Eliminated in qualifying, Loïs Boisson will not play at Wimbledon
%3Aquality(70)%3Afocal(3513x831%3A3523x841)%2Fcloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com%2Fliberation%2FDX6P4M4NIFBDLOJ3TM2YOSXEFE.jpg&w=1920&q=100)
The day after her defeat in the semi-finals at Roland-Garros , Loïs Boisson told Libération of her "impatience" to discover grass, a surface that she "doesn't know" . The experience was cut short: the revelation on clay in Paris failed to win her very first match on grass in the UK. She was eliminated on Tuesday, at the start of the Wimbledon qualifiers by the Canadian Carson Branstine, world number 197, after a close encounter (6-2, 6-7 (7/1), 6-4) lasting almost two hours (1h53).
Portrait
This was her very first match since her exceptional run at Porte d'Auteuil. The French number one, 22 years old and ranked 65th in the WTA rankings, started ideally, with a clean sheet. Then everything came crashing down on the green rectangle of Roehampton, in the London countryside where the qualifiers for the main draw are being held.
On a number 1 court open to the four winds, surrounded by some 800 spectators, the Frenchwoman clearly lacked reference points on a surface where the bounces and movements are unusual, where the ball flies faster than on ochre. She managed to keep the rallies going and annoy her opponent only in the second set, which ended in a tie-break without appeal (7 to 1).
Despite her breakthrough just days earlier and her leap up the world rankings (she was 361st in May), Boisson was unable to advance directly to the first round of the London tournament. A matter of timing: the Dijon native was not yet in the top 100 when Wimbledon finalized the list of players exempt from qualifying, a month before the start of the tournament.
And unlike the Australian and American Tennis Federations, which are linked to the French Federation (FFT) by reciprocal agreements that mean invitations for French players to the Australian Open and the US Open, Wimbledon is under no obligation to invite a French player to the main draw.
Despite a letter sent to the London organizers, the Frenchwoman has not received a sesame from the uncompromising All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) , which oversees the British Grand Slam. On the other hand, her ranking should allow her, this time, to enter directly into the main draw of the US Open (August 24-September 7), the last round of the four Grand Slams. It will be on hard, a surface she knows, this time.
Libération