The situation is serious in French tennis, especially for men: Arthur Rinderknech is the best-ranked representative of the L'Équipe Tricolore in 44th position, followed by Adrian Mannarino (46) and Corentin Moutet (51). A few more places behind is Gael Monfils, who can at least claim that due to injury after a strong start to the season with the tournament win in Adelaide, he was hardly able to play any matches.

Things are a little better for women. But that's entirely up to Caroline Garcia. Because the winner of the WTA Finals in Fort Worth winters as number four in the world, the next best French woman is old champion Alizé Cornet in 36th place. Realistically, only Garcia would have a chance at the moment for an individual medal at the next Olympic Games, in summer 2024 in Paris - and for the tennis aces in Roland Garros - will take place.

Ljubicic should bring winning culture

In its distress, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) has now turned to a man who, on the one hand, has already climbed to third place in the ATP charts as an active player. And who also has his merits as a coach, including that of Roger Federer: Ivan Ljubicic.

The Croatian is to lead the "Ambition 2024" project at FFT from mid-January. In any case, Association President Gilles Morretton formulated his expectations of the 43-year-old Ljubicic quite clearly in a press release: The new man is obsessed with detail and brings with him a winning culture that one particularly wants to pass on to younger talents.

And in contrast to the Grand Slam tournaments, where France has been waiting for an individual title since 1983 (Yannick Noah in Roland Garros) or 2006 (Amelie Mauresmo in Wimbledon), at the Olympics you can even get a (semi-final ) defeat - and still has chances for a medal.