Thick beard, he wears the same white and yellow t-shirt as two days earlier for his entry into the qualifying tournament for the French Open. An assumed tribute to the outfit Yannick Noah wore when he was crowned here 40 years ago. Lucas Pouille came into the world 11 years later and, this final against Wilander, he only saw it on TV.
After getting rid of the Czech Machac, n°127 at the ATP (7-5, 6-3), as an aperitif of the qualifying week, Lucas Pouille found himself this Wednesday against the Taiwanese Tseng Chun-hsin. When your name is Lucas Pouille, you won the Davis Cup (2017) and already beat Rafael Nadal in the Grand Slam, it seems like a formality. Only that, it was before: the Northerner is no longer the player he was. He fell into oblivion in the world rankings, at 670th place. Facing him, therefore, a young 21-year-old Taiwanese ranked 215th at ATP. Suffice to say that the Northerner did not present himself as a favorite on court number 14.
Under a hot sun, the stands of the small court remained black with people to help him find the light, pass this tricky turn and get closer to the final table. It had gone badly. Chun-hsin, full of nerve, offered the first set (7-5) and he held on at the start of the second set. “I entered the game timidly but I ended up finding my game and putting it down,” says the Frenchman. With a finger injury, Chun-hsin eventually let loose to lose 6-3 before Pouille took full control of the game to put out his young rival in the easily won 6-0 third set. He qualified in just over two hours.
“I had not received so many messages since my victory in the Davis Cup”
“Before arriving here, I was lacking in reference points, resumes Lucas Pouille. But it’s starting to come back. My priority is pleasure, to play with it and find it again. It’s going well. After my first game, I hadn’t received so many messages since winning the Davis Cup. It’s crazy. Question atmosphere, it’s the same. I’m touched to have so much support on the court. So much so that I don’t feel like I’m playing qualifying matches but I’m already on the Central in the main round. »
The road therefore continues for the ghost, who is already guaranteed to leave the stadium with at least the 34,000 euros promised to the loser of the third qualifying round of the tournament. What to offer a pretty soft toy to his daughter Rose. Only, Lucas Pouille is not there just to play Santa Claus. He wants to find the final painting. Last year, he crashed in the first lap. In 9 participations in the tournament since 2013, he has only passed the second round twice, in 2017 and 2018. He is not there yet, far from it. But he is moving forward. He still has one step to enter the big leagues. It will be against the Austrian of Belarusian origin Jurij Rodionov, world No. 134.
