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Adrian Mannarino, 35, made the Australian Open crowd burst into laughter after revealing that starting to drink tequila also led to him to enjoying his career-best days in his mid-thirties.
Mannarino, who will 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. Five months removed from his 36th birthday, Mannarino is currently enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 19 and is one win away from reaching his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
After falling just short of winning an ATP title for years, Mannarino managed to finally get his first main glory in 2019. Just after celebrating his 34th birthday, Mannarino won his second ATP title at the Winston-Salem Open in 2022. Last year, Mannarino added three more titles to his collection, having won Newport, Astana, and Sofia.
“I started tequila,” Mannarino said when asked what´s his secret to getting better with age.
“That helps to not think too much, you just need to keep going and sometimes you need to clear your brain and stop thinking about the past and just keep going. Don’t look back and just go.”
Mannarino plays next against No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic
In his next match, Mannarino will face the toughest possible task as he is set to clash against record 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic. When Mannarino and Djokovic meet at Melbourne Park, it is going to be their fifth meeting but also their first meeting since 2018.
Going into the match, Djokovic owns a perfect 4-0 head-to-head against Mannarino. After sealing back-to-back Wimbledon wins over Mannarino in 2016 and 2017, Djokovic also beat the Frenchman at the Queen´s Club in 2018.
After three straight-set defeats to Djokovic, Mannarino took a set off Djokovic at the 2018 Cincinnati Masters. Unfortunately for Mannarino, starting well their Cincinnati match didn´t lead to his first win over Djokovic as the Serb came back to win that match 4-6 6-2 6-2.
It remains to be seen if Mannarino can cause a major upset and beat Djokovic for his first Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open.