Lucas Pouille: "I came out of depression, but sometimes I think about it"

• Sports

Lucas Pouille has rediscovered Paris and he did it in the best possible way. The French tennis player, former top 10 and semifinalist of the 2019 Australian Open, after a difficult period, made up of alcohol and depression, won the first round of the qualifiers at the main draw of the Roland Garros: a 7-5, 6-3 victory Czech tennis player Tomas Machac, world number 125.

In an interview with L'Equipe, he went back to talking about that moment and that confession he made to the French newspaper: "I felt it was time to talk about it. For months and months I had asked my team not to tell anyone, to refuse requests because I didn't feel ready.

Because it wasn't the right time. A career is like normal life, you go through good times and tougher times and it's important for people to feel that too. We always think that an athlete should be in perfect condition, but things don't always go the way they should in life," said the Frenchman.

Lucas Pouille: "I came out of depression, but sometimes I think about it"

Then he clarified: "Yes, I think it can be defined as depression. Since you spend time alone in your room and only see black, I think it is. Now it's over, it's behind me, even if sometimes I think about it.

It serves me and gives me more strength than anything else. As said in that confession to L'Equipe, now that that period is partly behind us, the tennis player sets the 2024 Olympic Games as his goal. "I can't leave everything behind, these last few years have been complicated.

I'm back with the desire to play, to win games, with the aim of giving everything to try to live a dream and play the Paris Games. I don't know if I'll make it, but in any case I'll give my all by taking advantage of what happened," concluded Lucas Pouille, who in the meantime is fighting to get the pass for the main draw at the Roland Garros.