[soulage]

Hagelauer said yesterday that Paulo is still very tired and continues to say that he doesn't know if he will play Lyon

http://www.leprogres.fr/sports/omnisports/1051823.html

[Ome]

Thanks for the news, soulage!

It's been over a week now... viral infection? *doing differential diagnosis on Paulo*
It is obviously better to just rest at this point, I suppose

[soulage]

The draw was made on a local Tv which we can follow on web. Journalists said that he feels better , he made a big train today and only asked to play tuesday.

He plays Canas first round

[Ome]

What a big surprise from Paulo

Well, I'm fully behind whatever he decided to do and I hope he'll get the Tuesday start as he wanted

Canas... interesting consider their "history"

[Ome]

Seems to be a struggle against Canas... nevertheless, he came through with a 6-3 6-4 win

[Truc]

Didn't you ask somewhere what the "mysterious illness" was? He says on lequipe.fr it was just a little gastroenteritis he had in Moscow. He means he's feeling better now, just felt a bit tired at the end of the 1st set, but was able to bounce back.
And he says he likes coming back to Lyon because he played great tennis there, but on the other hand, it was 6 years ago already and that's tough to accept. He's really cute when he says that in his video interview:
http://www.dailymotion.com/gptennisl...-1er-tou_sport
He definitely smiles more lately!

[Ome]

oh boy, gastroenteritis... explained why he looks tired lately Irina is right... nothing good comes from Moscow! You only get a viral infection in your GI tract as a souvenir!

Phewww... the haircut is fine!

Oh Fran, what would I do without you?

[Oksan4ik]

i'm glad Paulo won

and thanks for the video with the interview..tho i don't know french,but it was cool to see him smiling

[Ome]

While there are many other interesting things about Paulo than the tennis itself (e.g. his hair cut, his taste in clothes, the fragrances he uses, his lovely interview in Lyon etc.) I guess we should mention the Bercy draw here for the thread's sake

TMS Paris: Andreev pour Mathieu

Dans la deuxième moitié du tableau du Masters Series de Paris-Bercy, Paul-Henri Mathieu devra passer l'obstacle russe Igor Andreev avant de prétendre affronter son compatriote Gilles Simon, tête de série n°10 et finaliste à Madrid. Marc Gicquel, de son côté, jouera contre Radek Stepanek avant de pouvoir retrouver Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (tête de série n°13) au tour suivant. Adrian Mannarino hérite du Russe Dmitry Tursunov. Richard Gasquet (n°14), accédant directement au deuxième tour, sera opposé au vainqueur de la rencontre entre Cilic et Seppi. Enfin, Josselin Ouanna, quart de finaliste à Lyon, luttera contre le Suédois Robin Soderling pour gagner le droit de rencontrer Roger Federer à la prochaine étape.

One of the players I really don't like, Andreev, will be his opponent in the first around. If he gets through, then it's Gilles... of course

[Hangdog]

Originally Posted by Ome

One of the players I really don't like, Andreev, will be his opponent in the first around. If he gets through, then it's Gilles... of course

Wow, I didn't realize at first that it is ANDREEV Paulo's first round opponent What a terrible draw.

And as for the doubles draw, there Paulo has switched back to another Nico, Mahut Thanks for keeping Devilder safe from Nadal lol

(WC)Mahut/Mathieu vs Nadal/Monaco

[Ome]

The last thing Paulo needs right now is to play Nadal in any kind of competition! Mahut'd better be doing all the work! (And I mean it literally )
At least, Nico D is safe

[Ome]

A few words after the match:

"Je suis frustré de finir la saison comme ça. J'aurais aimé partir en vacances avec la tête reposée en ayant fini avec un bon résultat" déclarait le starsbourgeois après sa défaite. Paul Henri Mathieu finit ainsi sa saison dans les 30 premiers mondiaux (il fut 12ème au mois d'avril) avec comme meilleur résultat une finale à Metz (battu par Tursunov). "Mon but pour 2009, c'est d'arriver le plus haut possible, de faire une ou deux finales en grand chelem. Aujourd'hui, je ne joue pas au tennis pour être 30ème mondial. Je vais avoir 27 ans, le temps presse, si ce n'est pas l'année prochaine, ça va être difficile".

Darn, I hate it when he's talking about his age and that time passes him by
I knew he was thinking about it. Just isn't the same when he actually says it out loud Well, the last 5 years and 11 months of my life have been wonderful, thanks to you Next year will be rockin'!

[Truc]

Not the right thread, but I don't know where to post that: he has a new coach! Courteau. He was supposed to work with Tati, but she is still injured.

Mathieu - Courteau, le nouveau tandem
Cette fois, c’est fait : Loïc Courteau devient l’entraîneur de Paul-Henri Mathieu sous la bannière du Team Lagardère. Depuis plusieurs semaines, Mathieu ne cachait pas qu’il désirait ardemment s’attacher les services de l’ex-coach d’Amélie Mauresmo tout en sachant que celui-ci donnait une priorité à Tatiana Golovin si l’état physique de cette dernière lui permettait de s’entraîner à nouveau et de prévoir un retour à la compétition dès le mois de janvier en Australie. Mais Golovin souffre toujours de la même inflammation du dos et, dans le doute, Courteau a dû prendre une décision. « J’avais dit à Paul-Henri qu’il me plairait de devenir son coach, mais je donnais la priorité à Tatiana avec laquelle nous avions souvent parlé d’une collaboration le jour où je cesserais d’être l’entraîneur d’Amélie Mauresmo », précisait Courteau. De retour hier de l’île Maurice, où il a pris un peu de vacances, Mathieu est donc prêt à reprendre le boulot d’ici à la fin de la semaine. « Il y a longtemps que je pensais à Loïc. Je l’ai pas mal côtoyé sur le circuit et j’ai toujours aimé sa manière de voir les choses. Je me rappelle même qu’il y a quelques années, à Wimbledon, je lui avais dit : “ Le jour où tu ne seras plus sur le tennis féminin, ce serait bien qu’on travaille ensemble. ” J’attends surtout de lui qu’il m’apporte quelque chose de par sa connaissance et son approche des grands matches. »

Paulo had made clear for a few weeks already that he would love to work with Courteau, but he knew that Courteau was giving Tati the priority if she was fit again and able to come back at the AO. Unfortunately, she still has the same back injury and since the situation was unsure, Courteau took a decision: "I had told Paul-Henri that I would love to become his coach, but that I was giving the priority to Tatiana since we had often talked about working together after I would part ways with Amélie Mauresmo".
Paulo came back from Mauritius yesterday and is ready to resume the training until the end of the week. "I had been thinking of Loic for a while. I've seen him quite a lot on the tour and I always liked the way he sees things. I even remember having told him a few years ago in Wimbledon: 'it would be nice to work together when you leave women's tennis'. I expect from him above all that he brings me something with his approach of big matches."

[Puschkin]

mais je donnais la priorité à Tatiana

Will this poor guy ever get a coach of his own?

[soulage]

Courteau seems a good idea for Paulo who is very sensitive.