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Les Femmes Francais

© Michael Cecilio

Julie Halard-Decugis, Amelie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce, Sarah Pitkowski, Anne-Gaelle Sidot, Nathalie Tauziat, Sandrine Testud......these girls are the top French tennis players and have definitely proven over the past fortnight that French tennis is alive and kicking.

They proved their mastery when they won the 1997 Fed Cup and are in a good position to do the same next year, given that their team is composed of so much depth. In fact, there are four French ladies in the Top 10 (Pierce, Tauziat, Halard-Decugis) and two others in the Top 15 (Mauresmo, Testud).

At Linz two weeks ago, history was created when all four semi finalists were French - Mary Pierce, the eventual winner, Amelie Mauresmo, Sandrine Testud and Sarah Pitkowski gave Austria a French flavour to each book a spot in the final four.

Lo and behold, it was another French player who won the title in Leipzig. Nathalie Tauziat, who has had a largely unsuccessful season, has quickly turned around her year by producing her best tennis during the indoor season. Having won her first title of the year at Moscow some weeks ago, Nathalie followed up the win with a title at Leipzig where she was last year's finalist.

Mary Pierce is undoubtedly the most popular and the most credentialled player in the French team, having reached the French Open final in 1994 and winning her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 1995. No other active French player has won a Grand Slam title to date - man or woman.

After four previous trips to finals this year, Mary put herself in a great position to finally win her first WTA title of the year at Linz in Austria. Having reached her first final of the year in the first tournament of the year at Gold Coast, Pierce was narrowly edged in the championship match by Patty Schnyder.

Throughout the course of the year, Pierce had lost two finals to Venus Williams and another one to Martina Hingis. This time, she faced opposition in Sandrine Testud in the Linz final, a player she had not only beaten in four out of four previous attempts, but to whom she was yet to drop a single set. The trend was to remain for at least one more match as Pierce defeated Testud 7-6(2) 6-1, facing some inspired play by her compatriot in the first set, but who faltered in the end largely because of nerves.

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