Friday, July 10, 2015

Why Have French Men Stumbled at the Slams?

Here is an article that focuses on the struggles that French men's tennis players have been experiencing in the last decade and change, or so.

Ironically, this was Grand Slam event in which Frenchmen had a fairly strong showing - particularly in the case of Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet.

In recent history, however, Grand Slam success has largely eluded French male tennis players in recent years, even decades.

While numerous French men have regularly been ranked in the top twenty (the article points out that France has only trailed Spain in terms of the number of men averaging in the top twenty in rankings in the last ten or more years).

Indeed, when I went to the US Open back in 2002, Richard Gasquet was the hot young French tennis prospect, and there was an assumption that he had some great days of glory - perhaps Grand Slam glory - ahead of him.

That wound up not being so much the case, although he is having a tremendous Wimbledon tournament. However, he will be going up against the top ranked man in the world, Novak Djokovic, in order to try and reach his first ever Grand Slam Final.

Even if he gets there, either Roger Federer or Andy Murray await.

So, he clearly has his work cut out for him, and is far and away the least well-known of the remaining tennis players still alive in the tournament.

In the meantime, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga each have enjoyed considerable success on the courts, although that success seems to stop once it reaches the deeper levels of the Grand Slams. Of the top three Frenchman, Tsonga is alone in having reached the Final of a Grand Slam event.

Gasquet has a chance to join him in this distinction, and that would be a refreshing change for men's tennis in France.

But he certainly has his work cut out for him.




French Have Been Toast at the Slams By JOSHUA ROBINSON, July 9, 2015:

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