injury in the third round. His compatriot Gasquet reached the Wimbledon semifinal last year, and looked to be in good form this year before withdrawing in the fourth round with an injury. His opponent in that match, Tsonga, played bravely in the quarterfinal before losing to Andy Murray, the eventual champion. That’s the problem with under - achievement: Even when you’re injured or lose to a better player, it’s hard to shake the stigma. When Noah accepted the role of Davis Cup captain, he addressed the shortcom - ings head-on. “This generation: That’s zero titles,” Noah said in L’Equipe at the end of February. So while technically, on Feb. 22 of 2016, Tsonga, Gasquet, Monfils, Simon, and Paire made French history by all being in the top 20, four of them had been there for years: In 2008, the French Big Four—Tsonga, Monfils, Gasquet, and Simon—were already in the top 20, and there has not been much glory to speak of in the interim. The tennis world is defined by what you’ve won, and be- tween all these players, they haven’t won a single Grand Slam. Or a Davis Cup. One could also make a case for France’s pedigree in doubles, with Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin winning Ro- land-Garros in 2014, and Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert winning the U.S. Open last season, then taking home victories at Indian Wells, Miami, and Monte Carlo, leading to Mahut earning the top doubles ranking. The pair again triumphed at Wim - bledon in July. If we say they’ve underachieved, it’s be - cause many of us who watch tennis believe they’re capable of so much more. The French fans still remember the U.S. Open 2014 quar- terfinal, when Monfils led Roger Federer two sets to none and had two match points in the fourth. I was courtside, watching what should be a regular Grand Slam occurrence, Monfils making a deep run, battling with the best players in the world. Gasquet still shakes his head at his friend’s brush with greatness: “That was the most feasible one. Having a
lian Open in late January, he told me that most of the team didn’t even want to play in France’s Davis Cup tie in Guadeloupe, but that Noah was insistent. After a very pub - lic crisis, Monfils was nearly bounced from the team, all while their star, Tsonga, was in South America for the clay-court swing play- ing both Buenos Aires and Rio, winning a grand total of one match. In France, the charismatic Noah’s aura is huge, and he’s convinced he can change everything: “I’ve talked with Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, and Michael Chang,” he said last September in Roland-Garros during his first press conference as Davis Cup captain. “They all stopped playing a long time ago, but now they bring something special as coaches. We were all thinking Federer was in decline, but Edberg did him a lot of good. Same for Amélie Mauresmo with Andy Murray. There are bad coaches, there are good ones. There’s a winning culture, or a losing one. When you want to win, you need to try dreaming and make people smile. We’re often told why we’re losing, but it’s harder to explain how to win. We need to get the hope back.” Noah’s first shot, in Guadeloupe, went ex- actly as planned, though it wasn’t a very tough test. The French team of Monfils, Gasquet, Simon, and Tsonga beat a Canadian team de - void of their star, the injured Milos Raonic. But the mood was great; Noah was ecstatic to be back on the captain’s bench, and the players were eager to prove they could be a cohesive team. The Four Musketeers! Back on track! More united than ever! Everybody was hoping this victorious mind-set would carry over into their individual careers. Monfils finally seemed to play up to poten- tial this season under the guidance of Mikael Tillström, reaching the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final, losing against Rafael Nadal. Could he finally have a shot at Roland-Gar- ros, every French player’s ultimate goal? Not this year. He ended up in the hospital with a virus a few days before the tournament and withdrew. Tsonga didn’t fare much better at the French Open, where he retired with an
The French Davis Cup team in Guadeloupe ahead of their March. Some of the players grumbled about being made to travel to the West Indies for the matches. (Rankings as of July 2016.) tie against Canada in
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