Boisson keeps festivities alive in Paris

Hindustan Times

02-06-2025

Mumbai: Alize Cornet knows just how keen tennis players can be to get back into the locker room after a long, gruelling match. Which is perhaps why she offered to end the on-court interview she was conducting early.
'No, this is perfect!' came the instant reply from Lois Boisson, who had waited long enough to savour this moment.
In her first ever match at the Court Philippe Chatrier, the 22-year-old from Dijon in eastern France pulled off the upset of the tournament on Monday. Ranked 361 in the world, Boisson beat world No.3 Jessica Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 40 minutes to make it to the quarter-final of the French Open. And all this in only her first appearance at a Grand Slam.
Asked if she expected this sort of performance, 'not really,' came the translated reply.
'Before the match I knew there was a possibility, I knew she was tough. And through the match I gave my all, in the end I won, which is incredible.'
What is also remarkable is Boisson's journey to her Grand Slam debut.
She had been handed a wild card to the main draw at the French Open last year. But a week before she was expected to play at her first major, she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and had to undergo surgery.
She only returned to the tour in February.
During her time away, she did try everything she could to aid her recovery and perhaps even give her some momentum when she got back on court. One of the things she tried was neurovisual training.
'It's both visual and you just do some exercises differently,' Boisson told the Roland Garros website. 'You connect the brain with the eyes, and then everything goes faster, you know, so it's really great for tennis. It was after my surgery. We did that (and) I came back faster.'
Boisson was introduced to the different training method by her fitness coach Sebastien Durand, who also works with world No.17 Grigor Dimitrov.
'The goal is to make everything as fast as possible. Doing these exercises has greatly improved my reactivity and it now comes naturally.'
It helped her build some momentum coming into the French Open, as she made most of a wild card entry by winning the W75 event in Saint-Gaudens last month.
In Paris, though, she has truly made her mark.
She started off with an opening round win over 24th seed Elise Mertens and followed it up by beating Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina. In the third round she beat compatriot Elsa Jacquemot. But the biggest win of her career came on Monday.
Pegula looked to be on her way to only a second French Open quarter-final after she put up a solid display in the first set, hitting 15 winners and six unforced errors. Boisson meanwhile managed only four winners and committed 14 unforced errors.
But the French player started to claw her way back in the second set. She earned a timely break of serve in the ninth game before serving it out and taking the match into the decider.
The third set proved to be a slugfest. They traded early breaks, the rallies and games grew in length. But backed by a partisan home crowd, Boisson hassled and harried the third seed.
Once again, Boisson found the break at the right time - in a 12-minute long ninth game. And then she held on to her serve in a 13-minute game to secure a memorable win.
The wild card had reached a career high world No.152 before the injury last year. With the 360 ranking points she will earn by reaching the French Open quarter-final, she is expected to jump from 361 in the world to 120.
She has some momentum with her now, and will next take on the in-form world No.6 Mirra Andreeva for a spot in the semi-final.
On Sunday, the streets of Paris were lit up with festivities as the city celebrated the Champions League triumph. Boisson gave the locals another reason to celebrate on Monday.