29/05 - Roland-Garros : "A very discreet hero"

SPORTS / TENNIS : ROLAND-GARROS / "Un Autre Regard" by Nicolas Rey / 29/05 - Roland-Garros : "A very discreet hero"

He doesn't have the honor of playing on the centre court. He's playing on court 17. One of the "annex courts", as they're called at the French Open. His name is Peter Polansky. He's Canadian and ranked 273rd in the world. He came up through the qualifying rounds. By the first round at Roland Garros you can see he's wiped-out. He's already dead, you might say: dead tired, dead from cramps, dead sweaty, but especially dead hungry. Playing opposite Polansky is a German, with an ATP ranking of 68. In other words, an entirely different animal. A bit like if Dijon's soccer team were to confront the German "mannschaft." So? So beauty makes an appearance without us even noticing. Polansky will lose in five sets. From the outset he guesses he's going to tough it out, that this is his last match. Yet there remains one part of his destiny over which he is master: he can choose how he's going to go out. To throw in the towel or to hit each ball as if his life depended on it? Polansky decides on the second option. He outdoes himself and it feels as if we're watching a Grand Slam final. In the stands everyone is oblivious. I watch this man. I like his way of not calling it quits, of riding his boyhood dream to the end of the line. We probably won't see any footage of Peter Polansky on the evening news. So what? This guy is my hero. A very discreet hero. — Nicolas Rey