Christo Popov, Alex Lanier and Toma Popov Junior had taken down some of the best in the world to reach the Thomas Cup final. (Badminton Photo) Until March 2025, France had never had a male shuttler in the top 10. One year later, Christo Popov, Alex Lanier and Toma Popov Junior had taken down some of the best in the world to reach the Thomas Cup final. The transformation didn’t happen overnight. It happened one coach at a time. “The biggest difference right now is that our best players are working with a lot of coaches,” says Toma Popov Senior, father and coach of the Popov brothers. “Earlier, there used to be one coach for 20 players. Now we have every player working with an individual coach.” One coach. One player. That is the whole French system in six words. Everything else — the sports science, the AI, the family training centres, the INSEP programmes — is an expression of the same idea. Not a collective. A collection of individuals, each given exactly what they need, built to play as one.…