Every time I look at myself in the mirror, I'm saying, 'Oh, God, you made it to the fourth round this time'. I can't even believe it," he laughed.
"I had never won a match at Roland Garros, and now I've won three in a row. This is quite an achievement as far as I'm concerned.
"It's all an improvement, so there will be no pressure on me. This is probably why I've been so relaxed so far, because my results were very bad previously. So everything good I'm doing is an improvement.
"You might be surprised to hear my answer, but I haven't yet thought about the match with Tim Henman. I'm still enjoying my victory. I'm still, you know, enjoying that feeling.
"I will have time to think about the next step tomorrow. I know it's going to be a fantastic match. Probably we're going to be on centre court. Playing Tim Henman is something fantastic for me. I'm looking forward to it."
