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By Tatiana – Wikipedia

Top 5 Best French Tennis Female Players

Tennis is a famous sport that can be played by two people against each other (singles) or in doubles. The first tennis match was played in 1837 on the lawn

France has produced some of the best male and female tennis players globally for a long time. These French athletes have excelled in this sport and have inspired many amateur players.

Today I’ll be looking at the best female tennis players that put France on the global map for this sport. You can also check out our previous blog on the Top 10 French athletes.

1. Françoise Adine Masson

Francoise Adine played professional tennis towards the end of the 19th century and to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1897, she was the first-ever winner of the French Tennis Championship beating Girod, 6–3, 6–1.

This was followed with subsequent wins in the championships held in 1898, 1899, 1902 and 1903.

She reached the finals of the 1904 championships but was defeated by Kate Guillou.

Adine Masson also competed in international tournaments and represented France in all the matches. Her last win while actively playing was during the Roland Garros Women’s 1902 and the Roland Garros Women’s 1903.

2. Kristina Mladenovic

By Yann Caradec – Wikipedia

Kristina Mladenovic is a French professional tennis player who has been playing at an early age. She has won one single and several double titles during the WTA Tour.

Kristina also has four singles (the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, the 2016 US Open, the 2018 US Open, and the 2019 Australian Open) and seven double titles from the ITF women’s circuit.

Her peak in tennis was during the 2017 WTA singles by ranking as world number 10. Two years later in 2019, she ranked at number 1 in the WTA doubles rankings.

These were not all her successes on the court.

She has enjoyed success in singles, including two Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances at the 2015 US Open and the 2017 French Open.

Her success on the tennis court seems to favour her double tournaments more. She won the doubles both mixed and women at the 2013 Wimbledon, 2014 Australian Open, 2016 French Open, and the 2018 Australian Open, the 2019 French Open, and the 2020 Australian Open.

3. Aravane Rezaï

By Tatiana – Wikipedia

Aravane is the daughter of Arsalan who worked as a mechanic and her mother, Nouchine, who was a physiotherapist. She began playing tennis when she was 8 years old.

She performs better in hard-surfaced courts and was trained by her older brother who is a tennis coach.

Aravane won two tennis gold medals during the Muslim Women Olympic games held in Iran. She looks up to Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi as her inspiration in tennis.

She hopes to be the best Iranian-French female tennis player in the world.

Aravane has played against notable names in tennis such as Justine Henin, Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina, Francesca Schiavone, Caroline Wozniacki, Marion Bartoli, Flavia Pennetta, Jelena Janković and Ai Sugiyama. What’s amazing is that she won against them in WTA tour.

Rezai was among the top 15 best tennis players in 2010. She may appear soft-spoken but is tough on the court. Not only is Rezai talented on the court, but she is also multilingual, she speaks French, Persian, English.

4. Tatiana Golovin

By Jean & Nathalie – Wikimedia

Tatiana Golovin is a Russian-born French professional tennis player. She won the 2004 French Open mixed-doubles event. Tatiana trained for six years at Nick Bollettieri’s tennis camp in Bradenton, Florida.

During her active career, she was coached by former world No. 1 Mats Wilander as well as Brad Gilbert and Dean Goldfine.

Tatiana also reached the singles quarterfinals at the 2006 US Open. She, unfortunately, lost to the eventual champion Maria Sharapova.

She peaked in her career in 2008 and was ranked number 12 globally. Shortly after she was diagnosed with lower back inflammation and was forced to stop playing competitive tennis indefinitely.

This did not dampen her warrior spirit. She started physical training after she was given the green light by her doctor.

5. Stéphanie Foretz Gacon

By Steven Pisano – Wikimedia

Stéphanie Foretz is a retired French tennis player. During her active years as a professional tennis player, Stephanie won 9 singles and 16 doubles titles during the ITF Women’s circuit.

She played in the junior tournament in 1999 and reached the girl’s finals during the French Open.

In 2003, Stephanie reached her career-high singles ranking of the world at number 62. She steadily worked her way up and peaked at number 42 in 2008 in the doubles ranking.

She was also nominated to play for the Boston Lobsters in the 2009 World TeamTennis pro league.

She has been playing professionally since 1999 and retired after her final match during the Roland Garros 2016.