Nicolas Mahut gets congratulated for losing at French, handles it perfectly
Nicolas Mahut didn't have a great day Monday at the French Open, losing in four sets in his first-round match against Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin.
Mahut, a Frenchman, was probably none too pleased to leave his home country's Grand Slam so early, and what went down in his post-match press conference didn't help matters. He got congratulated by a reporter ... for losing.
Here's how it started, via an image of the transcript:
Moderator: Questions in English, please.
Q: Congratulations.
Mahut: Congratulations? I lost.
Q: You lost? OK. So what happened out there?
Mahut: Are you serious? Did you watch the match?
Q: No, I didn't. I was told that you won. I'm sorry.
Mahut: Questions in French, please.
Well played, Nicolas.
Mahut, you may remember, was on the losing end of the epic 70-68 fifth set against American John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010, a match that lasted more than 11 hours over the course of three days.
(h/t Steve Weissman)
