The 2023 Wimbledon tournament will have lasted only one round and three sets for the French Richard Gasquet, Constant Lestienne and Enzo Couacaud, beaten respectively by another Frenchman, Corentin Moutet, the Briton Liam Broady and the American JJ Wolf. In one of three Franco-French duels in the men’s first round, Gasquet will regret having let slip the second set where he led 5-3, service to follow, and the third where he found himself at 4-1 in his favour.
However, the 51st ATP player was generally dominated by Moutet, ranked 20 places lower but who scored more winning points (49 against 30) while committing fewer unprovoked fouls (28 against 37) to win. 6-3, 7-5, 7-5. For his part, Lestienne, 74th player in the world, seemed to improve over the sets against Broady, who had obtained a wild card, but a little late, since he found himself trailing 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour.
Couacaud did not deserve
In the third set he tried to race ahead, but Broady managed to immediately erase the breaks conceded in games 3 and 9 to grab Lestienne’s serve at 6-5 for him in the third and close the game. (6-1, 6-3, 7-5). Confronted with the 48th player in the world, Couacaud, who only points to 158th place and had won his ticket for the first round in qualifying, has nothing to be ashamed of.
In the first set, he stood up perfectly before breaking down at the worst moment on his serve, when he was trailing 6-5. In the second set, he again gave in on the only engagement where Wolf got break points, the American breaking away at 5-2 to conclude on his first set point (6-3). And in the last round, where Couacaud missed the only break point of the whole set, the tie break was fatal to the Frenchman, beaten 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) and who can do anything likewise have some regrets.