Adrian Mannarino plays Newport Challenger just four days after third-round loss at Wimbledon

NEWPORT, R.I.—On July 4^th, just before 11 a.m. ET, Andrey Rublev struck an ace to eliminate Adrian Mannarino from Wimbledon. Mannarino, who turned 37 while playing in SW19, won three qualifying and two main-draw matches at The Championships, his fourth grass-court tournament in four weeks.

For his efforts, Frenchman afforded himself four days rest. On July 8^th, just after 11 a.m. ET, Mannarino struck his first shot at the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island. The ATP Challenger Tour event, 3,316 miles away from the All England Club, awards 125 ranking points and $28,400 to its champion—exactly 1,875 less points, and roughly four million dollars, short of Wimbledon’s winner’s haul.

“Was a tough decision for me to come here,” admits Mannarino. “My goal [is] to make the cut for the main draw in the US Open, and I saw after the [Rublev] match that I was still a little bit short.

“So I needed to come here to get a couple of wins if I want to make it.”

The chase for ranking points takes tennis players around the world, but even for a veteran globetrotter like Mannarino, this transatlantic turnaround was surprising. But given how recently he was a main-draw mainstay at the majors, Mannarino feels some urgency.

Just last January, Mannarino was ranked a career-high No. 17, following an Australian Open that saw him win three consecutive five-set matches—against Stan Wawrinka, Jaume Munar and Ben Shelton—before running out of gas against Novak Djokovic. The remarkable run netted him 200 ranking points, but all but 10 fell off after a first-round loss in Melbourne this year.

By late January, Mannarino was outside the Top 100. By late March, he was nearly outside the Top 150. Ever since, Mannarino has been clawing his way back.

I felt like my body was exhausted, it’s been a long time on the road now. But I still have one little effort to make. Adrian Mannarino

Mannarino’s history in the historic New England city helped draw him to enter what remains the only grass-court ATP tournament in the United States. He has played the Hall of Fame Open 11 prior years, when it was an ATP 250, and he won the tournament in 2023.

The lithe lefty flew out on Saturday, and his jetlag hadn’t fully subsided by Monday, when he was spotted on a practice court hitting serves and collecting his own balls:

“Every day I’m trying to get a better serve, a better volley as well,” says Mannarino. “My legs are not going to run forever, so I need to make some quicker points, be a little bit more offensive.”

In “real life,” Mannarino says, he does not radiate the competitiveness he displays during matches. On no surface is that more evident than grass, which doesn’t allow players to wait out points, and demands three-dimensional tennis considering the ball’s low bounce. You can hear, see and feel Mannarino’s effort in every point he plays.

Tennis may not be everything in Mannarino’s life, but right now, it’s the biggest part of it. And as long as he can maintain the level demanded of him, he’ll continue his chase.

“I got to make my own mindset before the match, I’m trying to get into my bubble to go get it when on court,” says Mannarino, who gets a day off before facing Tyler Zink in the round of 16. “I still want to be here for another year, so I need to make some good results and I need to be hungry.”