It’s finish. The courts of Roland-Garros will never see Gilles Simon again. At least not as a player. The French international, who had been invited to this grand slam because he was not ranked well enough this season (he is 158th in the world), was eliminated in the third round by the Croatian Marin Cilic. A match in which he did not make the weight and which ended in 3 sets 6-0, 6-3, 6-2. But still, “Gilou” was smiling broadly after his loss, with the crowd chanting his name until he took the microphone to thank them.
The 37-year-old Frenchman announced on May 7 that he would end his career at the end of the season. For his part, Marin Cilic will face in the round of 16 the world number two Daniil Medvedev who has been impressive since the start of the tournament where he has not yet lost a single set.
Simon is the third of the last four French people in the running to be eliminated, after Léolia Jeanjean and Alizé Cornet. Only remains Hugo Gaston (74th) who faces the Dane Holger Rune (40th) in the night session.
The ex-world number six decided to quit the tour at the end of the year because his body was no longer able to keep up.
Three times, he reached the round of 16 at Roland-Garros, without managing to go beyond (2011, 2013, 2015). He had his best grand slam result at the 2009 Australian Open and 2015 Wimbledon when he reached the quarter-finals.
Winner of the 2017 Davis Cup, he has to date 14 titles and 500 victories on the circuit.
