Another “golden generation” of male tennis talent from France may be emerging at the end of the 2024 ATP World Tour season, five French men made it until Thursday at the Paris Masters, the most prestigious ATP World Tour event held in the European nation, only Ugo Humbert advanced to the quarterfinals but with three French men already lifting champions trophies on the ATP World Tour this season, the country’s tennis development leadership and fans of French tennis have to be thrilled with how the season as gone. We will take a look at the five players who advanced to the round of 16 at the Rolex Paris Masters, and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard who won a title on the ATP World Tour this season.
Arthur Cazaux
22 year old Arthur Cazaux was a former top 5 junior player and Australian Open boys singles finalist, a fourth round showing at the Australian Open announced himself to the wider tennis world and he has risen as high as #74 in the world this season. Prior to his run at the Australian Open, Cazaux won a Challenger title, and he began the season on an incredible eight match winning streak, upsetting #8 seed Holger Rune and #28 seed Tallon Griekspoor (in straight sets no less), to reach the second week in Melbourne, before losing a close three setter to Hubert Hurkacz.
Cazaux had some struggles in the spring, but recently capped his year with a Challenger Final, and as a lucky loser, he upset Ben Shelton in Paris before falling in a battling three setter against Rune, who got revenge for the result in Australia. Cazaux told ATP World Tour that he grew up playing the popular European sport of handball and grew up a fan of the recently retired legend Rafael Nadal. If Cazaux can find more consistency in 2025 he certainly has enough upside to his game to establish himself in the top 50.
Arthur Fils
One of the most promising ATP Young Guns is Arthur Fils, who already represented France in the Olympics this year. The 20 year old is in the top 20, and lose a third set war with Alexander Zverev in the third round of ATP Paris. 37-25 on the season after winning 25 ATP World Tour matches last season, Fils won two 500 level titles on the season, on clay in Hamburg, and on hard courts in Tokyo, along with a Challenger Title at home in France. In 2023 he won his first ever ATP Title in Lyon on home soil as a teenager. Fils has finished the year on quite a run as he also reached the semifinals in Basel. He defeated Hubert Hurkacz to post his best result in a Grand Slam, the round of 16 at Wimbledon 2024.
Fils goal in 2025 will be to keep himself in the top 20 and start to perform better in the biggest events, he was just 3-5 against top 10 players on the season, with wins against Hurkacz, the aforementioned Alexander Zverev in the Hamburg final, and Taylor Fritz in Tokyo. His game is aggressive, and if he stays healthy, he’s a threat to advance into the top 10 in 2025.
Arthur Rinderknech
The 29 year old Rinderknech is not an “emerging” talent, but he is an improving one, the former top 50 player is on his way back to that stage, the third of the “Arthur” French musketeers, he narrowly lost to Grigor Dimitrov in a third set tiebreak on Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters. Rinderknech’s 21 wins on the season is only slightly worse than his career best mark in 2022 but he is still hunting his first ATP World Tour title (he lost one final in Australia in 2022). The former Texas A&M standout reached the third round of the US Open in 2023, and the result in Paris is tied for his best ever result in a Masters tournament.
Rinderknech is a player who is clearly just on the cusp of making a big leap in results, this year he pushed top 10 player Andrey Rublev to five sets at the US Open, but he wilted from a two set lead. He took a set off Taylor Fritz, and Rublev in Grand Slam matches in 2023, if he can improve his fitness and other aspects of his game his resurgence will continue.
Adrian Mannarino
The ageless Adrian Mannarino is still spinning magic with his racquet at age 36, a non traditional player who is undersized but boasts a litany of creative shots that make his game work. Mannarino was ranked as high as #17 in the world back in January, and despite a close loss to Jordan Thompson in the third round of ATP Paris, Mannarino has to be pleased to be competing in a “young man’s game” at the highest levels of the ATP World Tour well into his 30s. His 16-30 tour level mark on the season is his worst since 2021, but Mannarino has never been totally consistent on tour. In 2023 he won a remarkable 43 matches at tour level, and in 2017 he won 33. He’s reached an incredible 15 ATP World Tour finals from 2015 to November 2023, he won Astana, Newport, and Sofia last year and is 5-10 in his career in ATP finals.
Mannarino has 10 career top 10 wins, and has been at his best on grass, he upset Daniil Medvedev on the surface last year and back in 2017 he beat then world #5 Marin Cilic in Tokyo. At this point in his career, Mannarino has achieved so much in terms of longevity, it’s just a question of how long he can continue to compete against the world’s best tennis players in 2025. In 2024 he achieved a career best result in a Grand Slam at the Australian Open, showing his body can still withstand the grind of five set matches.
Ugo Humbert
26 year old Ugo Humbert achieved a breakout season in 2024, reaching a career high ranking of #13 and winning a career best 36 ATP World Tour level matches. Humbert is the only player from France still alive in the ATP Paris Masters field, he comes off securing the biggest scalp of his career when he upset Carlos Alcaraz in the third round of ATP Paris.
Humbert crossed the 30 wins mark two seasons in a row and already has a title on home soil this season in Marseille, along with the Dubai 500 title, and a fourth round showing at Wimbledon that are two of the best results in his career.
A French player who prefers hard courts, Humbert was a recent finalist in Tokyo, and something has really clicked for him at the end of the season. He beat two top 10 players in Dubai (Hurkacz and Medvedev), before defeating world #2 Alcaraz. He will be a player to watch at the Australian Open to start next season, and he has every shot to win the ATP Paris title with the unseeded Jordan Thompson his quarterfinal opponent.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
Mpetshi Perricard was eliminated in the second round, perhaps the best pure server on the ATP World Tour, the 21 year old is now at a career high ranking of 31 after a tremendous rise this season. 17-12 on the year after barely featuring on the ATP World Tour previously, he won two titles on two different surfaces, his maiden ATP title came at home in Lyon back in May, the title on clay showing his versatility as he scored a notable win over #2 seed Alexander Bublik before winning a third set tiebreak to defeat Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the scoreline of that tiebreak ended 9-7. Prior to that success, Perricard made a name for himself winning three ATP Challenger Tour titles, and like many great servers, he found success on the grass courts of Wimbledon where he reached the second week of the tournament as a lucky loser, defeating Sebastian Korda in the first round at SW19.
After defeating Frances Tiafoe in Paris, Perricard lost to Russia’s Karen Khachanov, he may have been fatigued as he won the ATP Basel 500 title the previous week, defeating Canada’s best Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime en route to the final, where he beat talented American Ben Shelton.
It’s notable that this early in his career he hasn’t faced many elite players, but his serve is nearly unstoppable, at 6 foot 8 inches he compares positively to the success John Isner, Milos Raonic, and Ivo Karlovic found during their careers. Perricard currently averages over 18 aces per match, and at age 21, he has plenty of time to improve the other aspects of his game, though Tennis Abstract raises the point that his subpar backhand may not even be a factor in matches due his serve. If he can remain healthy, Perricard will be threat on any quick surface.
The results of ATP Paris, and 2024’s ATP World Tour season demonstrate that French tennis is back, after the generation of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Paul Henri-Mathieu, Richard Gasquet and others has slowly retired from the game. In 2023 French players won a record number of ATP Challenger Titles, and although the country has been successful in Davis Cup, winning a men’s grand slam has proven elusive, something that this new generation will hope to change.
Main Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
