Ugo Humbert has facilitated a first for the French in six years after finishing 2023 in a flurry.
While Caroline Garcia fell short of her lofty heights from 2022, she still completed a second straight top-20 finish before Humbert ensured France closed out the year with a man and woman concurrently ranked in the top 20 for the first time since 2017.
A strong Australian summer could lie ahead for Les Bleus, who also boast the two youngest men in the top 100 in Arthur Fils and Luca Van Assche.
We profile the leading French players ahead of Australian Open 2024.
Ugo Humbert
With recently-retired compatriot Jeremy Chardy in his corner, 25-year-old Humbert concluded his strongest season to date when he picked up a fourth career title in his hometown of Metz this month.
It elevated the left-hander – an accomplished pianist and guitarist off court – to a top-20 debut.
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Following a first-round exit in New York, Humbert found some of his best form in two years, beating Cameron Norrie and Stan Wawrinka in the Davis Cup Finals group stage before beating top-10 foes Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas in Beijing and Shanghai, respectively, en route to consecutive quarterfinals.
Upon the switch to European indoors there was no throwing off the Frenchman’s groove as he reached the semifinals in Basel, before his title run in Metz.
Carolina Garcia
Garcia become just the second Frenchwoman – after Amelie Mauresmo 17 years earlier – to claim the season-ending WTA Finals in 2022.
The gifted shot-maker had high hopes of a maiden major this season, beginning it as the world No.4 after winning four trophies and reaching a first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open.
While finding the going tougher in 2023, she still finished at world No.20 – the top-ranked Frenchwoman for the second straight season.
The 30-year-old’s best run at the majors was a fourth-round showing at Melbourne Park – equalliing her career-best result at Melbourne Park – and she also reached two finals as top seed, first in Lyon, then Monterrey.
Adrian Mannarino
As the spearhead of the 2024 French United Cup team alongside Garcia, the late-blooming Mannarino has struck form at an opportune time.
The left-handed 35-year-old has a knack for absorbing his opponents’ heavy blows and at his counterpunching best this season, he equalled his career-high mark of world No.22 from six years ago.
Mannarino triumphed over first-time finalists Jack Draper at Sofia this month and Alex Michelsen at Newport in July, which bookended a final triumph over Sebastian Korda at Astana in October.
It made him the first Frenchman since Tsonga and Pouille in 2017 to land three titles in a season.
Trophies aside, his most impressive wins by ranking this year came against top-10 opponents Hubert Hurkacz in Miami, and on grass when he foiled Daniil Medvedev’s charge at ’s-Hertogenbosch and Taylor Fritz at Queen’s Club.
Arthur Fils
French hopes for the future rest heavily on the world’s top-ranked teenager, Arthur Fils.
Having started the year outside the top 250, the 19-year-old, who cited elder statesman Gael Monfils as one of his idols, had soared to world No.36 at season’s end.
The teenager relishes playing on home soil.
As a 163rd-ranked wildcard at Montpellier in February, Fils became the youngest Frenchman since Richard Gasquet in 2004 to reach an ATP semifinal.
A week later, he made it back-to-back semifinals in Marseille and upon the switch to clay, he landed his maiden tour trophy in Lyon against Francisco Cerundolo in May.
Alexander Bublik denied him a second trophy for the season in the Antwerp final.
Varvara Gracheva
Having lived and trained in Cannes for more than five years, Moscow-born Gracheva began representing France on the eve of Wimbledon in June.
The 23-year-old started the season with her first third-round showing at a major when she beat eighth seed Daria Kasatkina en route at Melbourne Park.
Her best results continued on hard courts in 2023.
In March, she reached her first tour final in Austin and followed it up with top-10 wins over Kasatkina and Ons Jabeur at Indian Wells and Miami, respectively, for consecutive WTA 1000 fourth rounds.
Gracheva cracked the top 40 in August.
Best of the rest
The second-highest ranked teenager after compatriot Fils, 19-year-old Luca Van Assche also made big leaps in 2023.
He landed his first top-100 win over Wawrinka in Banja Luka in April and won his first Grand Slam main-draw match at Roland Garros over Marco Cecchinato en route to the world’s top 70 by August.
Belgian-born Van Assche beat Fils in an all-French boys’ singles final at Roland Garros two years ago.
Former junior AO finalist Clara Burel broke into the top 60 for the first time this month after reaching the semifinals of a WTA 250 event in Monastir, Tunisia, where she fell to eventual champion Elise Mertens.
Burel reached her second Lausanne final in July, where she again finished runner-up, and at the US Open she scored a career-best win over world No.25 Karolina Pliskova to reach the third round.
Meanwhile, rejuvenated former world No.6 Monfils enjoyed a late-season surge in 2023.
The popular Frenchman, now a father to daughter Skai with wife Elina Svitolina, struggled with injuries through the first half of the year.
In October, however, he became just the fourth player over the age of 37 to win an ATP title since 1990 with his surprise triumph in Stockholm.