With Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sidelined and Gael Monfils less than 100 percent going in, this French Open was always expected to be a tough one for the host nation.
It was even worse than anticipated.
Adding insult to literal injury, Richard Gasquet drew none other than 10-time champion Rafael Nadal in the third round. That only exacerbated France’s plight, and the end result was that for the first time since 2007 not a single Frenchman reached the fourth round at Roland Garros.
Heading into Saturday, Monfils, Gasquet, Lucas Pouille, and Pierre-Hugues Herbert made up the quartet still hanging on in Paris. Monfils squandered four match points in his darkness-delayed match against David Goffin and lost in five; Gasquet got destroyed by Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; Lucas Pouille lost to Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-5, 6-3; Herbert went down at the hands of John Isner 7-6(1), 6-4, 7-6(4).
The final tally had Frenchmen winning one set on Saturday (Monfils) and losing nine. Thus it was an unceremonious–and very early–conclusion to the 2018 French Open for the home team.
“Jo was used to playing the second week, so the fact that he didn’t play here obviously gave us less chances,” Herbert said (translated from his French press conference). “But even though Gael didn’t play well, he still went up to match point today. He wasn’t far from beating David. As for Richard, he didn’t have the best third round of the draw.
“As for me, it’s my best result here. So it’s really cool to make it to the third round, although I was hoping for more. Gilles is coming back well, but in the ATP ranking we’re not as well-positioned as we were at one time in France. Obviously it’s harder to [go far in tournaments] in that situation.”
“Well, I’ve just lost, so I’m disappointed,” Monfils said when asked about the French exodus. “I’m first to be disappointed for myself, disappointed for my team, my family, my friends, and for the public, of course. The rest, well, it’s a general question. So it’s not relevant for me.”
The question now is when will Frenchmen be relevant again at Roland Garros? There is still time for the current generation, but the window is closing.
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bad by Pouille, bad luck for most everyone else
The only slam that’s had home success in recent years is Wimbledon with Murray winning it twice. Of the Big 4, only Murray has a home slam.