Clément Pédron, Media365, published on Saturday December 21, 2024 at 9:00 a.m.
The year 2024 did not smile at all on the French women on the tennis courts. Despite the difficult season of Caroline Garcia, French No. 1, no other representative has managed to make any sparks. And this was felt in the Billie Jean King Cup.
The news spread widely but did not really surprise. Last mid-November, France lost against Colombia in the Billie Jean King Cup play-off (3-2). This setback therefore ejected the Bleues from the World group of the competition to the lower level. In South America, the French women, represented by Clara Burel, Diane Parry, Varvara Gracheva and Chloé Paquet, lacked everything to maintain their place among the elite. Above all, in the absence of the best national player Caroline Garcia, they showed the limits of French women's tennis. And the latter, this season, was not at the party, as evidenced by the WTA ranking stopped on December 2, 2024. Only four women appear there and not in the Top 40. Despite another difficult year and a season stopped in September, Caroline Garcia is still the best ranked with a 48th place. Behind the Lyonnaise, we find Diane Parry (53rd), Varvara Gracheva (66th) and Clara Burel (73rd). Chloé Paquet (111th) and Océane Dodin (113th) are not far away…
In 2024, drive around there is nothing to see, or almost unfortunately. We note a tricolor coronation all the same, the WTA 125 of Saint-Malo (Brittany) for Loïs Boisson. For the rest, there was nothing to eat. Caroline Garcia is and remains the best player in the blue-white-red clan at the moment and has been for several seasons. The problem is that apart from a brilliant year 2022, with four titles including the Cincinnati Masters 1000 and the WTA Finals, the former world No. 4 is far from the mark. With two small semi-finals played and only 14 victories out of 30 matches played, the Lyonnaise has never managed to raise the level. Mentally exhausted, she preferred to stop paying in September.
Behind, the desert
Boredom for French women's tennis and that despite the difficult year experienced by Caroline Garcia, no one has taken up the torch behind. During Grand Slam tournaments, only two French women saw the second week but only the beginning… Océane Dodin and Varvara Gracheva achieved this, respectively at the Australian Open at the start of the year and at Roland-Garros. In Paris, Chloé Paquet tried to imitate her but she was swept away by Markéta Vondrousova in two short sets in the third round, leaving the Frenchwoman of Russian origin as the sole representative. Fiona Ferro, winner in Palermo in a WTA 250 in 2020, is in 283rd place in the rankings. At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, no Tricolore has seen the quarter-finals, even less Caroline Garcia, eliminated in the first round. Far from being counted in 2024, French women's tennis hopes to bounce back in 2025.
