Mats Wilander has high hopes for Moise Kouame after his run at Roland Garros.
Kouame made Grand Slam history at Roland Garros, as he became the first player born in 2009 to win a main draw match at a major.
The Frenchman backed this up with a thrilling five set win in his second round match, with Coco Gauff full of praise for Kouame after his victory over Adolfo Daniel Vallejo.
Kouame’s run came to an end after he was beaten in the third round by Alejandro Tabilo, and seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander has now made a big ranking prediction for the 17-year-old.
Mats Wilander backs Moise Kouame to break into the top 20
Kouame is the current world number 318, and has a career-high ranking of world number 313.
When assessing Kouame’s performance in his defeat to Tabilo, Wilander claimed that ‘France can start dreaming’ and claimed that he has been proven wrong about his serve, comparing the teenager to Gael Monfils.
Wilander then predicted Kouame to break inside the top 20 within the next three years.
“Moise is serious. France can start dreaming,” Wilander told L’Equipe. “Technically speaking, I wasn’t sure about his serve, with its jerky motion, that little pause, and his odd ball toss. But I realized that his serve is perfectly fine because he can hit it really hard. For a 17-year-old, he can serve at 220 km/h, and that’s incredible. I’m not worried about his serve anymore.
“His forehand is great. His backhand is incredible. And he moves incredibly well. For me, footwork and mental strength are the most important things. If you have those two, then you have a chance. If you don’t have one of them, you have no chance. You have to have both. And he has both.
“And he has a third thing: he’s not afraid when things get tense. He understands what’s at stake. When he wins a point here, he shouts ‘Come on!’, he goes towards the crowd. It might be easy to do, but not at 17, when you’ve never played in front of so many people. You have to have guts. He’s got brains, heart, and guts.
“He plays intelligently, too. Just one example: he serves and volleys on match point in a split second against Vallejo… It’s so crazy that his opponent has no chance of guessing he’s going to do that.
“Moise makes a lot of smart choices. The only thing he did wrong against Tabilo was miss a drop shot on match point, and miss it wide. You can’t miss a drop shot wide. You can miss it into the net or long. But not wide.
“He reminds me so much of Gael in his early days, with the way they have fun. It’s serious, but he enjoys it. He loves it. He’s more aggressive than Gael. I don’t know if he moves as well as Gael, but if he moves this well at 17, can you imagine how he’ll move at 24? It’s going to be incredible.
“If he continues to progress at the same rate as these last two years, he’ll be in the world’s top 20 in three years. We need to give him another five or six years. The road to the top isn’t for right now. We need to aim for the goal for when he’s 21, 22 or 23, while protecting him.”
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Where will Moise Kouame be ranked after Roland Garros?
Kouame will be rewarded for his breakthrough run at Roland Garros, as he is currently forecast to make a huge jump in the rankings to world number 214.
This would place Kouame ahead of Monfils in the rankings, and it is significant ahead of Wimbledon.
Although Kouame will not be able to get into the main draw of Wimbledon directly, he has now secured his spot into qualifying.
It is currently unclear as to what the future holds for Kouame, as he is only entered into an upcoming clay court Challenger tournament in Poznan, which takes place in a few weeks’ time.
Wilander clearly has high hopes for Kouame, who is at the start of a very exciting career ahead of him.
