“We all knew last couple of years he has a big game; he has a potential if he gets it together. He’s doing it. He’s moving better. He’s using the court very well. Quarterfinals of Wimbledon. Quarterfinals here. Now he’s coming closer to top 10. He has the quality to be there.”’

Make no mistake, this was not the Nadal of yore. He produced too little depth with his groundstrokes and, above all, too little precision under the greatest pressure with his forehand. He missed three critical ones in the final tiebreaker, the most important at 6-6 on a ball struck well inside the baseline that ended up in the middle of the net.

Still, Pouille (pronounced PWEE) had to have the talent and the self-belief to win a final extended rally, nailing a forehand inside-in winner on the 16th shot of the exchange. Once he picked himself off the ground, Pouille celebrated with a wild-eyed look and an extended tongue worthy of a New Zealand rugby player mid-haka.

“I think Lucas is doing a lot of good for French tennis because he’s someone who states his ambitions,” said a fellow French player, Nicolas Mahut. “He does so without arrogance and with humility, but he has clearly said his goal is to win a Grand Slam title, and he takes responsibility for that.

“He works and has hired the type of consequential staff he needs to reach that goal, and he’s not afraid of it. He has laid out his path. He knows where he wants to go, and I think that’s good for everyone.”

France, or at least traditional France, does not like too much chest thumping. But Tsonga, too, has not been shy about declaring his ambitions.