Week one of Roland Garros is in the books and we are headed down the home stretch of the
tournament. Here is a daily recap so far beginning with the opening day Sunday.
Day 1 (Sunday)
The opening night session on Chartier featured an old-school battle between Stan Wawrinka and
Andy Murray. I had Wawrinka as the favorite coming into the match and he didn’t disappoint in
a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win in a battle of three-time grand slam champions. These are the two aging
players who spoiled the party a little bit in the Big 3 era, tallying grand slam titles and in
Murray’s case two gold medals in the Olympic singles. Wawrinka has a gold medal in Olympic
doubles. This was a match that was all in Stan’s favor and turned out to be a goodbye at Roland
Garros for Murray. It is the first of several goodbyes for Murray, who most likely will retire at
Wimbledon. I am glad that he was able to have a nice sendoff by the French crowd.
In other matches, Carlos Alcaraz made a statement with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 triumph over J.J. Wolf.
Alcaraz at least in this match showed the injury he suffered earlier in the clay season was not
bothering him. The biggest upset of the day on the men’s side was Nicolas Jarry falling to 6-2, 6-
1, 3-6, 6-0 in a match where Jarry was booed by the French fans, an obvious retaliation from the
match in Santiago where Moutet was booed by the Chilean fans.
On the women’s side, most of the high-profile players did not play, but one of the more
interesting matches of the day was Caroline Garcia against Eva Lys 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Garcia looked
done in this match but rallied in the final two sets to take the win. Four-time grand slam
champion looking to get back to the top Naomi Osaka was victorious as well in a 6-1 4-6 7-5
victory over Lucia Bronzetti.
DAY 2 (MONDAY)
Day two of Roland Garros belonged to one man, Rafael Nadal. The 14-time grand slam
champion played what could have been his last Roland Garros in a tough 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 defeat to
Alexander Zverev in front a packed house that included spectators the likes of Carlos Alcaraz,
Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek. It was a bittersweet day for Nadal fans and for fans of tennis
honestly. This was a celebration of almost 20 years of greatness and an era that we will probably
not see again in tennis.
Nadal came out tight in the first set, losing the first service game at love and losing the first.
Nadal led 5-3 in the second set and Zverev stepped up his level and forced a tiebreak. Nadal
went on to lose that tiebreak and fell behind two sets to love. Nadal played pretty well, but pretty
well is not going to cut it against the No. 4 player in the world. Zverev showed why he is a
legitimate contender to win this title by the way he played. The question is, should this match
even have been played? There has been a debate on whether Nadal should have been seeded in
this tournament. I say yes out of respect. However, Roland Garros is a very by the book
tournament and they made no exception on that, just like they did not give Dominic Thiem and
Caroline Wozniacki wild cards into the tournament. They just stay by the book.
There was no formal ceremony, but Nadal did address the crowd and said that he was not totally
sure if this was his last Roland Garros. He did say he plans to play the Paris Olympics, which is
also at Roland Garros. In his press conference, he said he was probably going to skip Wimbledon
and focus on the Olympics, which is also at Roland Garros. Zverev declined to celebrate the win
and put all the focus on Nadal in a very classy move.
It is uncertain when the end is going to come for Nadal. He has committed to Laver Cup in the
fall in Berlin, but I don’t think Nadal knows when the end will be. As fans and me as a journalist,
we must savor every time he is on the court, and I would say the same for Novak Djokovic as
well. We are seeing 20 years of the greatest men’s tennis ever. As an American, I would have
preferred to see some American grand slam champions the last two decades, but I also respect
these guys including Roger Federer for rewriting the record book. I think you also must throw in
Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka as well. We need to celebrate these legends.
DAY 3 (Tuesday)
Before she made headlines off the court on Tuesday at Roland Garros, former Wimbledon
champion Elena Rybakina took care of business in a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Greet Minnen in her
first match since Madrid. Rybakina was solid in her opening, hitting on all cylinders en route to
the win. After the match, Rybakina complained about the questions being asked to her in the
press conference, drawing criticism from a lot of International journalists.
On the men’s side, the night session featured Frenchman Pierre Hughes Herbert against top seed
and grand slam title leader Novak Djokovic. On Chartier. Herbert put up a tremendous fight but,
in the end, Djokovic won 6-4l 7-6, 6-4. It was a less than stellar performance from Djokovic
against the No. 142 ranked player in the world who needed a wild card for this event. On the flip
side, Herbert played a tremendous match and proved the wild card was worth it for him, who has
been dealing with his baby boy’s health issue which might have been a big reason he got the wild
card over some higher ranked French players. Herbert really did look like he was going to win
that second set, but as we have seen many times, Djokovic came through at the end of the
tiebreak and then cruised in the third set despite a great effort from Herbert.
DAY 4 (Wednesday)
This day of tennis belonged to the women and two future Hall of Famers. Iga Swiatek is the
queen of clay right now, having won three of the last four Roland Garros titles and she is trying
to go for the almost impossible triple of Madrid/Rome/Roland Garros and coming into her second-round match with Naomi Osaka, she was the heavy favorite to tak e this one and then winthe title. Meanwhile, Osaka is trying to come back after almost two years of the game for mental
health reasons and having her first child. The comeback has been kind of slow, but she has
shown signs here and there of getting back to her dominant self.
Osaka had everything stacked against her including playing on Swiatek’s favorite and her least
favorite surface, clay. Despite of this, the match was a classic and one of the best of 2024 as in
the end Iga Swiatek came back from a 4-1 third set deficit and was in a game that she had break
point against her to go up 5-1 and in the end took the 7-6, 1-6, 7-5 win over a resurgent Osaka on
Chartier Wednesday evening.
In some ways, Osaka deserves the headlines. The Japanese star probably outplayed Swiatek in
this match and won 17 of the 30 games played in this match. It was a phenomenal performance
to do this on clay and then if she won that break point at 5-1, it was probably over at that point.
Most likely Osaka became very tight toward the end and the nerves got her. Swiatek’s play in the
third set had a lot to do with that as you can’t open the door against her, or she is going to
capitalize. Swiatek was able to come all the way back and then she shut the door. Swiatek did not
play her best in this match and Osaka did, but it just shows how hard it is to be Swiatek in her
castle.
For Osaka, I think this could go one of two ways. This match could signal the beginning of
something special for her when we get to the North American summer hardcourt season or she
really could have a hard time getting over this one. Osaka seems to have found peace and I think
she will actually now return to the elite of women’s tennis. For Swiatek, I think this was her one
scare in the tournament and now she will be even more motivated to cruise through this
tournament.
DAY 5 (Thursday)
Casper Ruud came in to this wide open Roland Garros as one of the favorites to win the title and
he still may be, but he received a very tough test in a popcorn match on Lenglen Thursday
evening. Ruud squeezed out a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. It
was a great effort by the Spainard, who will probably rue not pulling out that first set out. For
Ruud it was a scare, but he was able to pull through on his favorite surface. Also, on Thursday,
another top player, Holger Rune received a huge scare as he won 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7)
against Flavio Cobolli. Rune looked to be cruising but Cobolli made Rune earn the victory,
taking it all the way to a match tiebreak before the Dane pulled it out in the end in arguably the
match of the day on the men’s side.
On the women’s side, two incredible matches ended the night as Bianca Andreescu continued
her comeback with a 1-6, 7-5. 6-3 triumph over Anna Kalinskaya and Mirra Andreeva won a
thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory over two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.on
Court 12. Andreescu looks like she is back just like Osaka, and it could be quite a time for women’s tennis if both of those players can get back at a high level, but in Andreescu’s case she looked like a totally different player than the last few years and she has a good draw the rest of
the way.
Andreeva could have folded after the second set, but she showed a lot of maturity for a 17-year-
old against a probable future Hall-of-Famer. It was very odd to see this match, which ended very
close to 1:00am local time, on what could be considered an auxiliary court instead of on Lenglen
or Mathieu, but the people watching Court 12 enjoyed every minute. At some point, Andreeva is
going to go deep at a major and I honestly expect it to be soon.
DAY 6 (Friday)
This match between Carlos Alcaraz and Sebastian Korda looked like it could be a breakout
moment for Korda, but the two-time grand slam champion raised his game when needed. Alcaraz
triumphed 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 over the American on Chartier. Korda is still looking to reach the elite of
the game and he played outstanding first two sets. In the second set, Korda was able to take the
set to a tiebreak and with the breaker at 5-5, the Spainard took things to another level and won it
7-5. This set the tone for the third set when Alcaraz broke early and then took control for the
straight-set win. For Korda, it was another heartbreak as the brother of LPGA superstar Nelly
Korda continues to look for her level of success. For Alcaraz, I believe he is back from his injury
and now looks to be one of the favorites if not the favorite to win this title along with Jannik
Sinner, who is showing no effects either of the injury that bothered him during the spring.
On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek continued her dominance in a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Marie
Bouzkova on Friday. Swiatek looked outstanding in the second set after a tough first set battle. It
wasn’t nearly as difficult as the Naomi Osaka match on Wednesday and now she can breathe
easier as her draw has opened tremendously.
DAY 7 (Saturday)
It was the longest day in the history of Roland Garros with the match ending at 3am Paris time,
but in the end the king of grand slam titles showed he is still the toughest out in a grand slam.
Novak Djokovic was behind two sets to one against Lorenzo Musetti only to see the legend pull
out this tremendous match 7-5, 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in another epic Djokovic comeback on Chartier.
The match was scheduled to start around 8:30 pm but to ensure all the third round matches were
completed because of the constant rain that has plagued this tournament, Grigor Dimitrov’s
match was moved to Chartier as a day session match and the Djokovic match didn’t begin until
after 4:30 pm because they had to clear the stadium. It was probably a good move to make for an
even playing field, but it could be damaging to Djokovic going forward after playing until the
wee hours of the morning. The tournament organizers will be ripped profusely for this but either
Djokovic or Dimitrov was going to be punished. The match itself, which was on NBC’s stream service Peacock in the United States so very few
people in America was able to watch, had some great moments and you must give Musetti credit
for the level he showed in the first three sets. He simply ran out of gas in the fourth and fifth.
Djokovic wanted to stop after the third set. They elected to play on and was able to turn things
around.
Djokovic will take on Fransisco Cerundolo in the fourth round. It will be interesting to see how
he reacts after playing till past 3am and then to see if he gets a day match or night match in the
next round. This will spark a debate on whether late finishes should go on, but it doesn’t look
like anything is going to change. There also needs to be a debate about making tennis accessible
to the common fan as on the Qualityshot tennis stream tonight with Anthony Hirsch, other fans
from all over the world could not watch the match. Thank goodness for watchalong streams like
Qualityshot Tennis for covering this great sport in the way they do.
