French rising star Lucas Pouille has admitted in an interview with Le Figaro that he is thinking about the possibility of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals at the end of the year. Pouille rolled over another race contender Dominic Thiem in straight sets last week to claim his maiden title at the Moselle Open in Metz and is already looking ahead to bigger things in making a late bid to qualify for the year-end championships.
Ready for a challenge
In what has been an incredible year so far, making back-to-back grand slam quarter-finals, Pouille has surged to number 16 in the rankings making him the third highest ranked Frenchman, below Gael Monfils at 8 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at 13.
With three of the eight places at the World Tour Finals already taken and another two almost certain, Pouille is aware that it will be a tough ask to qualify but is up for the challenge. "In the back of my head, I have the goal of the Masters in London even though I am aware that it will not be easy to achieve. Mathematically, it is still possible," noted Pouille. He is currently at number 13 in the race, but with Roger Federer out for the rest of the year and sitting ahead of him, that takes him up to 12. With five tournaments still in his schedule for the year, he knows the opportunity to qualify is still there.
Closing in on the top 10
Pouille also added that he is determined to end the year in the top 16 to secure a good seeding for the Australian Open. "I'll try to get as close as possible to the Top 10 by the end of the year," Pouille noted. The young Frenchman is yet to notch a win at the Australian Open, and a good run in the next few weeks could set him up to make another surge through the rankings in the new year.
