Roland-Garros 2022 – 5 French people in the 3rd round, a fiery atmosphere: Finally, they are a hit, aren’t they?

Should we be enthusiastic about a balance sheet so innocuous at first sight? Yes. The French tennis landscape was so depressing on the edge of this Roland-Garros that the hypothesis of a tournament cut off, like last year, from its national representatives from Thursday evening was possible, if not probable. Because his number 1 among men was absent, because the Blues had exposed themselves to a hell of a draw by presenting no seed – a first in the 21st century – and because the individual dynamics suggested that he there would be no miracle. Miraculously, there were none. Real performances, on the other hand, yes.

Pliskova [N.8]Wawrinka, Krejcikova [N.2]Carreno-Busta [N.16]De Minaur [N.19]Ostapenko [N.13] : the victims of our Tricolores have oh so much more prestigious pedigrees – apart from Simon -, more regular performances in recent months and more consistent results than Léonie Jeanjean, Corentin Moutet, Diane Parry, Gilles Simon, Hugo Gaston and Alizé Cornet . In history, it is three former winners who were unbolted by our French. It must have been a black Roland-Garros, it turns light gray.

Tsonga’s farewell, Simon’s “unreal” night: Tuesday’s changeover

But to limit oneself to simple pure performance would ultimately miss the point. What matters are the emotions, again and more than anything. For that, we were served. After two first days faithful to initial expectations, with a heart rate that is struggling to get carried away, everything accelerated on Tuesday.

Atypical courses and unexpected third laps

Beautiful stories, precisely, we have only seen that or almost.

That of Diane Parry, a resident of Boulogne since her earliest childhood who passed in front of the Central on her way to school with the dream, one day, of treading it to shine there.

That of Alizé Cornet, less surprising but just as endearing. Because by dint of highlighting her possible record of consecutive Grand Slam participations (61, current series, just behind Ai Sugiyama with 62), we had almost forgotten that she could perform there. After her quarter in Melbourne, can she repeat the feat?

Stories again and again with that of Gilles Simon, perhaps the first surprised to be still alive. A few weeks ago, he conceded 6-2, 6-1 against an unknown kid in Challenger. Here he is, the spearhead of French tennis which he is about to leave at the end of the year. Between the fear of missing his exit and the excitement of seeing how far this mad electricity will take him, the Niçois is a Musketeer on the start but who has certainly not yet laid down his arms.

And then there is Gaston, the magician who reserves his best tricks for Paris. In 2020, he dazzled us with his ability to drive any opponent crazy, from Stan Wawrinka to Dominic Thiem. In 2022, the qualities are still there, the confidence much less. And yet, little darling of the public that he will have made dream in an edition that we almost all want to forget, he lets himself be carried away by the crazy atmosphere that accompanies each of his outings.

Here is the provisional table. It is imperfect, perhaps, but not far from unexpected. It will make other nations much better off smile. He is uncertain at the sight of what is to come. But it is joyful. Because terribly human.