A man the French love (3)
I believe the answer is:
leo
'a man' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the french love' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'love' becomes 'o' (love means zero in tennis).
'le'+'o'='LEO'
(Other definitions for leo that I've seen before include "Man" , "one of several popes" , "Lion constellation" , "born in July or August" , "5th sign of the zodiac" .)