The future of French tennis? Forty years after Yannick Noah's victory at Roland-Garros – France's last success in the Porte d'Auteuil tournament – long-term hopes may rest on talented young players yet to be discovered.
With the retirements of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon and the approach of the end clap for Gaël Monfils and Richard Gasquet, French tennis was looking for new musketeers. It is possible that he found them with Luca Van Assche, Arthur Fils and Alexandre Müller, in particular.
With his physique à la Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Gaël Monfils, we begin to dream of a destiny like his elders. Arthur Fils already has some particularly significant ATP Tour wins against Richard Gasquet and Roberto Bautista Agut in Montpellier. He finally lost in the semi-finals of the tournament against Jannik Sinner (8th current world player). In Marseille, he also reached the semi-finals.
Ranked 124th in the ATP rankings, Arthur Fils won his first Challenger tournament in January, in Oeiras (Portugal), and reached the Challenger final in Quimper the following week. His father, Jean-Emmanuel, says that "it shouldn't be enough". "Today you have youngsters who are a year older than Arthur, like Alcaraz, who is number one, and Rune, top 10. This is the model to follow. We have to go. »
Unlike Luca Van Assche, his style of play is more based on power and aggression. Quite tall (1.85 m for 82 kg), he relies on a big serve and his powerful forehand. However, at the highest level, power is not everything, as his coach, Laurent Reymond explains: "When you're powerful, you always feel like you can make a winning point every time you touches the ball, whereas high-level tennis is not that. First, you have to make very few mistakes. Then, even if it comes with time, he must integrate as quickly as possible his ability to adapt to all situations and keep a course on his game intentions and his attitudes. »
2023 is undoubtedly the year of take-off for Müller, also with a quarter-final in Doha where he was beaten by Andy Murray after taking out Nikoloz Basilashvili and Botic Van De Zandschulp. He also reached the final at the Challenger in Waco, Texas. The French have already seen the Pisciacais at Roland-Garros since he participated twice (2017 and 2019) but was eliminated in the first round.
Alexandre Müller is a complete player. A blocker from the baseline, he seeks to gain the upper hand over his opponent during the point to finish at the net. He relies on his good backhand but needs to improve his serve and "the power of his shots in general", he acknowledges.
