Single ladies – 2nd round – Léolia Jeanjean in the middle of a dream: “Even me, I have no explanation”

This is called being on your cloud. And Léolia Jeanjean especially does not want to get off. She who had never played the slightest match on the main circuit at the start of the week has just signed her first two victories in quick succession. Grand Slam, please. And by beating, on Thursday, a top 10, former world number one, in the person of Karolina Pliskova, buried on the Simonne-Mathieu court under the variations of the Frenchwoman. “Three days ago, I had never played a top 100 before and today, I beat a top 10… I don’t even know what to say“, almost excuses the divine surprise of this Roland-Garros 2022.

Because she had absolutely no benchmarks at this level of competition, Jeanjean didn’t know what to expect. But she certainly did not imagine this dream scenario. “Thought I was gonna take winning shots all over the placeshe assures. In the first round, I play a top 50. I thought I was going to lose. Also today. It seems that my level of play disturbs them. I am the first surprise but also very happy because it means that I may have the level to be there, on the circuit.”

On her cloud, she appears full of mastery, more than euphoria. Her strength today is to combine the freshness of a junior with the maturity of a young 26-year-old woman. Failing to be enviable (who can wish a 14-year-old girl to be stopped in the middle of her ascent due to a serious injury?), her atypical career is today a strength, in particular to apprehend her brutal change of status and its entry into the light.

Her luck, which will only last for a while since the whole circuit will quickly learn to be wary of her, is to advance hidden. A Karolina Pliskova had probably never heard of Léolia Jeanjean before discovering that she would be her opponent this Thursday. “The girls don’t know how I play, that’s an advantageadmits the one who is now assured of appearing, at worst, around the 150th place in the world when leaving Paris. I have seen Pliskova play for a long time. I know his strengths, his weaknesses. I can make a game planThe reverse is not necessarily true.

In fact, the French martyred the Czech by making her move a lot, which she hates. Roland-Garros notably discovers his sense of amortization. “It’s my favorite move. I’ve always loved it, I’ve always found it aesthetic and effective, especially against a player who doesn’t necessarily move forward very well. It’s a matter of instinct. But I prefer that to a big powerful forehand, for example.” Pliskova, whom she drove around, did not understand everything. But she showed herself to be classy: “I couldn’t play, the court was very, very slow. But we must salute her merit, she played incredibly well.”

Between freshness, recklessness, merit, talent and mastery, Léolia Jeanjean therefore bluffs her world. If France began to learn about its unusual history during its victory in the first round, the foreign press, it really discovered its name and its tennis this Thursday against Pliskova. When our colleagues ask her how a 26-year-old player who has never set foot on the circuit can inflict on Karolina Pliskova one of the worst defeats of her Grand Slam career, she answers: “Even I don’t have an explanation.”

In this whirlwind, his greatest merit is perhaps to retain all his lucidity. Again, the strength of his age. But all the same. It would be enough to make your head spin. “JI don’t want to scatter myself, waste a little energy“, she says. Even if, there again, she is surprised by her own calm, she who defines herself as someone “who gets angry and groans” easily.

“Yes, I’m very surprised to keep my calm, to be so focused, continues Jeanjean. I’m still very tense when I play, my heart beats quite fast. That’s why I try to breathe well, to keep my calm, not to shout all over the place, because for the moment, I think that would do me more harm than it would bring me anything. Since I came here, I think I’m doing well, what I’m doing is good.”

More than good, even. We hardly dare to point out that after dismissing Pliskova, she has just opened up her painting. On Saturday, she will face Irina Begu for a place in the round of 16. Playable ? Yes. In theory, nothing was playable for the improbable beginner that is Léolia Jeanjean. In practice, she does not forbid herself much. She is quite right.