There has been buzz around Alex Lanier for the last three years at least. Yet, when the Frenchman went on to win his biggest title – a World Tour Super 750 in Japan last year – it was a bolt from the blue. Nobody had quite seen it coming.

Partly that was because, while Lanier had acquitted himself well on the circuit as an up-and-coming player, he had yet to achieve a major breakthrough at the highest level.

All that changed in the space of an extraordinary week in Yokohama in late August, where he took down five strong opponents – Lee Zii Jia, Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo, Kenta Nishimoto, Shi Yu Qi and Chou Tien Chen. Suddenly the 20-year-old had grown in stature.

He’s now aware that the Japan Open triumph – besides other significant results, like a runner-up finish at the Canada Open 2024 and a semifinal at the Denmark Open 2024 – has made him a marked man.

“We know that the other athletes are looking at us. That’s a part of the game and we’ll need to find a way,” he said at the India Open, where he beat world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn a week after he’d lost to the same opponent in Malaysia.

Lanier prefers the first-person plural to the singular, choosing to highlight his team’s efforts and preparation rather than solely his own.

He’s now coming to terms with the challenge of running into the same opponent frequently and tailoring his game for each contest.

“I played Kunlavut twice in January,” he recalls. “During the year, we play the same opponent many times. So yeah, that’s a new experience for me, that I need to adapt my game, I’m not only playing an opponent once or twice, but sometimes even more. So it’s an interesting approach or mindset. We need to adapt.”

Lanier hadn’t qualified for Paris 2024, but he recognises that there has been a seismic shift in French badminton in recent times.

“Honestly, French badminton is really improving,” he says. “I think the structure is more professional than when I started in badminton. The young players, they are playing a lot more, it’s more structured, there are more coaches in France. We are a symbol of the high level, but under us, there are many French who are excelling and ready to be at a higher level.”

After the India Open, Lanier played a vital part in taking France to the final of the European Mixed Team Championships; upcoming assignments include the Orleans Masters next week, followed by the YONEX All England in mid-March.