Melissa Alves (FRA) 3-1 Nour Aboulmakarim (EGY) 11-5, 9-11, 11-2, 11-9 (40m)
Next opponent: Lucy Turmel / Hania El Hammamy
Melissa : Full of emotions, I’m trying to keep control… to stay calm… It’s a first round of the World Championship, it’s always something special, we always say, no, we’ll take it like a normal tournament, but actually, not at all.
I’m supposed to win on paper, but dealing with the conditions is very difficult. I haven’t played in a while, a little injury I got in El Gouna, I did everything to prepare for this match, I couldn’t play in the European Championships, which really hurt me; emotionally, it was hard to watch the girls play.
Moreover, it was very close, and I think we could have done something extraordinary if I had played. So, regrets, frustration, so today, yes, it feels good to win.
I really like Nour, she’s a girl I really like in life, we used to train together with Amr Khalifa, so we know each other well outside. But then, we are here to win. I think she did everything to beat me, and so did I.
But in the end, it’s always nice to shake hands, it’s over. We gave it our all, but there’s nothing after, no hard feelings, nothing at all. What happens on the court stays on the court, it’s fair, it’s the game. There aren’t many matches like that, it feels good.
Just happy to make it to the second round and go to the glass court, which is beautiful. Sometimes, we say, we draw seeds, but honestly, if we’re going to do that, it might as well be in a beautiful place, in a beautiful setting. Now that the stress of the first round is over, we can play freely, have fun.
Just a huge thank you to the physiotherapists of the French Team, who did everything so I could play today, Yann Bourrel who was at the Europeans, who worked on me every day, and also to Florent here. So happy, thanks to Yann [Menegaux, French National Coach] too who supported me all week, I’m happy for the girls, I couldn’t play for them last week, I had to do something good today.
