Former world No.1 Mats Wilander has hit out at France’s best tennis players on the ATP Tour after they all failed to reach the last eight at this year’s French Open.
The French interest in the men’s draw ended on Monday when Gael Monfils lost in straight sets to former champion Stan Wawrinka. Despite there being five seeded Frenchman in the draw, Monfils was the only player to progress to the fourth round of the tournament.
It has been 34 years since a Frenchman has won a major title, which was Yannick Noah in 1983. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was there last player from the country to reach the final of a major at the 2008 Australian Open. The lack of success has prompted criticism from multiple grand slam champion Wilander, who described the performance of the contingent in their home grand slam as ‘disappointing.’
“It is disappointing, for sure,” Wilander told Reuters News Agency.
“If you look at those guys, (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga, (Richard) Gasquet, (Gael) Monfils… look at their rankings… for no-one to get to the quarter-finals is really quite disappointing.
“I think they have underperformed, really. And then who is coming next? Lucas Pouille, okay… but right now this kind of golden generation has not got much more time. This group is not going to be around forever.
“You would have expected them to have maybe won a grand slam by now.”
There are currently 11 top-100 players on the ATP Tour from France, three of which are ranked in the world’s top-20. Both Tsonga and Richard Gasquet were predicted for great success after producing impressive results at a young age, but they are yet to shine at the majors. Tsonga is a former US Open boys’ champion that broke the top-50 at the age of 22. Meanwhile Gasquet reached his first ATP final at the age of 18, but has never made a grand slam final.
Coping under pressure
The expectation of trying to excel in your home grand slam was one that caused Lucas Pouille difficulty in Roland Garros. A two-time grand slam quarter-finalist, he crashed out in the third round to Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
“Even if you prepare for it, there is no magic wand to get rid of the tension. You can’t just put it aside, brush it aside.” Pouille said about playing in Roland Garros.
“You can prepare as much as you want, but sometimes the stress is overwhelming.”
Tsonga, who won the Lyon Open a week before the tournament, was more reflective about his earlier than expected exit. The French No.1 crashed out in the first round to Argentina’s Renzo Olivo in what was his worst performance at Roland Garros since 2005.
“There were other years where I didn’t play very well for the whole clay season and then I got to Roland Garros and played well,” he replied when asked about his momentum going into the event.
Whilst the men continue to experience difficulty in their home grand slam, the women are thriving. Both Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic have reached the last eight of this year’s tournament. Mladenovic, who defeated defending champion Garbine Muguruza on Sunday, admitted that she struggled with the atmosphere.
“It’s lots of pressure, like it’s an amazing atmosphere. Even for me, even if I had like a thousand people screaming and cheering up for me, it’s not easy to control the nerves and the pressure and everything.” She said.
There are also other factors to take into account when comparing both draws. The women’s section is considered to be one of the most open in recent time, illustrated by that fact only one player left in the draw (Simona Halep) has reached the final at Roland Garros. Meanwhile the men’s is headlined by the ‘big four.’
France is a country that has the ability to produce world class tennis players, but their search for a a male grand slam champion is something that continues to elude them.
How the French seeds have performed at Roland Garros (2017)
Men
(12) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – R1
(15) Gael Monfils – R4
(16) Lucas Pouille – R3
(24) Richard Gasquet – R3, retired
(31) Gilles Simon – R1
Women
(13) Kristina Mladenovic – QF*
(28) – Caroline Garcia – QF*
*Still playing in draw
