A Salute to Mahut: How He Redeemed a Country After a World Cup Disaster

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 25, 2010

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If the French Soccer Team had one tenth of the fortitude that their countryman Nicolas Mahut had in his little finger, they'd be in the elimination round right now and a threat to be reckoned with.

The egomaniac millionaires who couldn't seem to care enough about their country to put their differences aside for the largest sporting event in the world, the volatile and enigmatic coach who didn't have enough decency to shake the hand of the host nation after a miserable defeat, and yes, even the administrative higher-ups who were determined to put their own stamp on the team should all take lessons from the relatively unknown journeyman who held the entire world hostage for 11 hours and 5 minutes on court 18 of the All England Club.

Court 18.  Not Court 1.  Certainly not Centre Court.

This is the Story of Nicolas Mahut's life.

We tend to think of professional athletes as the lucky ones, those who were graced with awesome physical prowess by an accident of fate, for whom the world unfolds as effortlessly as the butterfly takes flight.

In a society that extracts perhaps too much vicarious self-esteem from their on-court exploits, we look at the millions of dollars that the top athletes make playing children's games and think that this somehow justifies the idolatry we hand them when things are going their (our) way and more so justifies the vitriol we sling when the milk runs sour.

Nicolas Mahut knows little of this.

Though a boys champion in his pre-professional days in the late 90's, Mahut's professional career has been defined by moderate success in the men's doubles game and brief moments of triumph in the singles game. 

He once beat Rafael Nadal at the Queens Club Championship before losing to Andy Roddick in the final, but for the most part, has spent the last 10 years of his life having to qualify for major events and bouncing around the rankings in t...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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