John McEnroe has revealed he is “very impressed” with French sensation Lois Boisson as he labelled her run at the 2025 French Open a “dream story.”
Boisson has stunned the tennis world by reaching the semi-finals at her home Grand Slam as a wildcard, having started the event ranked 361st in the world.
The 22-year-old downed 24th seed Elise Mertens in the opening round before seeing off Anhelina Kalinina and Elsa Jacquemot in her following two matches.
The Frenchwoman then upset third seed Jessica Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a dramatic last 16 encounter.
In the quarter-finals, Boisson pulled off another shock as she defeated world No 6 Mirra Andreeva 7-6(6), 6-3 with an amazing display on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Having been the 24th highest-ranked French woman prior to her run, Boisson will remarkably become the French No 1 when the WTA Rankings update.
Speaking on TNT Sports, McEnroe gave his verdict on Boisson’s French Open heroics and highlighted her physical strength as a major asset.
“I’m very impressed. I mean, I’d never heard of her until this tournament and I’ve only seen her play the last couple rounds,” said the former world No 1.
“I’ve heard about the injury, she missed a lot of time. Her ranking is like 360, I’m sure that is something to do with the injury.
“I’ll tell you one thing, she looks like she’s spent a lot of time in the gym when she was hurt ’cause she looks very physically strong and fit. And to me, that ended up being the difference against this teenager Andreeva.
“She just looked like the grown up, the stronger of the two, and I think that really paid off, ’cause obviously it was a rollercoaster of a match in terms of the score. It could have gone either way.
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‘Lois Boisson is a top 20 player on any surface’ – former world No 1 amid French Open run
“Boisson, this is like a dream story. I mean are you kidding me? This is crazy. Is she even that known in France?”
The American icon also shared his thoughts on Andreeva losing her composure in the second set and firing a ball into the crowd in frustration.
“I liked that, at least she was into it,” McEnroe said. “But if you get frustrated it’s one thing, if the level of your game drops, there’s a way to do that where you try to… I’ve gotta be honest, I did that a few times in my career (hit a ball in frustration), maybe a few hundred.
“So I’m not gonna look at that and be like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe she hit a ball into the stands!’. I can’t believe how well and even tempered most of the players are and how they’re able to compose themselves on the court! That’s always amazed me, especially now.
“And when you’ve got a crowd that everyone’s against, and you’re 18 years old trying to sort of hit the big time, that’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Former world No 4 Tim Henman also weighed in on Boisson: “Boisson, she took out the third seed Jess Pegula, she had to back it up. She was against Mirra Andreeva and she did back it up. And I think that really speaks volumes to her attitude. They gave her a huge lift.”
Boisson will face world No 2 and 2023 US Open winner Coco Gauff in the semi-finals.
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