They are twenty-three French to commit to the US Open 2023 tennis at Flushing Meadows. Among the twelve who gave their first racket shots on Monday August 28, Adrien Mannarino, the tricolor leader, set the example. The most consistent French player this season lost a set but dismissed the Japanese Yosuke Watanuki, 85th player in the world, with a tight score of 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-5.

“I feel good (…), pretty good, even if I’m not in good shape yet. I still have little glitches left and right,” he commented. The 35th in the world had to face a very aggressive player, a big server, who tried to speed up the exchange at the slightest opportunity, even if it meant committing a whopping 64 unforced errors.

“I like to play a lot of rallies to find my rhythm, to find my feelings,” he explained. “And there, he really tried from start to finish (…), I didn’t really feel like I had control and it wasn’t necessarily pleasant. Mannarino’s experience and consistency, especially in service, but also in return, nevertheless ended up making the difference.

No Grand Slam victory for Gasquet in 2023

In the second round, he will face the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, winner of Richard Gasquet, who, with this defeat in the first round, completes a season without a single Grand Slam match won, a first for him since 2004, when he had not then not played Flushing Meadows at all.

The 55th in the world however fought well on Monday, after suffering lightning in the first two sets lost 6-3, 6-1 against the 92nd in the world. Trailing 5-3 in the third set, and as Marozsan served for the match, Gasquet unbroken and managed to win the tiebreaker. Bis repeated in the next round: Marozsan served for the match at 5-4, but the Biterrois unbroken and the two men found themselves embroiled in a new tie-break, again won by Gasquet.

The fifth set turned to the advantage of the Hungarian when he managed the break to break away 4-2. He then concluded on the service of the French (6-2), who participated, at 37, in his nineteenth US Open, where he had reached the semi-finals in 2013, and the third round in 2022.

” I want to play. I want to try to finish the season well and start again next year no matter what,” said Richard Gasquet after the game.

For his part, Grégoire Barrère (59th) resisted as long as he could before yielding in four sets against the Czech from qualifying Jakub Mensik (206th). End of the course also for Enzo Couacaud, 180th in the world and passed through the three qualifying rounds, who lost to another Czech, Jiri Vesely (437th), in five sets (5-7, 6-3, 6- 2, 3-6, 6-4).

Feat of Titouan Droguet

The smile returned to the French side with the feat of Titouan Droguet, who had never before played a match on the main ATP circuit, winner of the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 20th in the world. From qualifying, Droguet, 22, won 6-3, 0-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2 in 3:40. first dropped onto his back, shook his opponent’s hand and then let out a huge cry of deliverance. The fact of playing the second round of the main draw in New York alone will earn him 123,000 dollars (113,000 euros approximately), slightly more than all his earnings (119,000 dollars) since he started on the professional circuit in 2018.

Satisfaction also with the qualification of Hugo Gaston (99th) at the expense of the Japanese Sho Shimabukuro, 158th and like him from qualifying (6-2, 6-1, 7-6). The 23-year-old Toulousain’s best Grand Slam result is a round of 16 at Roland-Garros in 2020.

In the 100% French duel of the day, Benjamin Bonzi (108th), recipient of an invitation, eliminated Quentin Halys (70th) in four sets (5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4).

No French player passes

In the women’s draw, Fiona Ferro and Varvara Gracheva were swept away in this first round. Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (18th), finalist of the tournament in 2013 and 2020, dominated Ferro (190th) 6-1, 6-2 in 1h 16min.

And Gracheva (40th), a 23-year-old Russian player naturalized French at the start of the summer, suffered the law of American Taylor Townsend (132nd), who had reached the round of 16 in 2019 before disappearing in the first round in 2020 and 2022, with the score of 6-4, 6-2.

Alizé Cornet (79th) managed to go to the third set but had to bow to the Russian Elina Avanesyan (66th) with the score of 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

Finally, the last Frenchman in the running of the day, Alexandre Müller, will have the honor of facing Novak Djokovic for his first participation. The man with 23 Grand Slam victories awaits him at night in the largest arena in the world, the Arthur-Ashe court and its 24,000 seats.

Note, among the results of the day, the surprise elimination of the Dane Holger Rune (4th in the world) by the Spaniard Roberto Carballes (63rd), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Rune, 20, who remained in two Grand Slam quarter-finals at Wimbledon and Roland-Garros, appeared to be in physical difficulty during the encounter, grimacing and having a leg massaged. He committed 43 unforced errors and lost serve seven times.