It’s very simple. Loïs Boisson is in the semi-final in Adana, Turkey, at the WTA 125 event. She beat Anna Blinkova 6-0, 6-1 in 1h10 this Thursday, 1 October. I said it back in January. Not Adana specifically, I don’t do geographical detail, but the spirit was there.
She is world number 273. She got in from the qualifying draw as a lucky loser. People see a loser who got a second chance. I see a draw that had the courtesy to open a door for her, and a player who walked through it in seventy minutes, right?
According to We Love Tennis, it is her first semi-final at an event with a final at stake in more than a year. Since her semi-final at Roland-Garros in 2025, she has slipped down the rankings and she is back on the Challenger circuit to get match rhythm and points. That’s exactly what I’ve been saying for years to the kids at the Léopold, my club: you step down to climb back up. Nobody listens to me, they all want to play in division 1. Well, 2. It’s the same thing.
Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, I came through qualifying too. I wasn’t a lucky loser, I was already in the draw, but the principle is identical. In ninety per cent of cases, and I’m being kind, the one who comes back through the side door goes further than the one who walked in through the front.
Jean-Pol, in January you said she wouldn’t play Challengers.
Careful, I’m not saying the opposite of what I said. I’m clarifying. In January I was talking about the month of January.
In the semi-final she plays Elena Pridankina, world number 196, or Erika Andreeva, 213th. My forecast is already written. I’ll publish it after the match, out of consideration for the other pundits. All right?
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
