Adrian Mannarino recently made a heartbreaking admission about his prospects at the 2024 Paris
Olympic Games, saying that he "won't have a chance" to medal due to
Roland Garros being the venue for the event.
French tennis player Mannarino is one of many looking forward to the opportunity to compete at a home Olympics in Paris. However, the 35-year-old admitted that he would struggle to win a medal due to the surface at Roland Garros.
Mannarino is a hard-court specialist, with two of his four ATP titles being on the surface. He won the Winston-Salem Open in 2021 and defeated Sebastian Korda in the final of the 2023 Astana Open last month. His other two titles, which he won at the 2019 Libema Open and the 2023 Hall of Fame Open, were on grass. Therefore, this leaves one surface noticeably missing from his trophy cabinet.
Mannarino: having no chance at a medal is "ridiculous"
In a recent interview with L'Equipe, the World No. 25 explained his situation in regards to the Olympics next year.
"The Olympics are incredible for me, but I have to admit that taking part in them without having any chance of winning a medal is ridiculous.
"It will be played on clay, so I won't have a chance. I'm not saying I don't want to participate, it's not like that, but my career says that I have no chance of medaling on clay. At the Roland Garros, I passed the first round three times, but I never went beyond the second," he said.
Mannarino went on to further emphasize his point by comparing his ability on hard courts to his ability and ranking on clay.
"The truth is that on hard courts I play like a top 30 player, but on clay I'm a top 90 player," he continued.