The French love him! (3)
I believe the answer is:
leo
'him' is the definition.
'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 "5th sign of the zodiac" , "A constellation; several popes" , "one of several popes" , "Lion sign of the Zodiac" , "Horoscope sign" .)