Speaking The team In Shanghai, Mannarino was asked if his body would decide when to stop. His answer was unusually direct for a player still winning matches at this level.
“I’m aware that I’m in a bit of a physical slump,” he said. “It’s hard to admit it to yourself and accept that you’ll never be as fast or as durable as you were. That in itself is a small death as a tennis player.
The numbers behind it are simple enough. Mannarino reached a career high of No. 17 in January 2024 and finished that season at No. 66. He finished 2025 at number 69. 2026 started at No. 68, rose to No. 40 after reaching the final in Montpellier, where he lost to Felix A. Lowe and then to Felix A. Since the 80s.
He says the schedule keeps him from dwelling on it. “I don’t ask myself the question much, my head is down, trips, tournaments, it never stops, maybe it’s lucky that I don’t have enough time to ask myself the right questions,” he said with a smile. “I’m going full tilt. In this job, if you don’t do it 100 percent, unless you’re exceptionally gifted, you can’t exist.”
Where he pushes back the hardest is the idea that an aging player should simply train less and train smarter. Asked if he had to give up in practice, Mannarino dismissed the premise.
“I can’t do more than I did, that’s for sure, but I can try to do as much,” he said. “As time goes by and you get older, you want to do a little less, I hear the advice. “You have to do a little less, but with more quality.” Well, sorry, but that’s bullshit. If you want to be competitive against 20-year-old boys, you don’t do less.”
He described feeling the effects almost immediately as he fainted. “The moment I put a little less intensity in practice, physically or even mentally, because there are moments when it’s harder to find motivation, I feel it immediately. the results are much worse. You should always keep the quality high, because the competition is not waiting for you.”
Mannarino, who turned 38 in June, has five ATP titles. Khachanov continues to meet with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.