Grand Slams still waiting for ‘home’ champs

PARIS: When Yannick Noah beat Mats Wilander in the 1983 French Open final to end the hosts’ 37-year wait for a men’s singles champion, few home fans would have thought the next 35 years wouldn’t produce another.

The other three Grand Slam hosts have seen similar struggles in recent years, with Andy Roddick the last American man to win the US Open in 2003, while Mark Edmondson was the most recent Australian winner at Melbourne Park back in 1976. Andy Murray ended the longest wait of the lot five years ago by becoming the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years.

Unlike Britain, France has not had any problem in producing players near the top of the world game, but too many have failed in big moments.Ten-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal regarded Richard Gasquet as the best player he faced as a junior, but the now-31-year-old has never reached a major final.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga looked a certain future Grand Slam champion when he burst onto the scene by beating both Murray and Nadal en route to an Australian Open final defeat by Novak Djokovic in 2008, but he has never scaled such heights again since. Gael Monfils has also threatened to make a serious breakthrough on numerous occasions, while Lucas Pouille appears to just be the latest talented Frenchman lacking the killer instinct needed to reach the very top. Henri Leconte, France’s last men’s finalist at Roland Garros three decades ago, thinks that the French players of recent years simply haven’t had the mentality or work-rate needed to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires.

The four Grand Slam countries have still won more Davis Cup titles than any others, with France level with Britain on 10 behind Australia and the US.