Lucas Pouille
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Lucas Pouille (, born 23 February 1994) is a French professional
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 10, achieved on 19 March 2018 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 79, achieved on 11 April 2016. He has won five singles titles on the
ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...
and was on the winning French Davis Cup team in 2017.


Personal life

Pouille's mother is a Swedish-speaking Finn from
Närpes Närpes (Finland Swedish: ; ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Närpes is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Närpes is approximately , while the sub-region has a population of ...
, Finland. He has two brothers, and his family comes from northern France, at Loon-Plage near Dunkerque. He married his long-time girlfriend Clémence Bertrand in September 2019 and their daughter Rose was born in January 2021. He moved to Dubai in 2015 but moved back to France, to Rennes, in 2020. Le Coq Sportif and Babolat are his current sponsors.


Career


2009-2011

In 2009, Pouille played (only the singles events of) two tournaments, both of them
ITF Men's Circuit The ITF Men's World Tennis Tour (formerly ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The tour represents the lowest rung of the me ...
tournaments held in France. In 2010, Pouille played (only the singles events of) five tournaments – an
ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...
tournament in Saint–Brieuc held in March/April and four ITF Men's Circuit tournaments held in France. In 2011, Pouille played (only the singles events of) seven tournaments – an ATP Challenger Tour tournament in Saint–Brieuc and six ITF Men's Circuit tournaments.


2012: Turned Pro

In 2012, Pouille played the singles event of one ATP Challenger Tour tournament (in
Quimper Quimper (, ; ; or ) is a Communes of France, commune and Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the ...
) and the singles events of 15 ITF Men's Circuit tournaments. He won two back-to-back ITF Men's Circuit singles titles in Mexico without dropping a set and was the singles runner-up at two ITF Men's Circuit tournaments (in Sweden and Serbia).


2013: Grand Slam debut

Pouille made his Grand Slam singles debut at the
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
after receiving a wildcard for the singles qualifying competition; he lost in the second qualifying round to
Ruben Bemelmans Ruben Bemelmans (; born 14 January 1988) is a Belgians, Belgian coach and former professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP ranking of world No. 84 in singles, achieved on 28 September 2015, and wo ...
. Pouille made his ATP World Tour singles debut as a wildcard at the tournament in
Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
, where he lost his opening singles match in the first round of the main draw to the No. 7 seed Viktor Troicki in straight sets. Pouille also lost his opening singles match in the first round of the main draw of his next ATP World Tour tournament in
Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
as a wildcard, this time to
Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 25 and doubles ranking of No. 5 in November 2014. Benneteau did not win a singles ti ...
. Pouille appeared in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam event for the first time in his career at the 2013 French Open, thanks to a singles main draw wildcard; in the first round, he defeated American wildcard
Alex Kuznetsov Alex Kuznetsov (born February 5, 1987) is a retired professional tennis player. He is a former hitting partner of Maria Sharapova. Personal life Kuznetsov was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Kyiv, Ukraine). His family moved to t ...
in straight sets, but lost in the second round to the No. 26 seed
Grigor Dimitrov Grigor Dimitrov Dimitrov (, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Bulgari ...
in straight sets. In June, Pouille qualified (he had to win three singles qualifying matches) for the singles main draw of an ATP World Tour tournament for the first time in his career at the grass court tournament in
's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...
; he lost his singles main draw first-round match to
Jérémy Chardy Jérémy Chardy (; born 12 February 1987) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title, in Stuttgart in 2009. His best major performance in singles was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 ...
. In July, Pouille won his second ITF Men's Circuit singles title of 2013 in Estonia (he had earlier in April won the ITF Men's Circuit Vietnam F3 singles title). In October, Pouille lost in the singles semifinals of the ATP Challenger Tour tournament in
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
, which was hitherto his best singles performance in an ATP Challenger Tour tournament.


2014: Masters 1000 debut, Top 150 debut

Pouille received wildcards for the singles main draw of the
2014 Australian Open The 2014 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 13 and 26 January 2014. It was the 102nd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of eve ...
and the 2014 French Open, where he lost in the first round to
Dušan Lajović Dušan Lajović ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Лајовић; born 30 June 1990) is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 29 April 2019, he reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 23. On 21 September 2020, he peaked at No. 82 in the doubl ...
and
Juan Mónaco Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters – Singles, 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Sony ...
respectively. In September, Pouille reached his first career ATP Challenger Tour singles final in
Meknes Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...
; he lost the final to Kimmer Coppejans in three sets. At the 2014 Paris Masters, Pouille entered the singles main draw after defeating Steve Johnson and
Jarkko Nieminen Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his caree ...
in the qualifying rounds. In the singles main draw, he defeated
Ivo Karlović Ivo Karlović (; born 28 February 1979) is a Croatian former professional tennis player. His height of 211 cm (6 ft 11 in) makes him the joint-tallest ranked tennis player in history (along with Reilly Opelka). He won eight ATP Tour si ...
and
Fabio Fognini Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. Fognini's most successful surface is Clay court#Red clay, ...
to reach the third round, where he lost to the No. 2 seed
Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
(4–6, 4–6). At the 2014 BNP Paribas Masters, Pouille qualified by not dropping a set in his four singles victories over players who were ranked at least 100 places higher than him in the ATP singles rankings on his way to the third round, losing to No. 2 seed Roger Federer. As a result of this successful run immediately following the tournament, on 3 November 2018 his ATP singles ranking jumped to world No. 134 compared to world No. 176 seven days ago. Pouille finished the year as the youngest Frenchman in the Top 150 of the ATP singles rankings, with a final singles match win–loss record of 28–17 on the 2014 ATP Challenger Tour.


2015: Top 100 debut

Pouille was defeated in the third and final singles qualifying round of the Heineken Open by
Jiří Veselý Jiří Veselý (; born 10 July 1993) is a Czech professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 35 on 27 April 2015. Youth career Veselý reached the No. 1 junior combined world ranking in January 2011, co ...
but entered the singles main draw as a
lucky loser A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw. This can occur when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness ...
after the top seed
David Ferrer David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 2013. Ferrer won 27 ATP Tour singles titles, including a ...
's withdrawal from the tournament; in the singles main draw, he won his second round and quarterfinal matches to reach his first career ATP World Tour singles semifinal, where he lost to
Adrian Mannarino Adrian Mannarino (born 29 June 1988) is a French professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 17, attained on 29 January 2024. He has won five ATP Tour singles titles, three on hardcourt and two on grass. Te ...
in three sets. Pouille received a wildcard for the singles main draw of the
2015 Australian Open The 2015 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to 1 February 2015. It was the 103rd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Stan Wawrinka was the de ...
and lost to the No. 17 seed
Gaël Monfils Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in November 2016. Mon ...
in five sets (Pouille was leading by two sets to love) in the first round. At the
Monte Carlo Masters The Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, which borders on Monaco. It is played on clay cour ...
, he entered the singles main draw as a wildcard and defeated
Dominic Thiem Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in March 2020. Thiem won 17 ATP Tour-level s ...
(6–4, 6–4) to reach the second round, where he was defeated by the No. 3 seed
Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
(2–6, 1–6). On 20 April, Pouille attained a career-high ATP singles ranking of world number 98 and broke into the top 100 of the ATP singles rankings for the first time in his career. Pouille was defeated by
Gilles Simon Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former tennis player. He turned professional in 2002 and won fourteen singles titles on the ATP Tour, and attained a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 6, on 5 January 2009. Personal li ...
in first round of the
French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
and by Kevin Anderson in the first round of
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
. At the German Open in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
, Pouille earned a place in the singles main draw by winning two qualifying matches; in the singles main draw, he defeated
Íñigo Cervantes Íñigo Cervantes Huegun García (; born 30 November 1989 in Hondarribia, Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San S ...
, Juan Mónaco and
Benoît Paire Benoît "Ben" Paire (; born 8 May 1989) is a French professional tennis player. His best result in a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam has been reaching the fourth round, which he has achieved on four occasions. He has won three singles titles, ...
to reach his second career ATP World Tour and first ATP World Tour 500 series singles semifinal, where he lost to Fabio Fognini in two sets. On 3 August, Pouille achieved a career-high singles ranking of world number 64 in the ATP singles rankings. In the second half of the year, Pouille managed to advance beyond the round of 16 of the singles main draw in two ATP World Tour tournaments, in St. Petersburg (in September) and
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
(in October), losing to
Roberto Bautista Agut Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP in singles, achieved on 4 November 2019. Bautista Agut ...
in the quarterfinals in both tournaments and both times in straight sets. In November, Pouille reached his second career ATP Challenger Tour singles final in Mouilleron-le-Captif, losing the final to Benoît Paire in three sets. He finished the year with a final singles match win–loss record of 17–8 on the 2015 ATP Challenger Tour.


2016: Two Grand Slam quarterfinals

At the Australian Open, the unseeded pair of Pouille and Adrian Mannarino lost in the doubles semifinals to
Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray (born 13 February 1986) is a British professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam (tennis), major doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup winne ...
and
Bruno Soares Bruno Fraga Soares (; born 27 February 1982) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. A doubles specialist, Soares won six Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles, the 2016 Australian Open – Men's d ...
. Pouille lost in the first round of the
singles event A singles' event is an activity or program made available specifically to the romantically unattached, often with the underlying or explicit purpose of fostering dating or relationships among attendees. A singles event with a cocktail party-typ ...
of the Australian Open to 13th-seeded
Milos Raonic Milos Raonic ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP ...
, his third consecutive singles first-round loss at that event. Pouille defeated 32nd seed
Guillermo García-López Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People * Guillermo Amador (born 1974), American musician * Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Span ...
in the second round and saved one match point in beating eighth seed
David Ferrer David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 2013. Ferrer won 27 ATP Tour singles titles, including a ...
in the third round to reach the round of 16 of the Miami Open, where he fell to the No. 18 seed Gilles Simon (0–6, 1–6). Pouille was the beneficiary of a singles main draw wildcard at the 2016 Monte Carlo Masters; he defeated
Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at th ...
in the first round and the No. 9 seed
Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, attained in July 2007. Gasquet won 16 singles ...
before losing to the No. 8 seed
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
(4–6, 4–6) in the third round. In April, the unseeded Pouille reached his first ATP World Tour singles final at the BRD Năstase Țiriac Trophy in Bucharest after defeating three seeded players – Ivo Karlović,
Paolo Lorenzi Paolo Lorenzi (; born 15 December 1981) is an Italian former professional tennis player and former Italian number 1. He was coached by Claudio Galoppini. At the age of 34 years and seven months, Lorenzi became the oldest first-time champion in AT ...
and Federico Delbonis in the second round, quarterfinals and semifinals respectively; he lost the final to the unseeded
Fernando Verdasco Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spaniards, Spanish tennis coach and a former professional player. He was ranked world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, achieved in April 2009, and w ...
(3–6, 2–6). Pouille won two singles qualifying matches to reach the singles main draw of the Madrid Open; he saved four match points in beating the No. 12 seed
David Goffin David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 7, making him the highest ranked male player from Belgium in tennis history. He is also the first ...
in the first round of the main draw. At the Italian Open in Rome, Pouille reached his first career Masters 1000 singles semifinal (after wins over
Ernests Gulbis Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988) is a Latvian former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 10, making him the only male Latvian tennis player ever to be ranked inside the top 10, a feat achieved in June 20 ...
, David Ferrer and Juan Mónaco in the second round, third round and quarterfinals respectively), where he lost to the No. 2 seed
Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
(2–6, 1–6). In that tournament, he was defeated in the final qualifying round but entered the second round of the main draw as a lucky loser. Pouille became only the second lucky loser to reach a Masters 1000 singles semifinal (
Thomas Johansson Karl Thomas Conny Johansson (; born 24 March 1975) is a Swedish former professional tennis player and coach. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 7 singles ranking in May 2002. His career highlights in si ...
was the first to do so, in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
in 2004). On 16 May, he broke into the top 32 (at No. 31) of the ATP singles rankings for the first time in his career as a result of his performance at the Italian Open, thus ensuring that he would be seeded in the singles event of the upcoming French Open. Seeded No. 29, he was eliminated in the second round of the French Open by lucky loser Andrej Martin, after a first-round win over countryman Julien Benneteau. He then had a first-round loss at the MercedesCup to John Millman despite winning the first set. He had another first-round loss at the Gerry Weber Open to second seed
Kei Nishikori is a Japanese professional tennis player. He is the only Japanese man in the Open Era to have been ranked in the top five in singles, reaching his career-high ranking of world No. 4 in March 2015, and the second man in history to do so after ...
, despite winning the first set again. Pouille competed at the third Grand Slam event of the year at the
2016 Wimbledon Championships The 2016 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw commenced on 27 June 2016 and concluded on ...
as the 32nd seed. He came into the tournament with an 0–4 ATP World Tour (including the Grand Slams) main draw singles career record on grass and had never contested an ATP Challenger Tour or ITF Men's Circuit singles event on grass. He defeated qualifier
Marius Copil Marius Copil (born 17 October 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player, competing currently on the ATP Challenger Tour. His career-high singles ranking is No. 56 achieved on 28 January 2019. Copil is known for his Fastest recorded tennis s ...
in four sets in the first round. He defeated Donald Young in straight sets in the second round. This was the first time Pouille had advanced to the main draw singles third round of a Grand Slam tournament. He defeated
Juan Martín del Potro Juan Martín del Potro (; born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), in August 2018. Del Potro won 22 ATP Tour-level sing ...
in the third round in four sets despite being a set and a break down. In the fourth round, he defeated 19th seed
Bernard Tomic Bernard Tomic (; , ; born 21 October 1992) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 17 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Tomic has won four singles titles on the ATP To ...
in five sets to advance to the quarterfinals. However, he came up against tenth-seeded
Tomáš Berdych Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in May 2015. Berdych won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, i ...
and lost in straight sets on Court One. As a result of reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Pouille attained a career-high ATP singles ranking of 21 on 11 July 2016. Pouille lost in the second round of the 2016 Rogers Cup to
Rajeev Ram Rajeev Ram ( ; born March 18, 1984) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Ram is a six-time major champion, having won the 2020 Australian O ...
and in the first round of the
Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...
to
Nick Kyrgios Nicholas Hilmy Kyrgios ( ; ; born 27 April 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player. Kyrgios has been ranked as high as world No. 13 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 24 October 2016. He has won se ...
. At the 2016 US Open, Pouille ousted No. 4 seed Rafael Nadal in five sets (6–1, 2–6, 6–4, 3–6, 7–6 (8–6)) in the fourth round to reach the quarterfinals. Pouille, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga became the first French trio to reach the singles quarterfinals of the same Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era. At the Moselle Open, Pouille (the third seed of the tournament) reached the final after defeating countrymen
Pierre-Hugues Herbert Pierre-Hugues Herbert (; born 18 March 1991) is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Grand Slam (tennis)#Career Grand Slam, Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open – Men's doubles, 2015 US Open, the 20 ...
, Julien Benneteau and second-seeded, David Goffin. In the final, Pouille defeated top seed Dominic Thiem (7–6(7–5), 6–2), winning his first ATP World Tour singles title. As a result, Pouille achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of 16 on 26 September, overtaking Richard Gasquet to become French No. 3. Pouille kicked off his Asian leg of the tour at the China Open. Despite being the No. 6 seed of the tournament, Pouille lost in the second round to eventual finalist Grigor Dimitrov. Next, Pouille competed in the Shanghai Masters, in which he was seeded No. 13. He defeated Fernando Verdasco and
Nicolás Almagro Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player of Latin American descent. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008 French Open – Men's singles, 2008, 201 ...
before falling to the No. 2 seed and eventual champion Andy Murray. Pouille faced off against Murray two weeks later in the third round of the 2016 BNP Paribas Masters in Paris where Murray won again. Pouille achieved a new career-high ATP singles ranking of world number 15 on 7 November. At the end of the year, Pouille received the ATP World Tour Award for the Most Improved Player of the Year. In December 2016,
Ion Țiriac Ion Țiriac (; born 9 May 1939), also known as the "Brașov Bulldozer", is a Romanian businessman and former professional tennis and ice hockey player. He has been president of the Romanian Tennis Federation. A former singles top 10 player o ...
became Pouille's manager.


2017: French Open third round, three titles on three different surfaces

Pouille started the season at the
Brisbane International The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA 500 tournaments, WTA 500 tournament and an ATP World T ...
, in which he was seeded no. 6. He drew countryman Gilles Simon in the first round and narrowly defeated him, (7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–4)), after being down 0–5 in the first set. Pouille then played against
Kyle Edmund Kyle Steven Edmund (born 8 January 1995) is a British professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 14 and was the top-ranked male British tennis player from March 2018 to October 2019. Edmund is an ...
in the second round, but was forced to retire in the second set due to a right big toe injury. That injury further affected him at the Australian Open where, seeded No. 16, he lost in the first round to qualifier
Alexander Bublik Alexander Stanislavovich Bublik (; born 17 June 1997) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 17, achieved on 6 May 2024 and a doubles ...
in four sets. Pouille then participated at the Rotterdam Open. Seeded eighth, he lost in the first round to
Philipp Kohlschreiber Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber (; born 16 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player. The right-hander won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Cha ...
in straight sets. The Frenchman turned his season around at the
Open 13 The Open 13 is an annual men's tennis tournament played in Marseille, France. The tournament is an ATP Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. It is held for one week in February. The number 13 is the INSEE code of ...
by reaching his third career ATP World Tour singles final as the No. 4 seed, where he lost to the second seed and the reigning French No. 1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (4–6, 4–6). Pouille (seeded No. 7) continued his good performance by reaching the singles semifinals at the
Dubai Tennis Championships The Dubai Tennis Championships (also known as the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships'' and the ''Dubai Duty Free Men's and Women's Champ ...
, where he lost to the top seed and the reigning world No. 1 Andy Murray (5–7, 1–6); Pouille's straight sets defeat by Murray meant that Pouille had still not won a single set in four matches against Murray. Pouille reached his second career Masters 1000 singles semifinal at the 2017 Monte Carlo Masters; seeded No. 11, he defeated four lower-ranked players ( Ryan Harrison, Paolo Lorenzi, Adrian Mannarino and
Pablo Cuevas Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is a Uruguayan tennis coach and a former professional player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open – Men's doubles, 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna, and was especially noted t ...
) before losing his semifinal to the No. 15 seed
Albert Ramos Viñolas Albert Ramos Viñolas (; born 17 January 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 17, achieved in May 2017 after reaching the final of the 2017 Monte Carlo Masters. Career Juniors R ...
in three sets. Pouille won his second career ATP World Tour singles title at the Hungarian Open in Budapest; seeded No. 1, he saved two match points in his second-round match against Jiří Veselý before beating
Aljaž Bedene Aljaž Bedene (born 18 July 1989) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as No. 43 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2018. He reached four singles finals ...
(6–3, 6–1) in the final. Pouille reached a new career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 13 on 8 May 2017. Seeded No. 16, he reached the third round of the French Open for the first time in his career but lost to the No. 19 seed Albert Ramos-Viñolas in five sets. The fourth-seeded Pouille won the Stuttgart Open after saving one match point in his second-round match against Jan-Lennard Struff and defeating world No. 33
Feliciano López Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016. ...
in the final in three close sets. Seeded No. 16, Pouille lost in the fourth round of the US Open to the No. 29 seed
Diego Schwartzman Diego Sebastián Schwartzman (, ; born 16 August 1992) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He won four ATP Tour singles titles and reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in October 2020. As a clay court specialist ...
in four sets. In early October, Pouille (who had never defeated a reigning world No. 1 in his career) lost in the first round of the China Open to top seed and world No. 1 Rafael Nadal (6–4, 6–7(6–8), 5–7), with Pouille failing to convert two match points when he was leading 6–4 in the second-set tie-break. In late October, the unseeded Pouille won his first career ATP World Tour 500 series singles title in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
; he beat his eighth-seeded compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (6–1, 6–4) in the final after defeating four unseeded opponents in the previous four rounds. Lucas finished the 2017 season as the only player to win at least one ATP World Tour singles title on each surface – Budapest (clay),
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
(grass) and Vienna (indoor hard courts). In the 2017 Davis Cup World Group final against
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, Pouille defeated Steve Darcis (6–3, 6–1, 6–0) in the fifth and final rubber of the tie to give France a 3–2 win and its tenth
Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
title (and their first since 2001 Davis Cup World Group, 2001).


2018: Top 10 debut

Pouille entered the 2018 Australian Open – Men's singles, 2018 Australian Open having not played any tournament in the first two weeks of 2018 prior to the Australian Open; this proved fatal for Pouille (seeded No. 18) as he lost in the singles main draw first round of the opening Grand Slam tournament of the year for the fifth consecutive year, this time to the Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans. Pouille was called up to play for France in the 2018 Davis Cup World Group first-round tie against the Netherlands, but he withdrew a few hours before the start of his first singles match on 2 February against Thiemo de Bakker because of torticollis and was replaced by Adrian Mannarino. Pouille won the fifth ATP World Tour singles title of his career at the 2018 Open Sud de France – Singles, Open Sud de France; he saved two match points when he was down 1–6, 3–5 against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals before subsequently defeating Richard Gasquet in the final. Pouille lost his opening singles match, against Andrey Rublev (tennis), Andrey Rublev, in his next tournament held the following week in 2018 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles, Rotterdam. Over the next two weeks, Pouille lost in the singles finals of two ATP World Tour tournaments, losing to Karen Khachanov and Roberto Bautista Agut in 2018 Open 13 – Singles, Marseille and 2018 Dubai Tennis Championships – Men's singles, Dubai respectively. Less than seven days after the Dubai final, the ninth-seeded Pouille suffered a shock opening round defeat against the Indian qualifier Yuki Bhambri in 2018 BNP Paribas Open – Men's singles, Indian Wells. On 19 March 2018, Pouille broke into Top 10 of the ATP singles rankings for the first time in his career, attaining a career-high ATP singles ranking of world number 10. After winning both singles matches (he defeated Andreas Seppi and Fabio Fognini) in the 2018 Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal tie against Italy Davis Cup team, Italy, he suffered a mini slump and lost his opening singles match in three consecutive clay court tournaments – 2018 Monte-Carlo Masters – Singles, Monte Carlo, Budapest and 2018 Mutua Madrid Open – Men's singles, Madrid. In June, Pouille reached his fourth and final ATP World Tour singles semifinal of 2018 in Stuttgart, where he lost to Milos Raonic. Pouille failed to advance beyond the singles round of 16 in any of the eight tournaments (Wimbledon, 2018 Citi Open – Men's singles, Washington D.C., Toronto, 2018 Western & Southern Open – Men's singles, Cincinnati, the US Open, 2018 Stockholm Open – Singles, Stockholm, Vienna and Paris) that he played in the second half of 2018. However, he won all three of thesingles matches that he contested in the 2018 Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal and semifinal ties against Italy and Spain Davis Cup team, Spain respectively, to help France advance to the final. In the final, Pouille played only one match, which was the third singles rubber of the tie. He lost his match against Marin Čilić in straight sets and that enabled Croatia Davis Cup team, Croatia to take an unassailable 3–1 lead. On 8 November 2018, Pouille announced that he and Emmanuel Planque, his coach since 2012, had decided to end immediately their player-coach collaboration by mutual agreement. On 6 December 2018, L'Équipe reported that Amélie Mauresmo would coach Pouille starting from the beginning of 2019. The following day, Mauresmo resigned from her post as the captain of the France Davis Cup team, French Davis Cup team to avoid a conflict of interest.


2019: First Grand Slam semifinal, third Masters quarterfinal

In 2019, he played the first Grand Slam semi-final of his career, at the Australian Open. Pouille began his season in 2019 Sydney International – Men's singles, Sydney, where seeded sixth, he lost in the first round to the Russian qualifier Andrey Rublev (tennis), Andrey Rublev in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Pouille was seeded 28th and won the first Australian Open main draw singles match of his career, defeating Mikhail Kukushkin in straight sets in the first round. He then defeated Maximilian Marterer before triumphing over Australian wildcard Alexei Popyrin in five sets. In the fourth round, he faced 11th seed Borna Ćorić, defeating him in four sets. In his first Grand Slam singles quarterfinal since the 2016 US Open, he faced 16th seed
Milos Raonic Milos Raonic ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP ...
, whom he defeated in four sets. He thus advanced to his first Grand Slam singles semifinal, where he lost to the top seed Novak Djokovic in three sets. Pouille lost his opening singles match in his next five tournaments (2019 Open Sud de France, Montpellier, 2019 BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, 2019 Miami Open – Men's singles, Miami, 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters, Monte Carlo, and 2019 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell – Singles, Barcelona). To recover his form, the Frenchman played the ATP Challenger Tour tournament in 2019 BNP Paribas Primrose Bordeaux – Singles, Bordeaux, where he won the singles title after defeating Mikael Ymer in the final. At the 2019 Mutua Madrid Open – Men's singles, 2019 Madrid Open the following week, he defeated the thirteenth seed Borna Ćorić in the first round, before losing to the Polish qualifier Hubert Hurkacz in the second round. He reached his third Masters 1000 quarterfinal at the 2019 Western & Southern Open by defeating World No. 9 Karen Khachanov, his first Top 10 win in nearly three years. He was defeated by World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. He lost also to Djokovic in the 2019 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, 2019 Japan Open in Tokyo in the quarterfinals. His last tournament for 2019 was the 2019 Shanghai Masters in October when he ended his season due to a right elbow injury.


2021-23: Return after hiatus due to surgery, out of top 600, back to Majors

Pouille returned from right elbow surgery in January by playing at the 2021 Open Quimper Bretagne – Singles, 2021 Open Quimper Bretagne. As the top seed, he lost in the first round to eventual finalist Filip Horanský. Seeded second at the 2021 Open Quimper Bretagne II – Singles, Open Quimper Bretagne II, he was defeated in the second round by qualifier Tobias Kamke He pulled out of the 2021 Australian Open, Australian Open due to the advice of his team. In 2021 Open Sud de France – Singles, Montpellier, Pouille was eliminated in the first round by wildcard and compatriot, Benjamin Bonzi. At the 2021 Open 13 – Singles, Open 13, he was beaten in the second round by second seed and two-time defending champion, Stefanos Tsitsipas. As the top seed in 2021 Biella Challenger Indoor IV – Singles, Biella, he lost in the second round to Illya Marchenko. Pouille kicked off his clay-court season at the 2021 Andalucía Open – Singles, Andalucía Open. He was defeated in the first round by Ričardas Berankis. At the 2021 Monte-Carlo Masters – Singles, Monte-Carlo Masters, he earned his first top-100 victory since Tokyo in 2019 by beating World No. 48 Guido Pella in the first round. In the second round, he defeated another top 100 player, Alexei Popyrin. He ended up losing his third-round match to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. At the 2021 French Open – Men's singles, French Open, he fell in the first round to Pablo Cuevas. Starting his grass-court season at the 2021 MercedesCup – Singles, Stuttgart Open, Pouille lost in the first round of qualifying to Altuğ Çelikbilek. At the 2021 Queen's Club Championships – Singles, Queen's Club Championships, he was beaten in the first round of qualifying by Viktor Troicki. Getting past qualifying at the first edition of the 2021 Mallorca Championships – Singles, Mallorca Championships, he was defeated in the first round by sixth seed Karen Khachanov. At 2021 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles, 2021 Wimbledon, he lost in the first round to 29th seed Cameron Norrie. After Wimbledon, Pouille competed at the 2021 Hamburg European Open – Men's singles, Hamburg Open. He was eliminated in the first round by fifth seed Dušan Lajović. In 2021 Croatia Open Umag – Singles, Umag, he lost in the first round to seventh seed and eventual champion, Carlos Alcaraz. At the 2021 Generali Open Kitzbühel – Singles, Generali Open Kitzbühel, he was defeated in the first round by eventual finalist Pedro Martínez. Coming through qualifying at the 2021 Winston-Salem Open – Singles, Winston-Salem Open, Pouille was eliminated in the second round by third seed Dan Evans. At the 2021 US Open – Men's singles, 2021 US Open, he was beaten in the first round by Albert Ramos Viñolas. After his early exit from the 2021 US Open (tennis), 2021 US Open, Pouille competed at the 2021 Cassis Open Provence – Singles, Cassis Open Provence. Seeded fifth, he reached the final where he lost to top seed Benjamin Bonzi. Seeded sixth at the 2021 Open de Rennes – Singles, Open de Rennes, he reached the quarterfinals where he fell to second seed, defending champion, and compatriot Arthur Rinderknech. Playing as a wildcard at the 2021 Moselle Open – Singles, Moselle Open, he was defeated in the second round by top seed and eventual champion Hubert Hurkacz. Before the last Masters 1000 of the year, Pouille went back to play a couple of Challengers but did not find a way to really get going. He fell in the second round in 2021 Open d'Orléans against
Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, attained in July 2007. Gasquet won 16 singles ...
and in the second round of the 2021 Internationaux de Tennis de Vendée in Mouilleron-le-Captif, France against Elias Ymer whom he had just beaten in Orléans. Pouille played the last match of his season as a wildcard at the 2021 Rolex Paris Masters then, losing in the first round of the qualifying draw against Lorenzo Musetti. He received wildcards for the 2022 Australian Open and for the 2022 French Open. Ranked No. 670 he qualified for the main draw of the 2023 French Open defeating Jurij Rodionov in the last round of qualifying. Next he defeated Rodionov again, who qualified as a lucky loser, to reach the second round.


2024: Back to Masters & top 100, Wimbledon third round

Ranked No. 273, he reached the main draw of the 2024 BNP Paribas Open having received a wildcard for the qualifying competition. He won his first round match over Daniel Altmaier and returned to the top 250 climbing more than 30 positions in the rankings on 18 March 2024. In April, ranked No. 241 he qualified for the 2024 Estoril Open. In May, Pouille won his first Challenger title in five years at the 2024 Upper Austria Open in Mauthausen, defeating Jozef Kovalik in the final. As a result, he returned in the top 165 climbing more than 60 positions in the rankings on 20 May 2024. Ranked No. 213, he qualified for the main draw of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships after a two years absence at this Major. He defeated Laslo Djere in five sets, his first main draw win at Wimbledon in five years. Next, he reached the third round after Thanasi Kokkinakis retired in the third set. As a result he moved more than 60 positions back up into the top 150 in the rankings. In September, Pouille reached the final at the 2024 Saint-Tropez Open, losing to Gijs Brouwer in the final. In October, he won the next Challenger on home soil in 2024 Open de Vendée, Mouilleron-le-Captif, France and reached one position shy of the top 100 in the singles rankings on 14 October 2024. Following reaching another Challenger final at the 2024 Open Saint-Brieuc a week later, he returned to the top 100 in the rankings on 21 October 2024.


2025: Achilles injury

In February, Pouille retired in the final of the 2025 Play In Challenger – Singles, Play In Challenger in Lille, France. He later confirmed he suffered a rupture of his Achilles tendon.https://www.atptour.com/en/news/carreno-busta-moro-canas-tenerife-challenger-2025-final


Career statistics


Grand Slam performance timeline

''Current through to the 2024 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles, 2024 Wimbledon.''


References


External links


Official website
() * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pouille, Lucas 1994 births Living people People from Grande-Synthe French male tennis players French expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates French people of Finnish descent Tennis players from Nord (French department) 21st-century French sportsmen