French tennis sensation Lois Boisson will test her grass court skills competitively for the first time on Tuesday in the opening round of qualifying matches to reach the main draw of the season’s third Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon.
The 22-year-old will play the world 197 Carson Branstine from Canada at the Community Sports Centre in Roehampton, south-west London.
Boisson will be the top seed in the 128-player draw following her exploits at the French Open in Paris where she advanced to the semi-finals on the clay courts at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris.
Her surge through the bottom half of the women’s singles draw included victories over two top 10 players and furnished her with enough ranking points to leap nearly 300 places up to 67th in the WTA ladder.
However, the rise came too late to enable her to feature in the opening round in the main draw at Wimbledon which begins on 30 June at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, south-west London.
On the back of her exploits in Paris where the organisers offered her a wildcard – an invitation – to enter directly in the first round, Boisson had hoped to be handed a wildcard for Wimbledon.
But the review panel snubbed her request and she will be in the women's qualifiers with compatriots Alizé Cornet, Léolia Jeanjean, Diane Parry, Elsa Jacquemot, Jessika Ponchet, Chloé Paquet, Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, Manon Léonard and Selena Janicijevic
If Boisson progresses through the three qualifying rounds and arrives in the first round of the main draw, she will be guaranteed at least a 77,000 euro payday to follow the 660,000 euros in prize money from her exploits in Paris.
“The Wimbledon organisers aren’t really that concerned about Loïs Boisson,” Julien Benneteau, the former skipper of France’s Billie Jean King Cup team told RMC’s programme Les Grandes Gueules du sport on Saturday.
“There's no form of injustice,” added Benneteau. “Here in France, pundits are making out that she’s the latest big thing of world tennis, but we mustn't get carried away."
Form on grass
Wimbledon's panel of judges traditionally look at the past exploits on grass of players seeking a wildcard.
"For the moment, Loïs Boisson isn't a big deal,” Benneteau added. “She could very well lose in the qualifying at Wimbledon.”
On Saturday, France’s top player Arthur Fils withdrew from Wimbledon due to an injury sustained during the French Open.
The 20-year-old pulled out of his third round tie with Andrey Rublev after hurting muscles in his abdomen and back during his five-set win over Jaume Munar in the second round.
Fils as well as his compatriots Ugo Humbert and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard all reached the last-16 at Wimbledon in 2024 where Carlos Alcaraz claimed the men’s title.
He warmed up for the defence of his crown with victory on the grass courts at the Queen’s Club tournament in west London.
The 22-year-old Spaniard overcame Jiri Lehecka from the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 in the final to lift the trophy for the second time in three years.
In Halle, central Germany, Alexander Bublik, beat Daniil Medvedev for the first time in seven attempts to lift the Halle Open.
Bublik, who beat the top seed Jannik Sinner in the second round, won 6-3, 7-6 to brandish a sixth career title.
“Daniil, I’ve been cursed to play you forever and never won a set in my life,” the 28-year-old Kazakh joked during the trophy presentation.
“I’m happy to get through. To win, to beat you here, it’s a privilege for me.”
Bublik won the grass-court tournament in 2023 and his victory made him only the third player after Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Roger Federer to claim the title more than once in the tournament’s 32-year history.
