Australian Open: Teddy Riner, studies, Roland-Garros… 5 things to know about hopeful Luca van Assche

The future of French tennis will pass through Arthur Fils, but undoubtedly also through Luca Van Assche. The Belgian born, (in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, suburb of Brussels), revealed himself to the general public in the spring of 2021 by winning Roland-Garros junior. Seeded number 13, he impressed by stringing together six successes without losing a single set and dominating his friend Arthur Fils quite easily in the final (6-4, 6-2). He thus joined the ranks of French tennis figures with Gaël Monfils, Richard Gasquet and Fabrice Santoro.

The protégé of Yannick Quéré played his first Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open last year (defeat in the 1st round). A year later, here he is in the 3rd round. The 79th in the world experienced spectacular progress in 2023, shining in challenger tournaments (second division), winning the Challengers of Pau (on hard) and that of San Remo, on ocher, his favorite surface, on which he started the tennis at the age of 4 in Aix en Provence. On the big circuit, he reached the quarters of the ATP 500 in Hamburg and those of the ATP 250 in Metz. He also shook the world number 1, Novak Djokovic, by taking him into a three-set match (6-7, 6-3, 6-2) in Serbia. Regular results which allowed him to reach 63rd place last October, his best ranking to date, and to compete in the Next Gen Masters at the end of the season where he reached the last four, defeated by... Son.

The licensee of the Paris Tennis Club follows, when his schedule as a professional player allows it, that is to say less and less often, training in mathematics and computer science at Paris Dauphine University. A few months after his title in the junior event at Roland-Garros 2021, he confided to us, during a day dedicated to the BNP Paribas Young Talents Team, from which he comes: “I passed my philosophy baccalaureate the week after Roland-Garros, but I'm not too literary. I love math. I go to college to work and learn things other than tennis and to exercise my brain. I know that a lot of players stop after high school, but for me, that's not an option. We don't know how my career will develop. Maybe it will stop quickly…” His first successful steps on the big circuit must have reassured him.

On the court, this well-shaped head overlooking a small frame (1.78 m, 70 kg), likes to get into the opponent's brain with its variations, its found angles... He whose absolute idol is Roger Federer does not qualify like a defender. Even if we can see him as a “new Gilles Simon”. Despite the respect he has for Gilles Simon, the person concerned does not really share this opinion, judging by the various interviews where he insists that he wants to “impose his own style”.

In his training at the highest level, he rubs shoulders with people who are used to winning. Teddy Riner congratulated him courtside during his coronation at Roland-Garros. Anything but a coincidence. Van Assche was part of the T

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