There was more than one murmur of incredulity when the draw for the French Open was made last week. While the biggest groan of the afternoon was reserved for the pairing of Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev, French disbelief centred on the prospect of Alizé Cornet starting the final tournament of her career against Zheng Qinwen of China, the seventh seed.
Cornet, 34, announced last month that she would retire after Roland Garros, and there was palpable disappointment that she had been pitted against a player who won nine straight games against her when they met on the Parisian clay two years ago. Visibly hampered by an abductor injury on that occasion, Cornet was booed from the court after deciding to stop, an example of the love-hate relationship that French crowds so often seem to have with their own (Cornet had been cheered to the rafters after defeating Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 champion, in the previous round).
Yet Cornet has always been one to give as she gets – “Sometimes the French audience surprises me, and not always in the right direction,” she sniffed after that defeat – and in reality, the prospect of getting another crack at Zheng, and on Court Philippe Chatrier of all places, felt perfect. Big player, big stage, big moment: it was an occasion made for the Frenchwoman. In 2014, she famously claimed a trio of rapid-fire wins over Serena Williams, the most notable of which came in the third round of Wimbledon. Eight years later, she was still at it, ending Iga Swiatek’s 37-match winning streak on Centre Court, one of 25 wins she has earned over top-10 opposition. With Cornet, there has always been a sense that could beat anyone – with the essential caveat that she could just as easily lose to anyone.
This time, though, there would be no upsetting of the odds. Zheng’s 6-2, 6-1 victory, while more complicated than the scoreline would suggest, ultimately played out much as one might expect from the collision of a 21-year-old Australian Open finalist with a veteran wild-card entry ranked 98 places below her. It didn’t matter. After two decades that have brought six titles, a place in the second week of every major, a career-high ranking of 11th and, perhaps most remarkably, a record 69 consecutive grand slam appearances, Cornet has done enough.
“[It was] exactly how I envisioned it,” said Cornet. “I’m really happy about how everything went. Being able to say goodbye here at home, in front of my family and my friends, it was a big, big [opportunity]. I feel very lucky, very grateful, to be able to end it that way.
“It was a lot of up and downs. Definitely, emotionally it was not easy. Some days I was excited about retirement and some other days I was very scared and very uncertain. Overall, I feel in peace today about it.”
So she should. This was Cornet’s 20th straight appearance at Roland Garros; to put that remarkable longevity in context, she has now played the French Open more times than Nadal, whose own possible farewell she watched through a veil of tears the previous evening. And while she may not have enjoyed the 14-time champion’s success at her home slam – although she did win the junior title in 2007, and twice went on to reach the second week – Cornet’s place in the affections of the oft-fickle French public feels secure.
That much was clear from the warmth with which she was received afterwards, when tournament director Amélie Mauresmo, who defeated her in the second round on her first appearance in the main draw as a 15-year-old wild card in 2005, presented her with a commemorative trophy in an emotional on-court ceremony.
“It means turning a page for me, 20 years of my life, 20 years of full commitment to my sport,” said Cornet of her retirement. “Since I was 15 and [played] my first Roland Garros, I’ve been living for tennis most of the time, I organised my whole life around it. As I said on the court, it’s a lot of work, a lot of sacrifices, a lot of everything.
“At the end, when you have to turn that page and you realise that it’s over, it’s a void in a way. You have to fill it in another way and find some stuff that makes you happy. Psychologically, I think it’s one of the most difficult things to handle.
“I’d like to be remembered as a genuine player who shared all her emotions with everyone all throughout her career, whether positive or negative. Someone with a fighting spirit, who is a passionate tennis player, who likes to fight and who is ready to die for it.
“I think I showed it several times, that it was actually my type of character. People may love me or not for that type of personality, but this is what brought me where I am today.”
That character was firmly in evidence against Zheng. There was no shortage of defiance from the Frenchwoman, no lack of passion, of desire, of running. All the familiar ingredients of a Cornet match were there, from the theatrical gestures and the infectious smile, to the court craft and tactical intelligence that have so often made her the scourge of more fancied opponents. But she struggled to live with the power of Zheng, who repeatedly caught her out with sudden surges of explosive pace that were all the more effective for the way she leavened the mix with some deftly executed drop shots.
The battle lines were drawn from the opening point, where Zheng clumped an unanswerable forehand for the first of 25 winners. That was the cue for a seven-minute struggle that culminated with a Cornet double fault. Zheng held comfortably before spanking another huge forehand to claim a second break, and briefly it looked like a rout to rival the one of two years ago was developing.
After 29 minutes, however, Cornet held serve for the first time to get herself on the board. For the first time, Zheng’s focus wavered, Cornet taking advantage of some uncharacteristic errors from her opponent to break with a thumping backhand return. That was to be as good as it got for the Niçoise – although with trademark belligerence, she saved three match points before yielding.
She left the sport, as ever, fighting, passionate – and ready to die for it.