Richard Gasquet, September 29, 2020 at Roland-Garros.
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Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP
Four French survivors in the second round out of 18 entered on the men's side, this is the worst record since the 2000 edition.
Gasquet, Simon, Humbert or Halys took the door on Tuesday, even if some provided good resistance.
Benoit Paire seems to be the only one capable of winning the third lap, and even more ... if we are a little optimistic.
Happiness, or rather its illusion, will have lasted a little half an hour.
Half an hour to pretend we were ten years younger like Richard Gasquet, levitating against Bautista-Agut on the Simonne-Mathieu in the evening.
Backhand slaps, shock absorbers to die for, and even winning serves.
It lasted what it lasted, until 5-2, first set, basically.
Then we had to stop letting ourselves be lulled by nanny tales.
No, Richard the Lionheart was not going to save the country and its children, despite the discreet presence in the stands of Bernard Giudicelli.
The president of the FFT knows how to count like us.
By placing only four representatives in the second round (Bonzi, Paire, Herbert, Gaston), the French army on the men's side offers us its worst defeat since the 2000 edition. Which was already the worst of the Open era, to give you a idea.
🔥🇫🇷 What a start to the match for Gasquet!
The Frenchman made the break against Bautista Agut and takes control of this first act thanks to a superb sequence! # RG20
🖥️ The match to follow live: https://t.co/1t7sOoJCOQ pic.twitter.com/859hjXOJ8g
- France tv sport (@francetvsport) September 29, 2020
Almost unprecedented bleeding
That year, 13 out of 17 players (76.5%) had left the door after just one game.
The four survivors of the massacre were then called Fabrice Santoro, Arnaud Clément, Cédric Pioline and Sébastien Grosjean.
Since ?
Since then there had always been at least six French players qualified for the second round.
There was even a peak at 12 in 2012, a glorious time when François Hollande's France sent four guys in eighth with their fingers in the nasal cavity.
In 2020, we pick up the bodies by ten on the first Tuesday.
Fortunately the children do not come this year for the first Wednesday of the fortnight, they would mourn the poor.
Gasquet?
A good set and then the blow of the physical failure against the machine Bautista-Agut
Simon?
Good resistance against Shapovalov, for an honorable defeat in the end (6-2, 7-5, 5-7)
Halys?
A marathon that would have deserved a better fate against Giron
Barrère?
Not much to do against a good days Dimitrov
Mayot?
A little soft despite a good start against a Spanish specialist
Humbert disappointed more than the others on Tuesday
The real cold shower of the day, finally, came from Ugo Humbert, our only compatriot to have shown a more or less decent form before the tournament.
Well, the tennis clone of Guy Forget, who admitted in an interview the same day to feel better and better on earth, has been eaten by Polmans' sense of the game, much better than his quirky Saharan cap would suggest.
The young man was not downcast after the fact.
“On my tour, on the three tournaments on clay, there is not everything to throw, there are positive points.
I felt I was progressing.
Today, with the conditions and this style of player, it really opened my eyes to what I had to work on.
This is really the positive point.
What I missed is taking it earlier, thinking about my game, what to do ”.
We weren't going to ask him to justify the tricolor stampede on his own either, when the kid is first made for fast surfaces and gives us some reasons to hope for the future.
Who to blame, after all, apart from the passage of time?
The absence of an audience played a part, of course, but at the margin.
Even Corentin Moutet, unhappy loser of a marathon of more than six hours Monday, recognized that the atmosphere had "been rather cool and that he had everything to win this match".
The absence of the absent, too, you will tell me.
A Tsonga and a Pouille in full fluff would have given a different look to the French tournament.
But it's been a while since we last saw them in full swing, anyway.
It's over for Ugo Humbert!
The Frenchman was eliminated in the first round by Marc Polmans, 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3!
Despite a convincing 3rd set, the left-hander failed to return to the match #RolandGarros
Follow Roland-Garros live: https://t.co/Z0SzpLkTvf pic.twitter.com/cpbZUhGs7m
- France tv sport (@francetvsport) September 29, 2020
Benoît Paire or the underworld?
So, if we are willing to take an interest in the opponents of the four survivors (Sinner, Zverev…), we have little hope of seeing a Frenchman in the third round.
A hope that is called… Rolling drums… Benoît Paire.
Yes, the same Benoit Paire who had to spend 15 days locked in his hotel room since the end of August so as not to end up in Rikers Island prison.
The 25th player in the world is well aware of the precariousness of his physical condition, but without his press conference the other day, he showed a small ambition, all the same.
"I have a rather particular tennis even if everyone thinks that I am bad because I lost against guys and that I gave up after a set and a half because I was tired and because I was not well.
You know, I'm still a player who has to be careful.
Everyone is putting me by the wayside as if I had already lost, but I did not lose.
I have a board where I play Coria, a player I can beat.
After I saw David who had lost, it's my part of the painting.
You never know with a few games, with a little confidence it can come back very quickly.
The sensations are pretty decent on the court.
Already I'm going to do this Roland.
Why not do something good ”.
In Dante's boat at the time, something good would probably come down to seeing a Frenchman still accredited in singles Thursday.
Do not believe that it is the nouba among girls either.
But each paper depressing in its time.
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Richard Gasquet
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Gilles Simon
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