Bill Simons
Paris
It’s called la joie de vivre – the joy of life. And the French know how to do joy. They throw everything into it.
But this year, the French saw their great star Richard Gasquet retire. Gael Monfils thrilled fans, before he was subdued. Mary Pierce was supposed to be honored here, but couldn’t come. France’s women players were in a deep slump. As the tournament went on, the only hope the French had was Lois Boisson.
Good luck with that. A year ago she was in a hospital with ACL surgery. Boisson was a lowly wildcard, ranked just No. 361. She’d played in only one main level tourney.
She was famous for just one thing – not wearing deodorant. In Rouen, Britain’s Harriet Dart complained that she stank. Now that she’s beaten Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-6, will there be a new WTA trend – not wearing deodorant?
Stade Philippe-Chatrier rocked today, as ecstatic Parisians sang La Marseillaise and roared in delight. “Lois! Lois!” they chanted. The girl from Dijon was on it. Just two days ago she shocked the proud, savvy Jessica Pegula, the No. 3 player in the world. “Who is that French girl?” the American seemed to wonder.
Today, just after lunch, Boisson did it again. And it wasn’t because her foe stank. Young Mirra Andreeva won Indian Wells. She’s No. 6 in the world. For a couple of seasons, she’s been the circuit’s foremost whiz kid. The pundits insist she’ll soon lift a Slam trophy.
But today, just like the overwhelmed Pegula, the Russian ran into a force of nature with a big forehand and an unafraid spirit. Usually strong mentally, today Andreeva acted her age. She barked at her box, lost her composure, and her usually precise strokes abandoned her.
Across the net, France’s phenom was on a triumphant ride. The magic of Paris’ ecstatic soccer victory – winning the coveted Champions League crown – seemed to have rubbed off on Boisson. Once again the 22-year-old blasted her topspin shots. Never mind that she fell behind 5-3 in the opening set, she opened the court, served big and tapped into the mighty emotions of a delirious crowd. She was resilient, and at crunch time she didn’t waver.
It’s been a great season for WTA wildcards, as the then No. 140 Alexandra Eala reached the semis of the Miami Open. Some reporters noted the greatest performance ever by a wild card – Goran Ivanisevic’s 2001 Wimbledon triumph. In 2009, wild card Kim Clijsters won the US Open.
Still, many feel the best out-of-nowhere performance in tennis history was Emma Raducanu’s incredible run to the 2021 US Open title. She went through the qualifying and the main draw without losing a set.
But before her run, the No. 151 had a fine resume. She’d been a Top Ten junior and had made the quarters in the juniors at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Before this year’s French Open, Boisson had only won one main draw match. Now she’s become the first woman to reach the semis at her debut Grand Slam tournament since Jennifer Capriati in 1990, the first women’s wild card to reach the French Open semis in the Open era and the youngest French Grand Slam semifinalist since Amelie Mauresmo in 1999.
Boisson’s sweet-smelling Cinderella romp will continue when she faces her third Top Ten player in three days – Coco Gauff. The American has thrived in plenty of hostile environments. But the 21-year-old should buckle her seatbelt.
For American tennis hopefuls in Paris, French joie de vivre can unravel red, white and blue dreams. Gauff’s former doubles partner, Pegula, knows that all too well.
Apres lunch, on Roland Garros’ prime promenade, elated French fans gushed, “Quel miracle! Quel miracle!” But Boisson differed, saying, “I don’t think it’s a miracle. For sure, I have a little bit of luck, but I think it’s just a result of hard work…Nothing else.”
But Boisson is hardly robotic. She noted, “Every kid who plays tennis has the dream to win a Slam…For sure I will go for the dream…[and] my dream is to win it, not to be in the semifinal.”
COCO AND THE POWER OF FIGHT: The rain was falling, the roof descended, but the energy was off. An 11 AM quarterfinal start is a challenge. This was Paris without the buzz. Roland Garros’ vast stadium was virtually empty.
In 1987, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander hid out in a US Open bathroom to protest a start time that made no sense to them – 11 AM. And today, the all-American quarterfinals match often didn’t make much sense either. The battle of the last two Americans to have won Grand Slam titles was full of nerves, errors, flash winners and countless twists.
In the sleepy first set, Keys was a point away from a 5-1 lead. But Gauff stormed back to force a tiebreak. Still, Madison, with her mighty forehand, prevailed. Keys seemed poised to win her twelfth straight Slam win.
Gauff changed the tension in her racket’s strings but didn’t submit to the tension of the moment. The 2023 US Open champ reset, remained positive, ran to the corners and stormed back.
Keys had been up a double break in the first set and led 4-1. Now Gauff did just that in the second set. But as Maddy’s husband and coach Bjorn Fratangelo looked on, the 30-year-old powerhouse rallied to even the second set at 4-4, just two games from triumph.
“So what?” Coco seemed to say to herself. Gauff is No. 2 in the world. Her game has many, often analyzed shortfalls. Yes, we know her forehand can falter. Her serve is an imposing blast one moment – what a weapon – then she suffers one deflating double fault after another. How can such a flawed player be No. 2 in the world?
Well, en route to her 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1 win, Coco showed us the power of fight, the role of grit and belief, the importance of resilience. She runs like a deer and scraps like a cat.
Does she have grace? Not especially. Rarely do we see elegance. But this woman is determined. Winning ugly is her thing.
Inside Tennis asked Coco, when it comes to fighting spirit, who in sports and tennis inspires her? The Floridian, who’s into her third French Open semi, replied, saying American sprinter and hurdler Sydney McLaughlin and gymnast “Simone Biles, because she just pushes herself. To me that’s crazy, because in tennis we had Rafa and Roger and Novak all pushing each other, but gymnasts don’t really have anyone. That she’s able to move that needle against herself is pretty cool.
“And then you have the obvious others like LeBron, Michael and Kobe, with that Mamba mentality. In tennis, it’s the usual: Serena, Rafa, Novak, Roger. The best people are who I look up to.”
And many look up to Coco, too. Her serve may waver, but she’s got fire in her belly.
NOT A BAD YEAR: After 15 years on the circuit, Madison Keys finally won a major, this year’s Aussie Open. She reached the French Open quarters on her off surface. Last year, she was close to reaching the Wimbledon quarters. Friday she’ll start hitting on grass again. Will she go deep in London?
A MILLIONAIRE’S COMPLAINT? Some were sympathetic when both Casper Ruud and Alex de Minaur complained rather bitterly about the often brutal ATP. One cynic disagreed, saying, “Jeez, you have millionaires complaining about doing their work.”
PARIS’ COFFEE PROBLEM: Earlier this year, coffee connoisseur Madison Keys claimed that Melbourne was the best city for coffee on the circuit. When asked to rank the other three Grand Slam cities for their coffee prowess, she replied, “I’d put New York second, London/Wimbledon third, and Paris last. Sorry, guys.”
There were slight gasps, and then Maddy was asked what Paris had to do to up their game. She replied, “I think that’s up to them. I think they know what they have to do.”
