With a radiant smile, Varvara Gracheva sang “La Marseillaise” along with the audience on the Suzanne-Lenglen court. Standing in front of the microphone, Gracheva spoke in fluent French, although the spectators could barely hear her voice. A few audible snatches reached the stands: “I’m happy,” “It’s such an honor to be here with you,” “magnificent” and “merci.”

The sensible-looking player, seeded 88^th in the world, isn’t exactly the exuberant type. But after a solid, hard-working victory (7-5, 6-3) over Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu on Saturday, June 1, the Frenchwoman has qualified for the fourth round. This is a first for the 23-year-old, the last French player in the running for this year’s Open.

This year’s rainy Roland-Garros has offered the French a few unexpected twists at the end of the first week. In the space of a few hours, the Suzanne-Lenglen court has crowned some rather unexpected standard-bearers. On Friday, at the end of an evening of jubilation, the chosen one was Corentin Moutet, a kid from Neuilly-sur-Seine and previously a nuisance for the French Tennis Federation owing to his mood swings. On Saturday, it was the turn of a young woman born in Moscow in 2000, who moved to France in her late teens and was naturalized in the summer of 2023, to embody the last French hopes in the draw. Two outsiders with opposite profiles, and two welcome breaths of fresh air for a suffering French tennis scene.

Those who know Gracheva praise her state of mind. Her coach, Sliman Taghzouit, speaking in the stadium corridors after the match, described her as “a hard worker and a generous girl, both in and out of the game.” It has taken a lot of hard work and sweat for her to get back on track, after a slump that saw her plummet from 39^th place in January to 100^th in the world rankings at the beginning of April, undermined by a series of poor performances.

‘Serious, yet simple’

Taghzouit described a player with a cool head: “As we saw today, she’s a girl who manages to stay calm, despite being under pressure. It’s a big court. I think it’s the first time she’s played on the Lenglen. I’d like to congratulate her on her ability to deal with emotions and pressure, and her determination to do well, both in training and [in matches].”

A few meters away from him, Julien Benneteau, captain of the French women’s team, described her as a hyperpositive and respectful young woman, whom he has already selected for the Billie Jean King Cup in autumn 2023. He sees in her an opportunity to bring to French women’s tennis “seriousness through simplicity, competitiveness and team spirit, with a healthy state of mind that’s good for the team.” With this already fine performance and her expected rise in the rankings, the player should be part of the French delegation sent to the Olympics this summer. Following the decision of the International Olympic Committee, her former compatriots will take part as individual neutral athletes.

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