The Tamesis
What happened at Roland Garros? Yesterday, world number one Jannik Sinner was all but assured of victory, given the injury to Carlos Alcaraz, who was playing his last career Grand Slam match in recent history, severely slumped in the heat and lost in five sets to world number 56 Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina. While it’s always a shame to lose the best player in the world on the biggest stage, Sinner’s absence from the rest of the tournament opens up fascinating possibilities and clears the way for what could be a historic final.
First thing’s first (obvious): This doesn’t make it any easier for Novak Djokovic (here the third seed) to reach the final. Sinner and Djokovic are on opposite halves of the draw, so Novak may still need to move past second-seeded Alexander Zverev, 15th-seeded Kasper Ruud or eighth-seeded Alex De Minaur to have a chance at his 25th Grand Slam. First up for him, though, is No. 28 seed Joao Fonseca, who will face him this morning in a match that many are calling potentially a generational moment. Fonseca grew up on the clay courts of Brazil and at his best has the ability to beat just about anyone. Whether that’s enough to outdo the sport’s master of strategy and cunning – who at 39 can still crush opponents on hot pitches – remains to be seen. (We’ll be watching.)
As for the heat: It’s just one of the roadblocks to some carnage in Week 1. American upstart Hailey Baptiste suffered anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus injuries that will keep her out of the sport for about six months; Turkey’s Zeynep Sönmez and Belgium’s Alexander Blockx were both forced to withdraw after stepping on advertising blocks on the court; Czech player Jakub Mensik He won the second round in five hard-fought sets, but suffered severe cramps after match point and was unable to stand up from the court and had to be taken away in a wheelchair. (His current opponent is De Minaur in what should be a lively contest; Rudd, meanwhile, will face American Tommy Paul in another promising match; and early tomorrow morning, American prodigy Tian will battle Italian Flavio Coboli for a fourth-round spot.)
On the women’s side, third-seeded Iga Swiatek and 15th-seeded Marta Kostyuk (who recently hit career highs, especially on clay) both breezed through their third-round matches and will face each other on Sunday, and tomorrow we’ll see a strong lineup of matches we’ll be keeping an eye on: No. 17 American Eva Jovic, who is clearly rising in the rankings, takes on No. 16 Naomi Osaka; world number one Aryna Sabalenka against Daria Kasatkina; ninth-ranked Victoria Mboko (who yesterday’s news reports said she was partnering the returning Serena Williams in doubles at the Queen’s Club Wimbledon warm-up) against 19th-ranked American Madison Keys, who has recently been able to make the late stages; fourth seed Coco Gauff Gauff vs. Anastasia Potapova.
All in all, it should be an amazing weekend of tennis – although the temperatures, which are wreaking havoc on some players, are expected to get worse, reaching 94 degrees today and 92 degrees tomorrow. (For comparison, the race Sinner experienced started at about 84 degrees and peaked at about 90 degrees.)
As for the big question: No, we don’t know who’s going to win this right now. But whoever wins the semifinals from the bottom half of the men’s draw (let’s go out on a limb and say it will be Zverev vs. Djokovic) looks set to make it to the finals with ease. We’ll call it Zverev – one of the best players of his era who doesn’t yet have a Grand Slam in his pocket. On the women’s side, well: Would you bet on Sabalenka? She’s already drawn, though, and will likely have to beat Coco, Jovic or Osaka and Mboko to reach the final. On the other side of the draw: Swiatek, Kostyuk — and the eternal wild-card possibility of eighth-seeded Mirra Andreeva, if she can turn her intensity into results.
