Australian Open | Bad luck or deep crisis: why is French women’s Tennis no longer able to do it?

Since we are never safe from a good surprise (and even less from appearing like an idiot), we will wait a little before prophesying the worst for French women’s Tennis at the Australian Open , which begins this Sunday. Certainly, this one does not appear under the best auspices, a mild understatement when none of its representatives appear this week in the top 50. But that was already the case three years ago, at dawn of the 2022 Australian Open, and this is precisely the moment that Alizé Cornet had chosen to reach, at 32 years old and on her 63rd attempt (a record), her first quarter-final in a Grand Slam. So let’s wait a bit, so…

That said, let’s be realistic too. Even if we can always imagine a “coup” as Océane Dodin, eighth finalist for the first time in a major tournament, also managed last year, and even if we all hope for a return to favor from Caroline Garcia after her serious burnout last year, we can hardly imagine a French woman playing the leading roles in this inaugural highlight of the year 2025.

And even if this were the case, it would not change much of the observation that has been evident for several years: apart from Garcia who has often been the tree hiding the forest, French women’s tennis tends to fade away. increasingly at the forefront of the world tennis scene. This is not meant to be mean or harsh and even less disrespectful to the very honorable careers of a Diane Parry or a Clara Burel, who are still young and can deny all of this: in the meantime, it is just factual.

Before a period of nine months between 2021 and 2022, as reported by our statistical partner Jeu, Set et Maths, we had to go back to September 1986 to find trace of a top 50 without a Frenchwoman. In the meantime, it was indeed the girls who gave France its only Grand Slam titles thanks to Mary Pierce (Australian Open 1995, Roland-Garros 2000), Amélie Mauresmo (Australian Open and Wimbledon 2006). ) as well as Marion Bartoli (Wimbledon 2013). And when we know, notwithstanding the exploits of the Musketeers (old or new) and Yannick Noah, that Suzanne Lenglen is perhaps the biggest star in the history of French tennis, it is all the more distressing to see our women sink today into oblivion.

But the facts are there, stubborn and implacable. At the end of 2008, no less than 11 French players appeared in the top 100. Seventeen years later, there are only three left, counting the former Russian Varvara Gracheva, who has only had the tricolor passport since 2023. And therefore none in the top 50, its leader Caroline Garcia only ranked 58th, very far from 4th which was hers in 2018. It is not surprising that the presence of a representative of French women’s tennis in the second week of a Grand Slam has, at the same time, become considerably rarer: this is a reflection of her current rightful place in the world tennis chessboard. No more, no less.

Of course, there may be a generational explanation. “But since we have been in trouble for quite a few years, I think we can now say that there is a fundamental problemsays Alizé Cornet, who is one of those who has left a void since her retirement at the last Roland-Garros. I wouldn’t presume to say which one. But it seems that there is indeed a problem in the training, detection and support of young girls. Because beyond the results, we see that we have no breeding ground and that is a bit worrying.“

Indeed, the wind of renewal that is stirring among men, thanks in particular to Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, is still awaited among girls. Today, only 20 young French girls are supported by the FFT (or followed in associated courses), including the great hope Ksenia Efremova (15 years old), as well as Daphnée Mpetschi Perricard (16 years old), Giovanni’s sister, and Eleejah Inisan (16 years old), who are the only two other French women under 17 ranked at the WTA. But outside the top 800, therefore far from the passage time of most of the best current players. It’s little…

“For me, the current situation is the result of a federal policy that is not focused enough on women’s tennislaments an employee of the FFT, who preferred to remain anonymous. Efforts are made at the grassroots, between 10 and 14 years old, with a federal center in each League, in addition to the Poitiers center. But from the age of 15, at an age where players need structure more than ever, there is only the CNE. And, at the CNE, we see that there is one physical trainer for every eight players, while there are four for every 12 for the boys. How to provide the same quality of work? Result: I’ve seen a lot of players who weren’t offered anything, and who ended up losing along the way…”

However, the time is not far away when France fielded three junior world No. 1s, between Clara Burel (2018), Diane Parry (2019) and Elsa Jacquemot (2020). “But these three are the fruit of a well-identified policy, continues this federal framework. We see that juniors have become an essential springboard for girls, even if there are always exceptions (including Lois Boisson, 21, who seemed on the verge of breaking into the elite last year before injuring her knee). It would therefore be essential to offer a more extensive offer for 15-18 year olds. But the succession is thin. We have created a generational gap, which leads to a lack of benchmarks and emulation. The cyclical problem becomes a structural problem.”

The observation is not new and is not denied, either, within the FFT. In 2020, Alexandra Fusai, responsible for 10-18 year old girls, presented the results of an audit revealing the (too) big delay taken by French women from the youngest international categories. But despite the observation and the means implemented to remedy it, the chasm has only widened since then. During the 2024 edition of the Petits As, the French only recorded, in all, two meager victories. And there is to date no Tricolore in the top 30 of the ITF junior rankings, the highest ranked being Ksenia Efremova (33rd), also naturalized French in 2023 “from” Russia, and therefore not from the federal system .

So what’s the problem? “For me, it is above all systemic, underlines Mathilde Johansson, 59th in the world in 2009 and now president of the Women’s Tennis Union, the union of French players. Our school system does not encourage the practice of sport. In many other countries like Sweden (where she is a native, Editor’s note), the children finish school very early and can then do lots of activities. In France, to reach the highest level, you have to specialize at a very young age, so put your studies aside a little. This is already holding back many parents. Besides that, we also realize that it is more difficult to attract and keep girls in clubs.”

And this, for various reasons whose contours are difficult to explore exhaustively. But perhaps, if tennis is an extremely difficult sport, it is even more difficult for girls. “I think the level of stress before a match is the same for a boy and a girl, but a boy has more ways to get around it, if not through his ability to rely more on his serve, there where a girl has to fight on every point with her emotionality, continues Alizé Cornet. Besides that, it’s a macho environment where you are judged not only on your performance, but also on your physique.. The high-level context is not necessarily very fulfilling for a girl. And that’s what can distract her more easily from the game.”

“Without wanting to get into counter psychology, girls generally have a greater need for emotional and family support, which is also why it is more difficult to support them in sport-studies, adds Mathilde Johansson. Overall, they are more sensitive and emotional. Unlike boys, when they lose, they also tend to question themselves as a person. It’s this whole dimension that makes this sport more complicated for them to manage. But hey, when we see what the Czech Republic produces for example, some are doing it very well, so why not us?

The FFT, which recently launched mixed tournaments for the 4th series in order to compensate for the scarcity of players also observed in the amateur draws, indeed seems to have been looking for the right formula for the training of its young girls for a long time. A few years ago, faced with the observation of the drop in numbers and the difficulty in caring for girls in collective structures – we realized that, historically, the best French girls have often come from a private project, even family – she had closed her women’s centers. Today, as we said, she reopened one in Poitiers, for children under 14 years old.

Not always easy to follow but ultimately, the system doesn’t matter: it is only responsible for a density. The extraordinary champion, the one who will win Grand Slams, is by definition an exception who can very well emerge from nowhere, like Novak Djokovic did on the ashes of a country in ruins, or an Iga Swiatek in a nation that had never won a Grand Slam before her. We want to believe, or dream, of a similar destiny, soon, for a French player. But very clearly, today, that is not the meaning of the story.