At the Open Parc de Lyon and at Roland-Garros,
At the end of the afternoon, on this Whit Monday, the public at Roland-Garros will also discover for good the two greatest hopes of French tennis, Arthur Fils
(18 years old) and Luca Van Assche (19 years old). Respectively opposed to the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (seed number 29) on the Simonne-Mathieu court and the Italian Marco Cecchinato (72nd at the ATP) on the court number 14 so dear to Lucas Pouille, the two Parisians from the 2004 generation have had destinies linked for a very long time. “It’s crazy, recognized with a big smile Arthur Fils, Sunday in front of the media. Even before facing each other in the junior finals at Roland-Garros in 2021, we played together in multichance tournaments (TMC) at 10 or 11 years old, so that goes back quite some time. »
Then they followed each other in the main stages of their life on the courts, not without kindly chambering each other for almost always. “We often make a little joke, reveals Arthur Fils, a month younger than the duo. Luca put me in a bit of a retro after his Challenger win at Pau in March. There, it’s me who puts it a little in the retro and we’ll see where we are at the end of Roland. “Because yes, Arthur Fils made an impression in the best possible timing, winning the Open Parc on Saturday in Lyon, the first tournament on the professional circuit of his career, just before celebrating his 19th birthday.
“The Frenchman we all want to see play”
The Essonien did a double blow by making his first appearance in the ATP Top 100 (63rd), where he is the youngest member… with Luca Van Assche (82nd), of course. Before their discovery of the final table of the Roland-Garros “of the greats”, we wanted to take the pulse of the hype growing concerning the two young players, by going to the ATP 250 tournament in Lyon last Wednesday. By chance, we found ourselves next to a young tennis player screaming at all costs between the points of the round of 16 between Arthur Fils and Mikael Ymer “That’s my guy, he’s in line with Monfils! “. Coming from Chambéry with his tennis club “on purpose to discover Arthur Fils in real life”, Sacha Bocquet (17) was one of the dozens of young spectators to cry out in front of the setbacks along the line and other sublime topspin lobs of the promising Ile-de-France.
“Seeing him land in the World Top 100, at not even 19 years old, is already exceptional, enthused this 15/1 Savoyard, who closely follows his professional debut on TennisTV. He has an aggressive game, he tears himself away on all points. His showman side makes him the Frenchman of the new generation that we all want to see play. “That day, the central court of the Tête d’Or park was left unsatisfied, the fault of a moon cable fart from his Swedish opponent, disqualified at 5-6 in the first set after having smashed his racket against the referee’s chair.
The “natural charisma” of Arthur Fils
“We know that tennis is a bit of a sport that drives you crazy”, reacted a few minutes later Arthur Fils, like an old veteran philosopher on the circuit. Winner of the tournament three days later, the one who trains at the National Training Center of the French Tennis Federation (understand at Roland-Garros) let go of the microphone, when the trophy was handed over: “Thank you to my team, this won’t be the last guys. It is not the style of the house to hide its great ambitions, as confirmed by a member of its entourage: “From an early age, Arthur set up an individualized team around him. He does not want to set limits and he accepts his desire to go as high as possible, it is in his education. There, he currently wants to complete his professional team which is always around him, just like the Top 10 players do”.
His trainer since December, Laurent Raymond, is aware of having in front of him a strange potential, which is accompanied by a notorious showman: “He exudes a natural charisma. There is nothing forced in Arthur, he brings freshness and he knows how to reach the public, as a Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could do”. We can’t wait to find out what it will be like on the Simonne-Mathieu, against an opponent as formidable on clay as Alexander Davidovich Fokina, finalist in Monte-Carlo last year after having released Novak Djokovic there. After all, Arthur Fils has already offered himself to his hunting board in 2023 Richard Gasquet, Roberto Bautista-Agut and Stanislas Wawrinka. Laurent Raymond spots a red thread in the convincing last months of his protege.
Arthur is so powerful that he felt like he could punch holes in the ball all the time and get the point like that every time. But tennis is not that, he has now well understood that he must be consistent on neutral play, and learn to build his point. What is good with him is that he has a very good reading of the game and that he remembers almost all the points after each of his matches. During tournaments, we like to attend several matches. I then encourage him to write his own sheets on the characteristics of the players he has observed. »
Luca Van Assche undergraduate at Dauphine
Tennis homework that contributes to the flight of Arthur Fils, where Luca Van Assche relies on real homework as part of his second year of a degree in mathematics and computer science at Paris-Dauphine University. Yes yes, at just 19 years old, because this native of Belgium quietly had his baccalaureate two years in advance. “It’s his balance, notes Yannick Quéré, one of his coaches. He is a discreet boy, with a very stable environment. He’s had a passion for the game since he was little and there hasn’t been a sudden outburst for him, just strong indicators at times. His title of French champion for 13-14 year olds in 2018 was an important step in his mind, as was his victory as a junior at Roland-Garros against Arthur afterwards. »
Still living – like Arthur Fils – in the family home, located… Porte d’Auteuil, Luca Van Assche is preparing slightly more in the shadows than his friend for this first Roland-Garros, due to Fils’ recent Lyon adventure. “There is excitement around Luca but he knows he hasn’t won anything yet,” slips Yannick Quéré. His only pressure is the goals he has set for himself. The first was to quickly enter the Top 100, and now it is possible to aim for the Top 50. He needs to appropriate this new world. »
Noah’s shadow crosses time
A world in which Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune, who are only a year older than the Fils-Van Assche duo, have already taken a lot of head start. The 19-year-old Spaniard, favorite in the absence of Rafael Nadal, has already won a Grand Slam (the US Open 2022) and the world number one spot. Be the dream of a lifetime when you are a French tennis player and this spring we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coronation of Yannick Noah at Roland-Garros, the last of a French tennis player in a Grand Slam. Does this so distant June 5, 1983 still represent a weight for our shock duo born 21 years later?
What he did that day was incredible, Arthur Fils told Roland-Garros on Sunday. I’ve watched this final all my life. Seeing his father enter the field like that after match point… He’s been one of my idols for a very long time. It’s normal that there are expectations from the French public, that’s the game. But this long period without a French Grand Slam doesn’t put any additional pressure on me. I’m only 18, I have my whole career ahead of me. »
These two “very good friends” prepared their clay court season together in Nice. A symbol of “very holy emulation in this generation, which benefits everyone”, as Yannick Quéré believes. For the latter, who has been training Luca Van Assche for nine years, “Richard Gasquet was very strong, very young and he then experienced much more pressure than Luca and Arthur currently”.
Will the end of the “Big Three” change everything?
One of the main grounds for hope, to imagine one day Arthur Fils and/or Luca Van Assche lifting a Grand Slam, is elsewhere. “The “Big Three” Nadal-Federer-Djokovic won 90% of big tournaments for so long, underlines Frédéric Fontang, former coach of Jérémy Chardy, and now coach of Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (22 years old). There, we see that the battle is now much more open. The levels of play have clearly tightened, when we see Alcaraz losing in Rome against a player beyond the Top 100 [le Hongrois Fabian Marozsan, alors 135e à l’ATP]. All Top 20 players like Félix really become contenders to win a Grand Slam, which was not the case ten years ago. A new deal synonymous with possible dreams for our 2004 tricolors, in the middle of Alcaraz, Sinner, Rune and Ruud, unlike the generation of the four Musketeers (Gasquet-Tsonga-Monfils-Simon) of the 2010s.
“To enter the 100 before 20 years, it does not guarantee anything for the future but it is a very good sign”, specifies Frédéric Fontang. Arthur Fils and Luca Van Assche have a superb opportunity this Monday to show how far they are in the passage times of their/our wildest dreams. “We play for this kind of match, insisted Arthur Fils on the eve of his first round. Emotionally speaking, my week in Lyon was a bit exhausting but we worked hard with my coaches to know how to manage these matches in five sets. I will face an excellent player but I have confidence in myself. Before a new “retro point” in the second round, since the draw offered us a possible remake of the 2021 junior final?