Tennis world english n 45 Tennis World english 45 | Page 32

Lucas
Pouille: The
New Noah or
Another
Tsonga?
Giorgio Perri
It
was
a
midsummer
night
like
no
other
for
Lucas
Pouille.
The
indifferent
sky
of
New
York,
which
has
seen
so
many
champions
win
and
lose
beneath
its
unceasing
gaze,
bore
witness
to
one
of
the
most
extraordinary
upsets
the
US
Open
had
ever
seen.
It
was
a
baptism
of
fire
for
the
young
Frenchman,
who
nobody
gave
a
chance
coming
in
to
the
match.
But
he
emerged
unscathed,
and
the
question
nearly
a
year
on
is
this:
do
we
have
a
new
Noah
on
our
hands,
or
another
Tsonga?
Pouille
is
an
unlikely
potential
hero
for
the
endlessly
unlucky
world
of
French
tennis.
He
does
not
have
the
charm
of
some
of
his
older
compatriots
­
Tsonga
and
Monfils
in
particular
­
and
does
not
have
the
raw
talent
of
a
Richard
Gasquet.
But
he
has
something
that
these
other
men
have
often
been
accused
of
lacking:
a
burning
desire
to
win
and
the
spirit
of
a
true
fighter.
And
he
has
needed
that
fighting
spirit
in
his
career.
He
started
playing
tennis
at
age
8
and
had
a
relatively
middling
junior
career,
never
ranking
higher
than
21
in
the
world
­
not
exactly
a
burning
endorsement
for
someone
who
wants
to
go
pro.
His
early
pro
career
was
similarly
underwhelming,
and
for
the
most
part
struggled
to
make
much
of
an
impact.

Yet
there
were
moments
of
real
magic
that
hinted
that
greatness
might
one
day
await
the
Frenchman.
Such
an
example
came
as
early
as
2014,
when
he
went
from
qualifying
at
the
Paris
Masters
1000
to
the
third
round
of
the
main
draw,
where
he
played
a
solid
match
against
his
hero
Roger
Federer.
He
didn’t
win
that
encounter,
but
he
put
up
enough
of
a
fight
to
convince
many
spectators
that
he
has
what
it
takes
to
succeed
on
the
Tour.

It
was
not
a
tournament
that
sparked
instant
success,
but
Pouille
did
continue
to
make
steady
progress
over
the
following
years.
He
developed
his
serve
into
a
formidable
weapon,
and
showed
himself
to
be
equally
competent
on
all
surfaces.
His
first
truly
significant
breakthrough