© Getty Photos Sport – Julian Finney
Adrian Mannarino, 35, made the Australian Open crowd burst into laughter after revealing that beginning to drink tequila additionally led to him to having fun with his career-best days in his mid-thirties.
Mannarino, who might be turning 36 in June, made his second Australian Open round-of-16 after edging out No. 16 seed Ben Shelton 7-6 (4) 1-6 6-7 (2) 6-3 6-4. 5 months faraway from his thirty sixth birthday, Mannarino is at the moment having fun with a career-high rating of No. 19 and is one win away from reaching his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
After falling simply in need of successful an ATP title for years, Mannarino managed to lastly get his first foremost glory in 2019. Simply after celebrating his thirty fourth birthday, Mannarino gained his second ATP title on the Winston-Salem Open in 2022. Final yr, Mannarino added three extra titles to his assortment, having gained Newport, Astana, and Sofia.
“I began tequila,” Mannarino mentioned when requested what´s his secret to getting higher with age.
“That helps to not assume an excessive amount of, you simply have to preserve going and typically it’s worthwhile to clear your mind and cease serious about the previous and simply preserve going. Don’t look again and simply go.”
Mannarino performs subsequent in opposition to No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic
In his subsequent match, Mannarino will face the hardest potential process as he’s set to conflict in opposition to report 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic. When Mannarino and Djokovic meet at Melbourne Park, it’s going to be their fifth assembly but in addition their first assembly since 2018.
Going into the match, Djokovic owns an ideal 4-0 head-to-head in opposition to Mannarino. After sealing back-to-back Wimbledon wins over Mannarino in 2016 and 2017, Djokovic additionally beat the Frenchman on the Queen´s Membership in 2018.
After three straight-set defeats to Djokovic, Mannarino took a set off Djokovic on the 2018 Cincinnati Masters. Sadly for Mannarino, beginning nicely their Cincinnati match didn´t result in his first win over Djokovic because the Serb got here again to win that match 4-6 6-2 6-2.
It stays to be seen if Mannarino could cause a serious upset and beat Djokovic for his first Slam quarterfinal on the Australian Open.