The light at the end of the tunnel for France’s top player
The Spanish clay has all the signs of a comeback story. On Friday morning, under the Madrid sun at the Caja Magica, a familiar figure appeared on the practice courts. Lois Boisson, the undisputed leader of French women’s tennis, was back hitting balls. And, believe it or not, it was a small miracle. Since late September 2025, the breakout star of last year’s Roland Garros had vanished from the WTA picture. Six and a half months of silence, pain and doubt, with plenty of time to stare into the abyss. But for her long-awaited return at next week’s WTA 1000 event in Madrid, the 22-year-old from Dijon is not arriving alone. She’s just pulled off one of the biggest coups of the tennis coaching market.
Vleeshouwers, the coaching masterstroke
No more vague stop-start planning. Boisson has gone big. She has brought in Dutch coach Hendrik Vleeshouwers. The 40-year-old is no random hire. He is the man who has basically transformed Amanda Anisimova over the past two years. Under his guidance, the American has become a genuine threat on tour and climbed to world No 3. Their partnership has produced serious numbers: two Grand Slam finals in 2025 at Wimbledon and the US Open, plus WTA 1000 titles in Doha and Beijing.
Their run together ended abruptly at the end of March. That opened the door for the Frenchwoman. Vleeshouwers, who had already shown his worth by helping Belgians Elise Mertens and Yanina Wickmayer, did not hang around. He brings a winning mentality at the very top level, priceless for a player like Boisson who needs to back up her new status after months of turmoil.
At last, some stability after the chaos
This top-level hire is also a way of drawing a line under a bleak chapter. Stability has hardly been Boisson’s strong suit lately. Vleeshouwers is, in fact, her third coach in under 12 months. After splitting with Florian Reynet just before the US Open last summer, she turned to Spaniard Carlos Martinez, the former mentor of Svetlana Kuznetsova. On paper, it looked like a smart move.
But the body called time. The pair lasted for just one tournament, in Beijing last September. First came a left quadriceps problem, then a nasty right forearm injury over the winter while she was splitting time between Geneva and Martinez’s academy in Barcelona. The stubborn issue needed a long rehab and, inevitably, it ended the partnership with the Catalan coach. Martinez has since moved on to work with Beatriz Haddad Maia, world No 69.
On her Instagram account in early April, Lois Boisson opened up with brutal honesty. She described days swallowed by treatment, rehab and fitness work, all carried out in uncertainty. It was a heavy blow, far harder to take mentally than her serious knee injury in 2024. But the closing line of her message sounded like a warning to the rest of the tour: she’s getting ready to come back “even stronger than before”.
The countdown to Roland Garros is on
Now the medical updates give way to the real test on court. Down to world No 44 during her absence, the Frenchwoman heads into Madrid as a proper stress test. If the final checks go well this weekend, she will learn her first opponent on Sunday evening when the draw is made. Her return to action, with all the anticipation that comes with it, is set for Tuesday or Wednesday.
But the Spanish event is only part of a much bigger picture. In the Boisson camp, one date is flashing in red: 24 May. Roland Garros. In exactly one month, the French star will be back on the Paris clay, the stage for her breakthrough heroics last spring. She has 780 ranking points to defend from that famous run to the semi-finals. The task is huge and the pressure will be heavy. But with a tactician like Vleeshouwers in her box, France’s top player has given herself every chance of chasing more. The message is clear: she’s not there to make up the numbers.
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