Jo Wilfried Tsonga got himself slapped down by Yannick Noah, France's last male winner at Roland Garros in 1983, after the current French No 1 declared during the Italian Open there is no chance of a home triumph this time.
'The worst thing is not even dreaming of winning, and what happens is that the French do not even dream of winning,' said Noah.
Making waves: French tennis legend Yannick Noah
Perhaps Tsonga was being a tad defeatist, or maybe just realistic in the age of Djokovic, Nadal et al at a time when French players have no recent history of ever seriously looking like they might win their home Grand Slam.
He surely has the physical talent to win a Major, but like his talented compatriots has always felt the heavy burden of trying to deliver at home.
Defeatist attitude: Jo Wilfried TsongaNoah remains the only Frenchman to have won at Roland Garros since the war, which is a curious statistic as this country arguably has the strongest tennis culture of anywhere in the world.
The failure to produce another longed-for champion just backs up the theory that the winners of the biggest prizes are born and not made, particularly in the present era.
With or without a champion French tennis is the envy of most other countries, with the possible exception of Spain, and in a completely different league to what exists across the Channel.
It vies with rugby and cycling as the country's second sport behind football and is played by a huge percentage of the population – five million play tennis in some shape or form every year while 1.1 million are fully signed-up club members.
There are 32,200 tennis courts, with nearly 9,000 of those being indoor.
Virtually every village seems to have its own tennis hall. About the only advantage Britain has by comparison is that there are only 17 grass courts in the whole of France (one of those being in Paris's British Embassy).
You can tell at Roland Garros that the crowd has more passion and knowledge of the sport than that at Wimbledon.
This has produced ten current top 100 male singles players from France and five women, the latter figure they actually find quite worrying.
But it is broad-based success and what happens when you grow the game from the bottom upwards, as they have been doing for thirty years.
French fancy: Tsonga cruised through the first round at Roland GarrosWhat is really striking is how the French game attracts real high calibre athletes in the way that just does not happen on the same scale in the UK, where a higher proportion of resources have gone to the limited elite end of the game.
But men's champions?
They are a different matter, such as the Serbian who was brought up in a ski resort, the Spaniard from a Balearic island or the middle class kid from Basle.
They would love an Andy Murray, from a rainy tennis backwater such as Dunblane.
It seems you can do all you like, but champions are a Black Swan event.
Plastic KazaksHighly promising teenager Yulia Putsinteva is reported to be the latest Russian player likely to defect to wealthy Kazakhstan, which on the face of it looks an emerging power in the game.
The Kazaks already have six players in the world's top 150, two men and four women.
The small detail is that five of them are Russian and one, Sesil Karatantcheva, is Bulgarian.
Tour trouble: Novak Djokovic's family giving up on Serbian OpenSerbia Open KO?In a setback for the Djokovic family, it looks like after four years they are giving up on Belgrade's Serbian Open, which they own, and selling this ATP Tour date to Spanish interests.
There were poor crowds this year, not helped by Novak's absence due to his heavy schedule and the untimely death of his grandfather.
There was also a surprising lack of solidarity from Serbia's other top players, who chose not to enter.
On my visit there, to the Saturday evening semi-final featuring David Nalbandian v Andreas Seppi, there were barely 1,000 spectators, although the overall facilities looked good.
Clearly it is not easy establishing such a venture in a young tennis culture.
Players pay riseThe ever more successful Grand Slam events are beginning to do their bit to support tennis's hard-pressed supporting cast.
As at Wimbledon first round singles losers are getting a major pay rise in response to player militancy, and those falling at the first this week will get 15,000 Euros for their trouble, with last round qualifying losers making 8,000 Euros.
But don't expect that this issue has gone quiet for too long.
Tennis produces few Cinderella stories but this is be one of them.
Baker's backFormer outstanding junior Brian Baker has made a remarkable comeback since quitting through injury aged 23 and going back to college to contemplate getting re-qualified or becoming a coach.
The now 27 year-old from Nashville, Tennessee, is giving his career a final go, and defeated Frenchman Gael Monfils and Nikolay Davydenko en route to the final of last week's ATP Nice Open.
Soderling outRobin Soderling, only man ever to beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, will be out until at least August with his severe attack of glandular fever. It will mean he has not played since July last year.
His happier news is that he and fiancé Jenni are to become parents in September.
Ruled out: Robin Soderling has glandular feverClijsters farewellKim Clijsters confirmed tennis's worst kept secret last week, saying that she will retire after the U.S Open.
She is optimistic that her body will allow her one last stab at Wimbledon and she will play the grass court event in Rosmalen, Holland, as a warm-up.
There would be no more popular winner at SW19 than the delightful Kim.
Fond farewell: Kim Clijsters bowing outArt gone wrongThe beautiful artwork of the Roland Garros's annual tournament poster has always been a symbol of the tournament's style and elegance.
Not this year's, though, which must be the worst ever, looking like the front page of some ghastly children's computer game.
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