Patrick Mouratoglou, coach of world No1 Serena Williams, believes French players have a chance to go far in Roland Garros this fortnight because they don’t have the pressure of expectation on their side.
The host nation’s top players, Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon, enter this year’s French Open with no standout results behind them so far this season.
Monfils is returning from an ankle injury; Simon has won only nine matches this year, Tsonga is out-of-form, while Gasquet is playing for the first time since Miami having been sidelined with a back problem.
With no one expecting much from the French quartet, Mouratoglou thinks it might work to their advantage.
“Even though none of the French players have played well recently and they’re not in good shape generally speaking, they have ability,” Mouratoglou told Sport360.
“A player like Tsonga or Monfils, or even Gasquet or Gilles Simon, have the game and the physicality to go far in the main draw of a Grand Slam anytime. And they have absolutely zero pressure because they didn’t play well, so there’s no expectations.
“And I think all the French players, most of them except Tsonga, but all the others don’t deal well with pressure, and they don’t have pressure at the moment.
“So it may be a good opportunity for them to surprise everybody.”
One home favourite who has managed to pull-off a surprise was Kristina Mladenovic, the 21-year-old upsetting world No2 Li Na in the first round on Tuesday.
“It’s a big surprise because Mladenovic is a very good player but she didn’t win so many matches in the previous weeks and in the last year let’s say, her ranking dropped a lot,” Mouratoglou said of the French world No103.
“Even though she’s a dangerous player because she has this serve and this forehand. On the other hand we have to say also that Li Na, these last weeks, she’s not playing well at all. She lost early also in Rome to (Sara) Errani, who is a good player too, but Li Na was making too many mistakes.
“I didn’t see today’s match but I saw the match against Errani in Rome and I heard that today she made so many unforced errors also. So I don’t know what’s happening ,it’s difficult to say but the fact is that lately she’s not playing her best tennis.”
Asked how Li Na’s exit can affect Serena Williams, with the Chinese considered one of the few threats to the American’s title defence, Mouratoglou said: “I don’t think she looks at that because she has this belief – that I have too – that’s deep inside her, that only Serena can beat Serena.
“Of course she can lose, that’s not to say that the others are bad at all, it’s not about disrespecting the other players, but she feels that she’s good enough to be able to win if she wants to win and if she’s well prepared of course. And I believe it too.
“So I think it more depends on her than on anyone. So she’s not affected by the win or the loss of any other player of the draw.”
