Less than a month ago, Los Boisson wasn't sure she was going to be able to play in the 2025 French Open.
She was ranked outside the top 500 and had never played in a main draw at a major. Boisson's only hope was a wild card -- and she wasn't expecting it. But the 22-year-old received one from her home French federation.
Just a few weeks later, Boisson has had one of the most memorable runs the tournament has ever seen. She's gone from virtual unknown to overnight sensation in the blink of a fortnight.
On Wednesday, playing in front of an enamored, capacity crowd on Philippe-Chatrier, Boisson became the first wild card in the Open Era to reach the semifinals at the French Open behind a stunning 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory over No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva. She is just the third woman in the past 40 years to reach the final four in her Grand Slam debut.
When it was over, Boisson fell to the ground, with her back on the clay and her legs outstretched, shaking uncontrollably as she covered her face with her hands.
"We're witnessing a star being born right in front of our eyes," said Chris Evert, the 18-time major champion, on the television broadcast.
After advancing to the quarterfinals Monday, Boisson told reporters she wouldn't have believed someone before the tournament if they told her what she was about to achieve. But on Wednesday, she sounded far more sure of herself. And now, the unlikeliest of semifinalists will have a chance to further cement her name in the record books as she faces No. 2 seed Coco Gauff on Thursday for a spot in the final.
And while others may see her as a Cinderella, she made it clear she was far from content with what she had already done.
"Yeah, it's a dream," Boisson told the media after her match Wednesday. "For sure I will go for the dream, because my dream is to win it, not to be in the semifinal. So I will try to do my best for it."
While she's been dreaming of winning the French Open since she was a young girl, Boisson's goal for the past several years has been simply to play in the tournament.
After a breakthrough start to her 2024 season, in which she won three ITF titles and the WTA 125 title in Saint-Malo, she was closer than ever to achieving her goal. Her ranking soared to a career-high (until Monday, that is) of No. 152, and her hard work was rewarded with a wild card to the French Open. She was elated.
Days later, while playing in the first round of another WTA 125 tournament, Boisson's dreams came crashing down in an instant as she tore her left ACL. Surgery quickly followed.
"I was finally truly fulfilled on a tennis court, the process was well underway, surrounded by [an] awesome team, I was going to play the tournaments that I have dreamed of since I started playing tennis," Boisson wrote on Instagram at the time, alongside a picture of herself on a hospital gurney. "In the space of a week I went from 'collapsed' to the ground, the joy of winning my first WTA title, to 'collapsed' to the ground because my knee gave out and the pain was immense. The shock is violent, I didn't imagine the rest of the season this way."
The recovery was at times slow and agonizing. She spent nine months away from competition. Her ranking, which she had worked so hard to achieve, was dropping fast, and she was anxious to return.
Boisson officially made her comeback in February and was back on clay for her third tournament. Since switching to the surface, she has a 15-6 record, reached the final of two ITF events, and won the title in her final tournament before arriving in Paris. (She also went viral for a regrettable comment by Harriet Dart, who she defeated in a match in April, and her hilarious response to it.)
While still nowhere near where it was, Boisson's ranking rose again. She was No. 361 in the world at the start of the French Open. But, with No. 24 seed Elise Mertens as her first-round opponent, few saw her with much of a chance to even reach the second round. According to ESPN BET, she had 1,000-1 odds of winning the title at the start.
Boisson needed three sets, but she escaped Mertens 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, for what was then the biggest win of her career. She later called the victory a "feeling that is impossible to describe."
Her self-confidence continued to grow with each match. Boisson held Anhelina Kalinina to just three total games in the second round. Playing fellow Frenchwoman Elsa Jacquemot in the third round, she had to fight back after being bageled in the second set. But it was her shocking win over No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula, the 2024 US Open runner-up, in the fourth round that truly got everyone talking.
Playing for the first time on Philippe-Chatrier -- save, that is, for a practice session four years ago -- and with the passionate crowd firmly behind her, Boisson utilized her powerful topspin forehand and impressive movement to battle back after dropping the first set. She secured her first-ever win over a top-10 player -- all the more remarkable since she had never even faced a player ranked in the top 60 before the start of the tournament.
"She played really well," Pegula said after the match. "She's won a lot of matches it seems like recently, even if it's at a lower level and not a WTA level, but it doesn't really matter when you're winning matches and the way she plays, being tough in those moments really helps. I thought she did a good job of that today."
On Wednesday against Andreeva, the surging 18-year-old phenom who reached the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2024, Boisson became the first player since Monica Seles in 1989 to defeat multiple top-10 players in their major main draw debut. Boisson is now the first French woman to reach the semifinals at the tournament since Marion Bartoli in 2011 and the youngest countrywoman to make the round at any Slam since Amelie Mauresmo, now the French Open tournament director, at the 1999 Australian Open.
"Yeah, I think that now she's showing that she's probably a better player than her ranking right now," a defeated Andreeva told reporters.
Women's tennis is no stranger to surprise runs at majors. Emma Raducanu came through qualifying as a virtual unknown at the 2021 US Open to stun the world and win the title. Jelena Ostapenko and Barbora Krejcikova were both unseeded when they won their respective French Open titles. Even Iga Swiatek, now a four-time winner at Roland Garros, was ranked No. 54 when she first became a French Open champion in 2020. But, in many ways, even those stories don't compare to Boisson's.
And, as the elite-level players on the WTA Tour have become increasingly consistent in the past few years, it's becoming even harder for a Cinderella-style run. In fact, this French Open marked the first time all of the top eight seeds made it to the second week at a Grand Slam since the Australian Open in 2005. Boisson was the only unseeded player to make the quarterfinals and one of just two to reach the fourth round. The other three semifinalists -- Gauff, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and three-time defending champion Swiatek -- are all major champions and almost indisputably the top three players in the game.
Boisson is now projected to be at No. 65 in Monday's rankings. If she were to defeat Gauff, she would climb to No. 35. A title, while seemingly improbable, would put her just outside the top 20. Last month, her career earnings were just over $148,000. She's made about $787,900 throughout this fortnight -- with a chance to become an overnight millionaire with an appearance in the final.
Gauff, who defeated Madison Keys in three sets during Wednesday's first quarterfinal match, didn't know for sure who she would be playing on Thursday when she spoke to the media. But it was clear she was already preparing for Boisson -- and knew she couldn't take anything for granted.
"Obviously she's having a great tournament," Gauff, who is looking to reach her second final at Roland Garros, said. "I have some experience playing against a crowd that maybe is not rooting for you. It's something I'm looking forward to if it were to happen ... I think it's just something that I will mentally prepare for if it were to happen and expect and be ready for."
Boisson told reporters she wouldn't be readying for Gauff any differently than she had for her previous opponents and insisted she doesn't think about the ranking going in. "We analyze the game of the player, and I do what I have to do with my game plan, and that's it," she said matter-of-factly.
No matter what happens Thursday, Boisson's career and life have undoubtedly changed forever. While she will not get direct entry for Wimbledon, as the ranking deadline has passed, she has all but assured her spot for the US Open and almost any other tournament she would like to play in the near future. But Wednesday afternoon, just hours after the biggest moment of her professional life, she wasn't thinking about anything past her semifinal match.
And while others are surprised by what she has achieved in Paris, Boisson is not.
"I don't think it's a miracle," Boisson said. "For sure, I have a little bit of luck also, but I think it's just the hard work that I [have] put [in] since I started playing tennis and also last year with my rehab and everything. It's just [the] result of hard work. Nothing else."
