The last representation of the French delegation, Corentin Moutet logically lost against Tommy Paul on Wednesday (7-6, 6-3). There will be no French player in the quarter-finals of the singles, a first at the Olympics since 1996.
We could feel the snub coming and Corentin Moutet could not avoid it. The last surviving Frenchman in singles, the Parisian resisted well but ended up losing to the American Tommy Paul, 13th in the world and seeded number 9, in the round of 16 of the Olympic tournament (7-6(5), 6-3).
Following this defeat, the French contingent will have no representatives in the quarter-finals of the singles, which has never happened since the 1996 Games. Worse still, France becomes only the third host country, after South Korea and Greece, not to bring a single player to the quarter-final stage, all draws combined.
No medal for 12 years
French number one, Ugo Humbert, got through one round before surrendering to the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo (7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5), while Gaël Monfils was knocked out in the first round by the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (6-1, 6-4) who was still in Umag, where he was in the final, the day before the match. The biggest disappointment probably came from Arthur Fils, winner in Hamburg a few days before arriving in Paris, and who lost in his first match against the Italian Matteo Arnaldi (6-4, 7-6(7)), who had already beaten him at Roland-Garros a few months ago.
In the women’s competition, youngsters Diane Parry and Clara Burel got through one round before logically losing to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek and No. 12 seed Marta Kostyuk respectively. While Varvara Gracheva put up a good fight against former Roland-Garros semi-finalist Beatriz Haddad Maia before finally losing, Caroline Garcia once again missed the opportunity. Despite winning the first set, the French No. 1 was surprised in her first match by Romanian Jaqueline Cristian, world No. 57 (5-7, 6-3, 6-4).
The French were no more successful in the women’s and men’s doubles, where two pairs were each entered. Best result: second round. And the mixed doubles pair of Caroline Garcia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin were no more successful with a defeat in the first round despite an affordable match against the Japanese Ena Shibahara and Kei Nishikori.
After five days of competition, there is no longer a single French tennis player in the running in the five draws. As in Rio and Tokyo, the French delegation will not bring home a single medal. The last harvest dates back to London 2012 with silver and bronze in the men’s doubles.
