By Matt Hill
The next generation of tennis players have arrived, and Carlos Alcaraz is leading the pack. The Spainard won his third major on three different surfaces on Sunday with a thrilling five-set triumph 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 win over Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros. After going through a minor slump that was probably blown out of proportion by tennis pundits and fans couple with Jannik Sinner winning the Australian Open in January, there was a lot of doubts rolling around but the last three months Alcaraz has won the two biggest tournaments in that span taking the title at Indian Wells in March which is the so-called fifth major and now has backed this up with a championship at Roland Garros after missing most of the clay season with
injuries.
Sinner’s win in Melbourne and now Alcaraz’s victory in Paris signals a shift in the power of the ATP as now it looks as if maybe we have moved on from the Big 3 dominance considering Novak Djokovic’s struggles this season. It remains to be seen, but it seems like we are at that point. Meanwhile, there have been only two grand slam champions to be born in the 90s and Zverev’s generation looks like it is pretty much going to go down as the lost generation of tennis. Zverev has had other issues on his mind besides tennis. His trial that was going on during Roland Garros for domestic violence charges was settle monetarily and without an admission of guilt, was dismissed, but as far as on the tennis court, he has been outstanding in recent weeks which included a Rome title right before RG. On Sunday, he was able to focus on tennis and did he ever, taking a two-sets to one lead and looking like he was in the driver’s seat. Alcaraz did not throw in the towel and raised his level in the fourth set and won the set 6-1 to force the fifth. Controversy struck in the fifth set when Alcaraz was the beneficiary of a bad call that went against Zverev on a ball that was out that the chair overruled. In 2025, the ATP is going to electronic line calling on every court, but Roland Garros has indicated that they are probably going to continue using lines people. I do not know if this call would change things, but it possibly and I mean possibly affected the outcome of this match. Alcaraz led 3-1 and took all the momentum. There were several calls in this match that Zverev questioned. Most likely Alcaraz wins this match anyway, but there was a lot of talk on social media Sunday night, including from Novak Djokovic fans cheering for Zverev who felt Zverev may have been targeted. I personally believe the better player won, but there will always be question marks on this match.
The escape fueled Alcaraz and then ahead 4-2 probably hit the shot of the tournament if not one of the best in Roland Garros finals history when he hit an incredible one-handed backhand for a winner that drew a stare of a lifetime from Zverev like how did he hit that? Alcaraz went on to close it out to win his third major. Alcaraz joins players like Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win slams on three different surfaces and now only needs the Australian Open to complete the grand slam and I believe if he can win these first including one on hard court, there is no reason to believe he can’t win that tournament. Alcaraz is an all-court player, and he deserves all the praise that our coming this way. Despite what the rankings say, he is the leader of the new generation, and he showed it on Friday in a 5-set victory against Jannik Sinner, the Australian Open champion. Sinner is ranked No. 1, but Alcaraz has beaten him at the two biggest tournaments since Australia, Indian Wells and Roland Garros.
Meanwhile for Zverev, you have to wonder if this was his golden chance? It was his second grand slam final and the second one he couldn’t close out. It seemed like all the stars were aligning and he couldn’t take advantage. With this next-gen firmly in control, you wonder if we will ever see a player born in the 90s win a major on the men’s side again. It looks like we have truly passed up a whole generation of players and now the kids rule.
IGA HAS NO PROBLEM IN SECOND WEEK OF ROLAND GARROS
After nearly dropping out of the tournament in week one to Naomi Osaka, week two was a breeze for Iga Swiatek as she racks up her fourth Roland Garros title in the last five years and wins three in a row. Swiatek’s last two matches were extremely impressive, winning 6-2. 6-4 over now world No. 2 Coco Gauff and 6-2, 6-1 in the finals to Italian Jazmine Paolini. After the Osaka match Swiatek was not threatened at all and quickly got off the court in every match. The win over Gauff continues a mastery over the American as Swiatek has now beaten her in 11 of their first 12 meetings, with Gauff defeating Swiatek in Cincinnati last year on a fast hard court en route to winning the US Open. More on Gauff later, but Swiatek has been tremendous this clay season and she completed the Madrid/Rome/Paris triple, something that is basically impossible almost to do. Swiatek is truly the best clay court player on the planet and probably the best tennis player on the planet even if she does not like grass or fast hardcourts. It is early June and Swiatek has already qualified for the year end championships.
The final against Paolini was very anti-climactic. After Paolini broke early to take a 2-1 lead, Paolini only won one game after that and that was very late in the second set down 5-0 when the match had been decided. It was a nice run for Paolini who also played in the women’s doubles final (more on that coming up) but this tournament belonged to Swiatek. There has been a lot of conversation about what would have happened if Osaka had converted that match point or if Sabalenka had not gotten a stomach bug against Paolini and was facing Iga in the final and while we will never know, Swiatek took of who she had to take care and won this title. And she is going to win many more Roland Garros championships.
DJOKOVIC TEARS MENISCUS, PULLS OUT BEFORE QUARTERFINALS
After Novak Djokovic’s sensational comeback against Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth quarter where he won the match with a torn meniscus, Djokovic couldn’t play in his quarterfinal against Casper Ruud and therefore pulled out of the tournament. The main takeaway I have from this is he won a tennis match playing with a torn meniscus in his knee showing just how superhuman this man really is. You wonder if he damaged the knee any further? Djokovic is questionable for Wimbledon though I expect him to pull out sooner or later. I think the biggest question right now is whether he will be ready for the Olympics, which will be
played back at Roland Garros on clay. Djokovic has said that the Olympic gold is his top priority this year. I firmly expect him to be back for that. It really wouldn’t have surprised me if Djokovic was healthy that he would have skipped Wimbledon anyway, so I don’t see him playing it after meniscus surgery. Modern medicine has come a long way and I think for Djokovic, whose avoidance of the Covid-19 vaccine for health reasons has been well documented and with a lot of debate on both sides, feels the Olympics are the most important thing to him and he decided to get the surgery. It looks like a smart move, and I firmly expect him to be back in Paris contending for gold. Djokovic will also have to prove that the Big 3 era is not completely over after Sinner’s win in Australia and Alcaraz’ triumph in Paris. Every time Djokovic is down, he steps up. We will see if he recovers and does it again.
GAUFF/SINIAKOVA TAKES ROLAND GARROS WOMEN’SDOUBLES TITLE; FIRST GRAND SLAM IN DOUBLES FOR GAUFF
It is a great time to be Coco Gauff. This week she became the No. 2 player in the world, made her third-straight slam singles semifinal and on Sunday won he first grand slam doubles title with Katerina Siniakova in a 7-6, 6-3 win over Jasmine Paolini and veteran Sara Errani. As good as Gauff has been in doubles, it is hard to believe this was her first slam title. I am sure if her coach Brad Gilbert has any say so it will be her last and she will focus on singles, but on a doubles
court she is a force. Of course, Gauff had a great partner this time in Siniakova, who has several grand slam titles with other players, form a great combo with Gauff that could not stopped. Her usual partner, Jessica Pegula, was injured. It will be interesting to see if this is a permanent combo or a one-time thing. As far as the match, there were multiple breaks in this match, but the constant was Coco on serve, she was not broken one time in the match, and she led the way. After the first set tiebreak, Gauff and Siniakova cruised in the second set and then Coco served it out to give the team the victory. I really believe now that Gauff has that title she may decide to focus on singles. I believe if she is going to consistently be a threat at slams or get over the Swiatek hump, she is going to have to make that decision. However, she can always have this moment of being to call herself a grand slam singles and doubles champion.
TURNER SPORTS TO TAKE OVER FOR NBC AND TENNIS CHANNEL AT ROLAND GARROS IN 2025 IN THE USA
It was announced this week that NBC would no longer be broadcasting Roland Garros and most American tennis fans said good riddance. NBC responded to the news that Turner Sports was taking over coverage in 2025 by just blowing off the trophy ceremony for the men’s final and then going to a track and field meet (It was not the Olympic trials just a normal meet). It did do a short montage looking back on over 40 years covering the tournament. Probably not the sendoff this tournament deserved, though they did have the epic Agassi-Medvedev match from 1999 when Agassi completed the career grand slam
on it.
With a new era of tennis broadcasting will commence next year as Turner Sports, who broadcasts a plethora of sporting events in the United States including the NBA, NHL and the NCAA Basketball Tournament, will be the exclusive broadcaster of Roland Garros in the United States in 2025, I honestly like this move. With NBC, they really haven’t cared about this tournament since before the Covid pandemic hit and with Tennis Channel, it was on a premium cable channel that casual fans probably do not watch. Now, all four slams will be on basic cable channels with viable streaming options for bonus coverage on HBO Max. There will be some skeptics to this, but I have said for years that slams deserve better attention than channels that are accessible only to die-hard fans. I think ESPN and Turner Sports are perfect for slams. A lot of people have mentioned why ESPN does not carry Roland Garros? I think it is because of two reasons. 1. They are tied into college baseball and softball in June and 2. They don’t want to interfere with the talking head shows that get good ratings. I think Wimbledon is expected but not for Roland Garros.I do have some advice for Turner Sports when they take over at Roland Garros next year. Find some young announcers, people like Monica Puig and Andy Roddick and give them a shot instead of putting the same people on the air we have seen for 30 or 40 years (Mary Carillo, John McEnroe, Pam Shriver just to name a few. We need some new blood in the tennis media and it is time for a new generation to be carrying the mantle as far as tennis media goes. Good luck to Turner sports I look forward to seeing how this goes next year. I think they will do great.
