The season had started strong: an Arthur son, all fire, all flame, in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 of Monte-Carlo, very close to bringing Carlos Alcaraz to drop (4-6, 7-5, 6-3) at the gates of the last square. The following week, the French n ° 1 (14th in the world) confirmed by reaching the semi-finals in Barcelona, stopped more clearly by the world’s world Spanish (6-2, 6-4). But his stopping in Madrid (beaten in the first round), not necessarily worrying for him, is more for the rest of French tennis, which did not really take the aspiration of his leader.
From the round of 16 in the Spanish capital, the tricolor flag had disappeared from the table. And in Rome, this week, it is already time for the general rehearsal, two weeks from Roland -Garros (May 25 – June 9), before possibly a challenger, notably that of Bordeaux, or the ATP 500 of Hamburg. So, behind Arthur Son, where are the strong men of the French contingent? Ugo Humbert (22nd) drags his paw or rather hand. With a splint and a fracture of the fifth metacarp in the right hand, the Gaucher Messin galley, all the more on a clay far from being its predilection surface. In three tournaments, he won only one match at ATP 500 in Munich.
For Giovanni Mpeshi Perricard, the physique is fine, it is in the head that it sins. The French n ° 3, 36th in the world, is on a series of five defeats, three of which on clay and no set won. The 21 -year -old colossus made a lucid observation after his entry defeat in Madrid: “We must not continue like that, otherwise we are going straight in the wall. These are the same matches that repeat themselves, there must be change in my game and in what I do to hope to do better. ” In Rome, it was his black bane Jordan Thompson (4 defeats in 4 games) awaits him in the first round. In the event of a new failure, “GMP” will have a catch -up session at the Challenger in Bordeaux.
-Sans relief
He too is registered in Gironde but he hopes first to shine in the Italian capital. N ° 2 French at the race, ranking on the calendar year, Alexandre Müller shone on the clay of South American this winter with a final in Rio but the return to Europe is more delicate. The 39th world player was not spared by the prints, beaten by Medvedev in Monte-Carlo then Zverev in Munich. He was the last Frenchman in the running in Madrid, eliminated in the 3rd round by Tiafoe. Its beginnings in Rome will not be simple against Jiri Lehecka (38th).
Behind, there was hardly any more relief. Sick, Gaël Monfils chained three consecutive packages. Brilliant at Roland-Garros last year, Corentin Moutet fights with himself on the court, tortured by his emotions, and forget his sometimes confusing tennis for any opponent.
There is still worse. Among the ladies, there is only one French in the painting with Varvara Gracheva, 65th in the world and the only tricolor representative in the top 100 … It’s meager, very thin.
