The tricolor festival on the challengers continues. Titled Sunday in Canton, Terence Atmane signed on this occasion the 11th French victory on the secondary tennis circuit in 2025. It is the second coronation in a very short time for Atmane, already a winner of the Challenger de Busan, in South Korea, two weeks ago. On Sunday, he dominated the Australian Tristan Schoolkate in the final in two sets, 6-4, 7-6.
In Busan, it was in front of another Australian that he won in the final, Adam Walton, 86th in the world. Schoolkate had been talked about during the last Australian open, crossing the first round before delivering a remarkable match against the world number one, holding the title and future winner of the tournament, Jannik Sinner, to whom he had taken the first set (4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3). A small feat, since the Italian had then won his… last 29 sets.
Who are the Wild-Cards for Roland?
For Terence Atmane, these two trophies are steep since it was out of results so far since the start of the season. The Canton Challenger is certainly not the most richly endowed with points (it is a 75, while that of Aix-en-Provence, at the consultant of Eurosport Arnaud Clément, is a 175, the most important category), but Busan was a 125 and this double victory allows him to replace himself significantly in the ATP ranking. 177th three weeks ago, the northerner will be 119th on Monday, very close to the best ranking of his career (118th).
This Asian tour on Hard will therefore have restored colors at the best time. Unfortunately for him, he should mechanically lose a good part of this benefit in the classification at the exit of the Masters 1000 in Rome, where he had taken out of the qualifications last year before spending two laps in the final table against Chris Eubanks and Lorenzo Musetti, who had been forced to abandon. Or the trifle of 70 points to put on the carpet.
The fact remains that when approaching the distribution of wild cards for the big table at Roland-Garros, Terence Atmane has scored points. With a downside, however: he has competed in any battered earth in recent weeks. What to make the organizers hesitate? Maybe. There is no shortage of tricolor candidates in any case, between Arthur Cazaux (116th in the world, back from injury) or Valentin Royer (118th), also titled twice in challenger this season. Without forgetting, of course, a certain Richard Gasquet …
