Lois Boisson keeps Paris festivities alive
Mumbai, June 3 -- Alize Cornet knows just how keen tennis players can be to get back into the locker room after a long, gruelling match. Which is perhaps why she offered to end the on-court interview she was conducting early. "No, this is perfect!" came the instant reply from Lois Boisson, who had waited long enough to savour this moment.
In her first ever match at the Court Philippe Chatrier, the 22-year-old from Dijon in eastern France pulled off the upset of the tournament on Monday. Ranked 361 in the world, Boisson beat world No.3 Jessica Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 40 minutes to make it to the quarter-final of the French Open. And all this in her first appearance at a Grand Slam. Asked if she expected this sort of performance, "not really," came the translated reply.
"Before the match I knew there was a possibility, I knew she was tough. And through the match I gave my all, in the end I won, which is incredible."
What is also remarkable is Boisson's journey to her Grand Slam debut. She had been handed a wild card to the main draw at the French Open last year. But a week before she was expected to play at her first major, she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and had to undergo surgery.
She only returned to the tour in February. During her time away, she did try everything she could to aid her recovery and perhaps even give her some momentum when she got back on court. One of the things she tried was neurovisual training. "It's both visual and you just do some exercises differently," Boisson told the Roland Garros website.
"You connect the brain with the eyes, and then everything goes faster, you know, so it's really great for tennis. It was after my surgery. We did that (and) I came back faster."
Boisson was introduced to the different training method by her fitness coach Sebastien Durand, who also works with world No.17 Grigor Dimitrov. "The goal is to make everything as fast as possible. Doing these exercises has greatly improved my reactivity and it now comes naturally."...
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