It is true France has had its fair share of success in the tennis world before now. Guy Forget, Yannick Noah, Cedric Pioline and Henri Leconte were stalwarts of French tennis in the 80s and 90s, with Natalie Tauziat, Mary Pierce and Amelie Mauresmo the same in the ladies' game.

However, now France has an emerging group of potential stars, renewing their potential dominance of the men's game especially. The country can now boast 14 top-100 players in the ATP tour rankings and and a staggering 23 within the top 200.

The great thing about French tennis is that there is real competiton for attention and success within the country. Competiton for Davis Cup places and within the ATP tour rankings is helping the nation emerge even more fiercely than in the past.

'Veterans such as Arnaud Clement, Sebastian Grosjean and Marc Gicquel are all big names and the younger guys are being inspired by their elders'


It's great to see a mixture of old and new stars competing against each other and learning from each other. Veterans such as Arnaud Clement, Sebastian Grosjean and Marc Gicquel are all big names and the younger guys are being inspired by their elders.

The most inspirational of them all must be the brilliant Fabrice Santoro. There is no stopping this 35-year-old. He is still a top-50 player on the singles court and is now one of the world's top doubles players, ranked inside the top 20. He can win against any of the top players on his day and who knows how much longer he can carry on for.

He will be sadly missed when he finally does decide to retire, but Santoro has given his all to French tennis and there are youngsters queuing up to follow in his footsteps.

Although Richard Gasquet seems like a household name these days, people forget he is still only 21 years of age. He is now a top-10 ranked player and is looking to become France's first top-five player since Grosjean in 2002.

He has been playing on the tour since he was 16 and is France's leading contender for the big tournaments. In his first clay court match of the season Gasquet was in terrific form, defeating Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 6-2 6-1 in Monte Carlo. He looks set to have a fantastic clay court season and Wimbledon, where he reached the semi-finals last year.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is another new name on the circuit for France. The 23-year-old is a relative newcomer to the main ATP tour having played most of his career on the challenger circuit until last summer's big breakthrough.

He has already made a Grand Slam final, losing to Novak Djokovic in Australia. Tsonga is highly consistent and again adds to France's Davis Cup prospects over the coming years.

The final member of the emerging trio is Gael Monfils. Still only 21, the tall French star suffered injuries in 2007 but is now on the comeback trail. He is a brilliant talent on the tour and, before his injuries occured, Monfils was set to break into the top 20. I am sure that, with a bit more match practice and consistency in his game, Monfils can not only conquer the top 20 but become a regular top-10 player in the world.

Paul-Henri Mathieu has never really reached his potential but can still mix it with the best and Michael Llodra, although no spring chicken, has had a great start to 2008 winning two ATP tour events already.

Even newer stars of France are Laurent Recouderc and Jeremy Chardy, who are making inroads into the men's top 100 and are still young enough to improve immensely.

It's clear to see France is not exactly a new emerging nation in tennis, but the country is certainly having a resurgence on the tour and has a lot of very talented players coming through. A mixture of old and new helps France stay compettive and many nations could learn a thing or two about tennis from this great country.