Tennis world english n 45 Tennis World english 45 | Page 33

came
in
Rome
in
2016,
where
he
lost
in
qualifying
but
got
into
the
main
draw
as
a
lucky
loser.
There
he
went
on
a
tremendous
run,
becoming
only
the
second
lucky
loser
in
tournament
history
to
make
it
to
the
semi-finals.
There
he
lost
to
an
in-
form
Andy
Murray,
but
the
experience
was
a
tremendous
boost
for
Pouille’s
self-confidence.
He
followed
this
with
an
even
more
impressive
run
to
the
quarter-finals
of
Wimbledon,
where
he
eventually
lost
to
Tomas
Berdych.
En
route
to
that
defeat,
however,
he
beat
the
likes
of
Juan
Martin
Del
Potro
and
Bernard
Tomic,
another
big
step
in
legitimizing
himself
in
the
eyes
of
the
public.

At
the
US
Open
he
again
impressed
by
reaching
the
quarter-finals.
By
doing
so,
he
became
the
first
Frenchman
since
Yannick
Noah
to
reach
the
quarter-finals
of
two
Grand
Slams
before
the
age
of
23,
an
impressive
feat
indeed.
Of
course,
that
pales
in
comparison
with
his
defeat
of
Rafael
Nadal,
especially
considering
that
he
had
to
recover
from
a
break
down
in
the
deciding
set.
He
also
came
to
the
net
63
times
in
that
match,
an
enormously
brave
thing
to
do
against
Nadal,
who
usually
devours
serve-
and-volley
players
with
ease.
Indeed,
beating
Nadal
was
the
final
step
in
the
education
of
Lucas
Pouille
as
a
fully-fledge
force
on
the
ATP
World
Tour.
Just
a
month
or
so
later,
he
would
win
his
second
title
in
Metz,
beating
Dominic
Thiem
in
the
final.

When
taking
the
big
picture
view,
things
are
lining
up
very
nicely
for
Pouille.
He
is
23
years
old
and
already
making
waves
on
the
main
Tour,
a
very
promising
development
when
looking
towards
the
future.
He
is
still
a
few
years
short
of
his
prime,
and
already
he
is
giving
top
players
all
they
can
handle.
Along
with
Kyrgios,
Zverev,
Nishikori
and
Dimitrov,
Pouille
definitely
is
the
future
of
men’s
tennis.
He
will
still
co-exist
with
the
other
Frenchman
­
Gasquet,
Simon,
Monfils
and
Tsonga
­
on
the
Tour
for
quite
some
time,
and
hopefully
he
can
learn
much
from
them.
Of
course,
he
must
learn
from
their
triumphs
as
well
as
their
failures
in
order
to
truly
become
the
next
Noah.
For
all
their
talents,
this
group
of
players
was
never
able
to
break
through
to
the
very
top
of
the
game.
Pouille
might
just
change
that.