French players raise a country’s hopes
Monfils leads host nation’s contingent in hunt for rare title.
Gael Monfils delivered one final ace, his 21st, and closed out his latest raucous, five-set victory on Court Philippe Chatrier to the delight of partisan spectators.
An entertainer at heart, Monfils pounded his chest with his right fist repeatedly and, after hugging opponent Diego Schwartzman at the net, used his right shoe to etch a sketch of a smiley face on the French Open main stadium’s red clay.
His adoring public loved that, too.
Since 1983, when Yannick Noah became the most recent man from France to win the championship at Roland Garros, the locals have not had a whole lot to cheer about at their Grand Slam tennis tournament. So mark Wednesday as a rare bright light: All five of the host country’s men in action advanced to the third round, including three who were seed- ed — No. 12 Gilles Simon, No. 13 Monfils and No. 14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga — and two who defeated seeded players — Nicolas Mahut and Benoit Paire.
“Everybody,” Tsonga said, “remembers Yannick’s victory.”
Monfils trailed Argentina’s Schwartzman two sets to one, before coming back and improving to 14-10 in five-setters with a 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win filled with loud cheers between points and plenty of supportive cries of “Allez!”
“Actually, today I won because I had the crowd behind me,” Monfils said. “They give me, let’s say, some wings.”
While some French players through the years have found the expectations of their countrymen too much to bear during these two weeks — Ame- lie Mauresmo comes to mind — Monfils and Tsonga occasionally thrive.
Both have reached the semifinals in Paris — Monfils in 2008, and Tsonga in 2013. And both say they find the attention from the crowds helps.
“For me,” Tsonga said, “it’s something positive.”
What, he was asked, might be France’s reaction if someone could end its 32-year wait for a men’s French Open title?
“First of all, I would be interested in winning! What would happen next? I don’t really know. I have absolutely no idea. The fans are happy when we win a firstround match,” a grinning Tsonga replied, enjoying his own one-liner, “so I guess winning the tournament would be something extraordinary for a country like ours.”