If Bernard Hinault begins a new year in the skin of the last French winner of the Tour de France, Yannick Noah still does not see a successor on the horizon, thirty-seven years after his success at Roland Garros. In view of the results and the current level of French players, not sure that the international tournament which opens this Sunday, September 27 is the opportunity. “Two did not go far, it’s Henri Leconte (finalist in 1988) and Gaël Monfils (semi-finalist in 2008), he observed in May on France 3. I think Gaël could do it, because he has an extraordinary land game. “
The choice of the imperfect is not innocent. Like others, Noah got a little tired of waiting for that famous big Grand Slam blow from the elusive Monfils. At 34, his time would have passed. However, the 9e world player remains – and by far – the most capable.
Former national technical director, Arnaud Di Pasquale, now a consultant for the Eurosport television channel, still believes in the star of Monfils. But it all depends on what objective we are talking about. “Not many of them can win this tournament. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are the big favorites with Dominic Thiem behind. For everyone else, it’s complicated to talk about victory ”, observes the eighth-of-finalist of the tournament in 1999.
Monfils and the others
At these “Others”, Gaël Monfils can trace his route until the second week and reach a place in the quarter-finals: since Richard Gasquet in 2016, not a Frenchman has reached this stage. “Monfils was not good on the two preparation tournaments [défaites d’entrée à Rome et Hambourg], but we know that it doesn’t mean much with him and that he is used to sublimating himself once at Roland Garros. He was a little cut in his tracks by the stoppage of the season, while he was experiencing a second wind in his career “, recalls Arnaud Di Pasquale, in reference to the two titles of the Parisian in Montpellier and Rotterdam, in February.
Behind its number one, tricolor tennis composes with the packages of some (Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lucas Pouille), the weight of the years of others (Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon) or the doubts of a Benoît Paire, whose head and the game still seem confined to his New York hotel room after the incredible episode of his positive Covid-19 test, which excluded him from the US Open.
The next generation politely raises their finger to speak with the discreet Ugo Humbert (recent winner in Hamburg of number 5 at the ATP, the Russian Daniil Medvedev) and the most demonstrative, Corentin Moutet. For them, a third round would already be a successful tournament.
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