Balma (France) (AFP)

A week after his explosive career at Roland Garros, Hugo Gaston, new hope for French tennis, resumed hard training on Monday with the goal of quickly entering the top 100. This goes through secondary tournaments, far from the prestigious Parisian clay court.

"They haven't stopped doing cushioning since they saw it ... I call them the Huguettes!"

From the neighboring court, the coach of two young players has fun with the signature gesture that drove Dominic Thiem crazy, pushed in the fifth set by a surge - 55, for 72% success - of amortizations "from another planet ", in the words of the world No.3.

"If he continues like this, he will become a very great player," concluded the Austrian.

To continue like this, after a week of media whirlwind that made him go from the program of Yann Barthès, Quotidien, to that of Cyril Lignac, Tous en cuisine, is to resume the daily journey between Fonsorbes, the southern suburbs -west of Toulouse where Hugo Gaston lives with his parents, and Balma, on the other side of the Ville Rose, where he trains.

It is also going down several levels, to replay Challenger tournaments, the ATP secondary circuit.

His three laps at Roland Garros, the last against the 2015 winner Stan Wawrinka, for his first participation are they digested?

"I'm still a little tired, I'm recovering. Mentally, it will take me time," admits the small left-hander (1.73 m) who turned 20 on the eve of the tournament.

"But physically, I feel good and ready to attack the season on hard," he says in an interview with AFP.

- Return to earth -

After two months spent on clay, time is running out for Hugo Gaston.

"He will have to readjust very quickly to the hard, to the speed, to the bouncing of the balls", explains his trainer Marc Barbier, who has concocted a gradual preparation over two weeks before the Hamburg Challenger where qualifying awaits him ...

Released from anonymity in the space of two days, the Toulouse prodigy, even after a jump of 82 places in the ATP ranking, is still only 157th in the world.

Insufficient to open directly the doors of the main tables of the Grand Slams, a privilege reserved for the hundred best in the world.

Hence the objective of getting there "as quickly as possible", according to French hopes.

Not so simple, warns Barbier, who has been accompanying the nugget since he was six years old: "the fifty players who are in front of him want the same thing and are also very efficient, we must not ignite. It can go very quickly but it can also take time; we are prepared for that, we know that the road is still long but we know how we want to go. "

After Hamburg, the Gaston clan is hoping for an invitation to Paris (early November), before an Australian tour extended in December by the fortnight of prior isolation.

Returning to Roland-Garros in May without an invitation is a very distant goal.

"If we do not succeed, we will not panic", relativizes Barbier.

- Less amortization?

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Now recognized in the street, Gaston also knows he is expected on the courts.

"It is obvious that the element of surprise has passed, or is in the process of passing," observes Barbier about the depreciation of his protégé.

"His opponents will now expect this type of blow. He will have to play it differently, at different times as well."

If he is preparing to do "maybe a little less" depreciation on hard, Gaston intends to "keep the same style of play" and wants to be confident.

"I had good results on hard, I can play well on both surfaces."

Because his game is not just that.

Touch of the ball, sense of anticipation, creativity: with the deployed Porte d'Auteuil pallet, Gaston's technical work is already well advanced.

On the other hand, the 2018 junior Olympic champion must "gain in physical quality" and, on the tactical level, be "fairer in his choices", underlines Barbier.

"It will be necessary that his service becomes even more efficient, his forehand more impactful", also claims the technician.

Regarding the management of emotions, however, nothing to complain about: helped by yoga classes and a sports psychologist, Gaston impressed by his composure against Wawrinka and Thiem.

"If he maintains this mastery of himself, I sign immediately."

French tennis too.

© 2020 AFP