For this first day of qualifying for the Australian Open, the French hit hard, very hard. And the capital performance was even coupled with strong emotion for Richard Gasquet.
Richard “Coeur de Lion” Gasquet says bye bye to Australia
Like every year, the tennis season begins with the Australian Open. To find a tricolor coronation in the southern hemisphere, we have to go back 19 years, to 2006, to see Amélie Mauresmo betray our most fundamental values. We might as well tell you that for almost two decades, we have approached each tennis season with outrageous serenity.
On the menu for this first day of qualifying, six Frenchmen including the immense Richard Gasquet. For his farewell tour, the Biterrois will play each of his tournaments for the last time in his career. And so it starts with this Australian Open. Facing him, the Croatian Duje Ajdukovic. And at the age of 23, the latter has not yet developed the slightest empathy. A victory in two sets 7-6, 6-3, synonymous with a definitive farewell for the Frenchman, 22 years after his first participation in the Australian Open. Damn dust in the eye.
The next generation of French tennis is ready
But the Richard Gasquet tree should not hide the French forest. As we specified above, six French people were lined up for this first day of qualifying. And if the other five are not in their last season of their career, they have nevertheless followed the same path as Richard.
Six games, six defeats, a nice ratio. The names of the heroes? Ugo Blanchet, Harold Mayot, Jessika Ponchet, Hugo Grenier and Alice Tubello. With a special mention for the latter, who nevertheless led 5-4 in the last set. There is something for everyone. And better yet, out of the six French people, four of them lost to two players lower ranked than them. French tennis has a bright future ahead of it. It remains to be seen whether the other sixteen entered tomorrow will do as well. The pressure is on their shoulders.
