Gracheva qualified for the second week of Roland-Garros. MAXPPP – YOAN VALAT

Of Russian origin, the naturalized Frenchwoman is experiencing her first Roland-Garros as such and qualified for the round of 16 at Roland-Garros, after her great victory against the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu ( 127th) 7-5, 6-3, this Saturday, June 1. Portrait of an eternally dissatisfied woman.

The syntax is not yet perfect, a few English words appear at times in the conversation, all with an Eastern accent still very present . But one sentence is enough to know that she has indeed become French: "Wine, cheese, champagne, that's life". Add to that never being happy, sometimes to the extreme, and you get the archetype of the Hexagonal.< /p>

At 23, Varvara Gracheva is the last Frenchwoman still present in the round of 16 of this Roland-Garros, thanks to a new victory in two sets against the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu (127th) 7-5, 6-3, the first that she plays with the blue-white-red cap above the head. If this says something about the state of French tennis, it has nothing to do with it and is paving its way to Porte d’Auteuil.

"At first, I really thought that no one was going to accept me"

Where she was surprised by the more than kind reception of the Parisian public towards her. "In the audience, someone shouted: “This is your place!”, so it’ ;rsquo;sure that playing here gives me even more motivation", she said after her victory in the first round against world No.7, Maria Sakkari.

Before tackling the matter again following another success, this one quick, during the second round on Thursday. "At first, I really thought that no one was going to accept me. But I love living here, working here. I feel more and more that this is my home,” she smiled.

In France since he was 16

Born 35 kilometers from Moscow, Gracheva arrived in France at the age of 16 after passing through the United States, Portugal and Germany. Accompanied by her mother who had a series of jobs, the Russian at the time spent her time at the Elite Tennis Center, where Jean-René Lisnard took her under his wing and became a real second father.

Little by little, the former coach of another Russian, Daniil Medvedev, polishes the precious stone Gracheva and pushes her to apply for French nationality, even though she did not speak the language well. What she will end up doing to obtain a tricolor passport in 2023, seven years after her arrival in France.

A character of her own

On the tennis side, the neo-Frenchwoman is experiencing her best years at the same time, even discovering the selection at the end of 2023 with the French team during a Billie Jean King Cup match, against Germany in Seville.

She will sing La Marseillaise there for the first time in her life, before a first anecdotal cape where she imposes herself in ten minutes by abandon. But the path to reaching his best place of 39th in the world at the start of the year was not without pitfalls. The fault is a bad character, according to one of his former coaches.

"She would like everything to go too fast, for everything to be too good"

"She has the qualities of her faults, explains Xavier Pujo, still a coach at Cannes. She is very demanding of herself, and of others too. Not always in the right way, because she would like everything to go too quickly, for everything to be too good."

"So she's still a little dissatisfied, he continues. But this is what has kept her going since she was young. This is the desire she has. He still needs maturity, but getting into the top 30 or 20 is doable." His qualification in the second week in Paris is a big first step, she who could even claim to compete in the Olympic Games… at home.

I subscribe to read more