Having a sign of hope for French tennis on your back is not a gift. Quentin Halys is well placed to know this. He has been dragging it since his 2010 victory at the Petits As, the equivalent of the World Championship for 13-14 year olds. Then finalist of the US Open and world number 3 among juniors, the Frenchman was expected to take over from the four “Musketeers” of modern times: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gaël Monfils, Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet. A major challenge that, unfortunately for him, he was unable to meet, despite his obvious qualities. “He has a big serve, a good forehand, but above all a sense of the game, a lot of tactical ease, and a very good eye,” said Aloïs Beust, one of his coaches at Insep, in the columns of Ouest-France. “He’s a smart boy. He feels the game and asks himself the right questions on the court. He knows how to take the ball very early and has a good sense of anticipation. He manages to find interesting areas, to play fair,” added Bruce Liaud, his former coach at the France center in Poitiers.
In truth since 2022
Too cerebral, Quentin Halys took time to digest the transition to professionals, distinguishing himself more on the secondary circuit with seven Challengers won in total in his career. He had to wait until mid-2022 and his 26th birthday to finally break the hundred wall. The Parisian even went up to 61e world rank in January 2023, continuing with a round of 16 at the Masters 1000 in Miami, then with a first ATP semi-final, on the clay of Estoril, but his irregularity and physical problems made him once again plunge beyond of the 200e world place, after the 2024 clay court season.
First ATP final in 2024
Quentin Halys could have given up in the head and never got up. But the protégé of Olivier Malcor, his new coach, is not the type to feel sorry for himself and will take the ski lift at breakneck speed. “I restructured myself, I started from scratch a bit, in my project,” he admits. Coming from qualifying, he passed two rounds in the final draw at Wimbledon, notably claiming the scalp of Karen Khachanov before continuing with his first ATP final on the clay court of Gstaad (Switzerland). Richard Gasquet or the German Jan-Lennard Struff cannot resist him. Only the Italian Matteo Berrettini, ex-Top 10, prevents him from lifting the trophy. He continues his momentum this fall with two finals on the Challengers of Rennes and Mouilleron-le-Captif.
French course on this Moselle Open
At this Moselle Open, he does not seem satisfied and does not seem overcome by fatigue like so many players, exhausted at the end of the season. “ I feel good. I'm one of the players who wins the most matches at the moment. Confidence is clearly on my side. Fatigue will wait », he explained yesterday after his victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert. His fourth match in Metz against a Frenchman. Clearly, the hardest. Because previously, he had made short work of Matteo Martineau, Grégoire Barrère in qualifying and the lucky loser Théo Papamalamis in the first round of the final draw. And the French championship does not stop there for him since today he finds another player on fire at the end of the season: the Nîmes Benjamin Bonzi, with whom he won Roland-Garros among the juniors. A little murder between friends for a half in a tournament more open than ever. “I feel at home in the ATP 250 tournaments, which was not the case at the start of the year. Even in hot times, I know what to do. I feel like I have much better control over my tennis and my nerves. I think my level is better than when I was 61e. I have three games left to go to the end, that’s the goal.” And thus confirm somewhere the beautiful promises of adolescence…
Bonzi, symbolic first
Seen on Tuesday November 5 at a charity gala in Oslo, Casper Ruud was 24 hours later on the court of the Moselle Open, despite his qualification for the Turin Masters which brings together the eight players of the season and this is to his credit . The Norwegian took his private jet in the morning to arrive in Metz, but was not necessarily in the shape of his life. He suffered the law of Benjamin Bonzi, who scored an eighteenth success in nineteen matches, but above all achieved the first Top 10 of his career. “On paper, it's the best victory of my career, even if it's not my most successful match,” he admits before giving his opinion on his opponent's match. “It’s the first time I faced him. I have no point of comparison. We know that indoor is not his favorite surface. Was he all in? I don't know. The most important thing for me was not to fall into a false rhythm and believe that he was going to give me the match. »
Halys leads on points, Bonzi can believe it
Quentin Halys and Benjamin Bonzi will cross swords for the fifth time in their careers. The Parisian leads on points with three victories to one, but the Nîmes won their last confrontation, during the first round of the US Open 2023. “I had forgotten it,” admits the latter before specifying. “We are from the same year (1996). We have known each other for many years. I'm not just talking about tennis. It's a good match to play, we are both full of confidence and good momentum. May the best win! »
