Adrian Mannarino is currently in 28th place in the world rankings and plays a solid season. The fact that the Frenchman has only been on tour for some time now with a racquet was probably not noticed by anyone.
This is probably the strangest story in a long time: Adrian Mannarino – a real shrewd man on the court and a full-time tennis pro – has been playing for several months with just one racket. Yeah, a bat! A few weeks ago, the Frenchman asked Twitter if there was a shop somewhere in the world that would sell a Babolat Pure Areo. The grip might vary between sizes three and four. Mannarino is only comfortable with this model, but it is no longer available on the market because there are already newer versions available.
After his victory over David Ferrer at the Masters-1000 tournament in Paris-Bércy, Mannarino made a funny confession at the press conference:”The situation has not improved yet. I don’t have many clubs anymore, between Montréal and Moscow I only played with a racquet,”the Frenchman explained.
This means that Mannarino only rode on the tour with one racket from the beginning of August to the end of October. Nowadays, however, it is common practice for Federer, Zverev and Co. swap your racquet after nine or seven games in the match and pull a freshly-covered model out of your pocket.
The problem is that the 29-year-old doesn’t have an official sponsorship contract – not even for his clothes “I bet with my trainer that I would play with an outfit all year round. In fact, I don’t have a sponsor for my clothes,”added Mannarino. The current number 28 in the world is willing to change this situation, however:”This may change in the future, because I have achieved good results. Maybe I’ll get a sponsor,”says the Frenchman.
Mannarino is not sure yet whether he wants to hold on to his current club model. But he would be more reassured if he still had a racket or two in his garage, the left-handed man confessed.