They came armed with rackets and a sense of mission. And both Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic won their third titles at Roland Garros.
Here with 50 parting shots, from the clay-covered theater of life that is Roland Garros:
1. Djokovic won the men’s title and, more critically of course, his 23rd major, putting him ahead of Rafa Nadal on the all-time men’s list. There are countless angles here. But given that Djokovic not only played his usual precise, impregnable tennis but physically outlasted the field, there is a distinct sense that 23 is simply a mile marker on the route to a bigger number.
2. We know how complete a player Świątek is. Power and spin and offense and defense and backcourt and frontcourt. But who knew she had this much fight. After cruising for 13.5 sets en route to winning her fourth major, her GPS failed. She rerouted and simply seized the title. In a perverse way, this might have been a more fulfilling and significant win than a 6–3. 6–2 Iga-was-too-good demolition.
Thibault Camus/AP
3. Casper Ruud of Norway reached his third major final in 12 months, taking down six opponents with steady, precise tennis … before running into the steadiest, precisest of them all.
4. Karolina Muchová did herself proud winning six matches to reach her first major final. She may have done herself prouder still fighting back from 2–6, 0–3 to push Świątek to the brink in the final. She has such a fluid athletic game that she can now translate to grass. She was unseeded here in name only. Going forward, she won’t have to worry about that for a long time. But others will.
5. Carlos Alcaraz is a dazzling young player, a ferocious ball striker who will win many majors. But he was served a reminder here that, often as we talk about forehands and backhands and serves, conditioning and the management of a situation are just as critical. After splitting the first two sets against Novak Djokovic in a semifinal that, for the two-plus hours, lived up to its considerable billing, Alcaraz cramped and wilted. He’ll figure out how to manage “tension” (his word) and figure out how to manage his hydration levels. But it was, literally, a painful lesson learned.
6. Lose a major semifinal, 6–3, 6–3, you say, “I’m proud of my run and my opponent was too good today and now I’m pivoting to the grass.” Lose after squandering match points and then losing 20 of the next 24 points, and there’s quite an accumulation of scar tissue. And we’ll see how Aryna Sabalenka deals.
7. A year ago, Sascha Zverev reached the semis, Theismann-ed his ankle, and left the court in a wheelchair. He should be pleased with his effort to return to the semifinals. Once there, he was as flat as the court itself, falling to Ruud in three barely competitive sets. (“I got my ass kicked. There’s no question about it,” he self-assessed). Still, Zverev didn’t play in 2022 after his fall, so every point earned for the rest of this year will go toward improving his ranking.
8. In women’s doubles Hsieh Su-Wei and Wang Xinyu beat North American lefties Taylor Townsend and Leylah Fernandez. In the men’s Austin Krajicek of Tampa (an American champ!) and Croatian Ivan Dodig downed the all-Belgian team of Joran Vliegen and Sander Gillé, 6-3, 6-1.
9. The most powerful force in this crazy sport? It's not Alcaraz's game or Sabalenka's forehand or Djokovic's mental strength. It's tennis karma. After her misbegotten week, Miyu Kato (see below) teamed with Tim Puetz to win the mixed doubles title.
10. In the girls, Alina Korneeva of Russia won her second straight major, beating Lucciana Perez Alarcon of Peru. Dino Prižmić of Croatia took out Darwin Blanch in the semis and then Juan Carlos Prado Ángelo in the finals. For all your juniors results, as ever, Colette Lewis has you covered.
11. During the middle weekend, Nadal, 14-time champ, not only celebrated his 37th birthday but also underwent surgery in Barcelona for that stubborn left psoas. There were three doctors present but Marc Philippon, a world-renowned hip surgeon, took the lead. He is a Canadian based in Colorado. That Nadal flew a doctor across an ocean to perform scope surgery speaks to a) the seriousness of the injury and b) his commitment to continue playing.
12. One of tennis’s virtues: It is relentlessly global. That means geopolitics and matters of international diplomacy can loom large. Which was the case, especially when a woman playing for Ukraine faced off against two Russians and a Belarussian in succession. We all know the sports-as-war metaphor and the power of tribalism. But can we take a breath here and resist blanket condemnation? There are complexities and challenges that don’t play well in the Twitter world or feed our appetite for binary you-rock-you-suck. And few of us are positioned to know what the players are dealing with. If our homes were turned to rubble, who knows, we, too, might be reluctant to shake the hands of players from the aggressing nation, even if they are not personally responsible. If we lived under dictators and feared the safety of our family, we, too, might be reluctant to repudiate them publicly. Wide berth here, folks. Should sympathy and loyalty rest, unequivocally, with Ukraine? Yes. But turning athletes into proxies is an oversimplification.
Thibault Camus/AP
13. Rhapsody in Boo. Pay for a ticket and you are granted a right to boo. But, man, do the French fans like that sound. They booed Russian athletes; and the Ukrainians who refused handshakes; and players who asked for line calls to be questioned; and players opposing French favorites; and French favorites who failed to deliver; and Taylor Fritz and Djokovic. Give us hyper-involved fans over indifferent fans. But “boo” is an unseemly tournament soundtrack. And for fans considered to be real connoisseurs of the sport, this persistent booing was, for lack of a better word, weird.
14. Whether this owes to the modest American showing, the television challenges, or the power of social media, I had more inquiries about the Kato doubles kerfuffle than any other topic. The Republic of Tennis has reached consensus that she was wronged and this penalty was absurd. Additional quick thoughts: 1) Replay would have solved this and spared everyone embarrassment; 2) this is another reason why players need a proper union; 3) lobbying for an opponent to be disqualified is the height of cowardly; 4) whether it’s cultural or simply her personality, Kato’s reaction was noteworthy. No threats to sue. No sense of victimization. No social media screeds. No calling out Marie Bouzková and Sara Sorribes Tormo for acting like punks. Rather, a deep sense of shame and remorse. Which was, at once, heartbreaking, unwarranted and deeply touching.
15. Long as we’re here, Puetz deserves a call-out (in the best kind of way) for this impromptu display of empathy and pitch-perfect tact.
16. Nice event for South America. Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil samba-ed into the semis and gave Świątek a run. Argentina’s Tomás Martín Etcheverry, the revelation of the tournament, reached the quarters, while countryman Francisco Cerundolo was a few points from the quarters. Nicolás Jarry of Chile has re-entered the chat. Peru’s Juan Pablo Varillas reached Week Two. Both junior finalists were South American. Get past the detailed allegations of domestic violence and alleged Nazi pride and an agent who threateningly confronts journalists when they ask about matters of public record, and one must acknowledge that Thiago Seyboth Wild pulled the upset of the men’s draw, taking out Daniil Medvedev in the first round.
17. The WTA pulled the old Friday news dump and dropped its Q3 and Q4 schedule on the first Friday. (“Finally,” as the awesome tennis player and truth teller Daria Kasatkina put it.) The return to China is official. Or is it? Here’s a story to follow: For all the events listed here, a city is given. Except for Week 44, which simply says, “WTA Finals.” I asked CEO Steve Simon to confirm that the WTA Finals is, in fact, returning to Shenzhen. The response? “Our intention is to return to Shenzhen for the 2023 WTA Finals, as we continue working through the details. We will be sure to update in due course.” Um … So with no small amount of lost face and reputational damage, you’re returning to China … but as far as holding the big-ticket event, the WTA Finals there, you “continue working through the details?” Watch this space….
18. Last week, the grounds were astir with the news that LIV and the PGA Tour had (kinda, sorta, subject to approval, devil-resides-in-details) merged. This provoked questions about whether tennis could benefit from the PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund that seems particularly bullish on sports—whether that’s because of the sector’s economic potential; or because it’s easy to use jocks, and stadiums and teams to launder a reputation and rebrand a country. There is already a well-funded December tennis exo in Riyadh. And both tours are prepared to announce that the 2023 Next Gen event will be held in the kingdom. And the door is open….
19. The week before the tournament, I had the chance to spend some time at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Academy in southern Spain. “Academy” is misleading. It’s more of a boot camp, something akin to where boxers (or soldiers) might train. All business. You’re not there for pampering or a suntan. It says a lot about Alcaraz that this is where he chooses to train. And if 15-year-old American Darwin Blanch, wasn’t impressive enough with his play in the boys draw, the knowledge that he chooses to train at Fort Ferrero only adds to his upside.
20. Mirra Andreeva is 16 (and barely going on 17), is already in the Top 100, and, after winning two rounds, she took a set off Coco Gauff Saturday before wilting. She has mastered the tennis art of hitting deep in the court. Temperamentally, she has a nice balance between “I-can’t-believe-I’m-here” awe and “I’m-playing-to-win” once the ball is in play.
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21. Elina Svitolina was the story of Week 1 and she has made it her priority to talk about Ukraine and her drive to bring attention and funds to the unjust war. Good on her. But this has had the effect of taking attention away from her motherhood. But what a graceful recovery from maternity leave. You wonder how many recent mothers and mothers-to-be in their 20s and 30s—Naomi Osaka, Angie Kerber, even, dare we say it, delightful Caroline Wozniacki?—see her and find inspiration to re-enter their workplace.
Christophe Ena/AP
22. As it is written: Lo, invest nine figures in a roof for your venues … .and you will be blessed with 15 days of unremitting sunshine.
23. After the Miami Heat went up 3–0 on the Boston Celtics, lost the next three games, and then resurrected to win the series, 4–3, we had a discussion about the tennis equivalent. How many times does the player who takes the first two sets and drops the next two, win the fifth? The good folks at Hawk-Eye reveal:
“At the slams from 2016-2023 (not including this tournament). 224 times this has happened
Overall:
-When a player goes 2-0 up, they won 106 of them (47%)
-Player that goes 2-0, down won 118 of them (53%)
I then had a look at the standard of those people—the only way I could do it was looking at the seeded players/ who had the highest seed—Out of those 224, 74 of them had no seeded player.
No seed matches:
-If the player that went 2-0 up, they won 35 of the matches (47%)
-Player that went 2-0 down, won 39 of the matches (53%)
Seeded matches:
-If the seeded player/ or highest seed went 2-0 up they won 48 of those matches (67%) and lost 23 (33%).
-If the seeded player/ highest seed went 2-0 down they won 51 of those matches (65%) and lost 28 (35%)
This is really interesting. Essentially, if the two players are unseeded, it’s a coin flip. If one player is demonstrably higher than the other, regression to the mean (and momentum) comes hard. Another variable: Was there an injury? But we can save that…..
24. There was a fair amount of chatter over former champ Simona Halep, who, prior to the tournament, practiced with current and former players in Monte Carlo. Anecdotally, there is sympathy for her situation and the general, uncharacteristic tumult that has confronted her over the past year. There is also an acknowledgement that w/r/t the doping, her fact pattern is, at best, regrettable; at worst, damning. The allegation of biological passport irregularities is not “a second positive,” as it’s been mischaracterized. But it does add an additional layer of regrettable complexity. And the odds of her returning anytime soon appear to be quite steep.
25. Venus Williams—age 43 next week— has not played since January and has a ranking north of 700. But she is, defiantly, an active player. And she will be taking her show to the grass. Bless her. Others returning to action on grass: Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori and maybe Marin Čilić.
26. Roland Garros might have the single best tennis court on the circuit … and the single worst ticket on the circuit. If the tournament could hold the night session on Le Court Simonne-Mathieu, they might cancel each other out?
27. Plenty was made of the heartbreaking/heartwarming story of Lucas Pouille, up from the depths of binge-drinking and depression, who qualified for the main draw. When he won his first match, the crowd broke into an impromptu rendering of “La Marseillaise.” (Aside: Imagine that happening in America, a homegrown player winning and everyone singing "The Star-Spangled Banner?” Especially in these polarized times, I’m having a hard time picturing that.) Anyway, another story of a French qualifier that didn’t get enough play: In 2020, Fiona Ferro was a Week 2 player at Roland Garros, an athletic local. She then went public, accusing her coach of sexually assaulting her when she was a young teenager. (He was charged as a result). This trauma, coupled with injuries, sent her ranking tumbling deep into triple-digits. Ranked No. 465, she received a wild card to qualifying, won three matches and seems to be clawing her way back. Ferro is 26. Do your thing, tennis karma. Speaking of….
28. Every fan should be rooting for Kasatkina. If moral courage in the face of a vile autocrat weren’t enough, damn, is her tennis fun to watch. (Aside: last week, Varvara Gracheva, quietly became the first Russian player to change nationality and will now represent France. Given Kasatkina’s persona non grata status in Russia, why wouldn’t Spain—or for that matter, the USTA—make overtures to her?)
29. For the public service portion of today’s show … I heard a wild story about a fan of a top WTA player; following said player’s Facebook page, getting a DM redirecting him to another “exclusive” page where he could communicate directly with the player; sending the player an encouraging DM before the tournament; getting a warm response; then getting an invitation to join her in investing options through something called Stock-xchange.online. This was clearly a scam, one that you suspect the player knows nothing about. Caveat emptor and all.
30. An elephant in the room … Ash Barty, three-time major winner, retired in her mid-20s, atop the sport, largely because she wasn’t entirely happy in the peripatetic tennis world. Naomi Osaka, multiple M\major champ, is an expectant mother; but before that she was out of action, citing mental health. Garbiñe Muguruza, multiple major champ—recently engaged— is on hiatus, prioritizing her mental health. Bianca Andreescu, recent major champ, has been admirably candid about her “mental health journey.” Her contemporary, former RG semifinalist Amanda Anisimova, is on an indefinite break from tennis, citing mental health. Paula Badosa, recent No. 3, emerges as a star of the Netflix series largely by letting the cameras chronicle her “constant internal fight.” Sabalenka declined to conduct press conferences during the middle rounds citing “my own mental health and well-being.” Let’s first acknowledge that there’s something positive and healthy about this destigmatization, about athletes speaking openly about a topic once taboo. But at what point does the WTA ask itself: “What is it about this workplace/existence that is creating such a high incidence of stress, anxiety and general unhappiness?”
Aurelien Morissard/AP
31. It was 40 years ago (gulp) that Yannick Noah won the men’s title, the last Frenchman to do so. He was around during this tournament and, well, read this. What a treasure this guy is.
32. Given the way generative AI and predictive modeling has permeated (infected?) our world in 2023, it suddenly seems almost quaint that robots have replaced humans as line judges. Now that it no longer exists, how silly was the “challenge system?” We all liked watching the simulation of the ball and the oohs and aahs when the machines determined that a shot landed a few millimeters in or out. But the idea that incorrect calls were allowed to stand because a player ran out of challenges—like a game show contestant—seems so wrong in retrospect.
33. The majors have a great deal of autonomy and power. If the French Open wants to spare the expense of automatic line calling, lean into the explanation that marks left in clay are more reliable than AI (i.e. electronic line-calling), it is free to do so. But in 2025, when the ATP implements the robots at all events—including Madrid and Rome—and Roland Garros remains subject to human error, it will, forgive the pun, be a bad look.
34. Confirming what was long taken as an article of faith, “The San Jose tournament has been approved to move to Washington, D.C. and operate as a combined event beginning in 2023, the Mubadala Citi DC Open.” There will be no pro event in the Bay Area for the first time in a half-century. But do note that—despite the WTA’s sluggishness in releasing its fall calendar—there will be a WTA event in San Diego after the U.S. Open. The real pending announcement: the Western and Southern Open’s all but inevitable relocation (we’re told) from one Queen City to another, from Cincinnati to Charlotte.
35. Every match tells a story, don’t it? In front of a raucous crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Jannik Sinner and Daniel Altmaier. Deep in the fourth set, Sinner has a match point. He hits a volley that Altmaier struggles to bat back. But the ball clips the tape and strafes past Sinner (shades of Rostagno/Becker). Altmaier recovers to win the game, the set and ultimately—after 5:26—the match, dealing Sinner his fourth-straight, five-set defeat at a major.
36. With so many large apparel manufacturers cutting back on tennis—starting with a Portland-based company, symbolized by a swoosh—note how many players are wearing off-label brands. In some cases, they get free kits. In other cases, they have an equity deal with the brand. Which makes sense. If brand A is lowballing or larding the contract with incentive clauses (one former major champ was recently offered only $10,000 guaranteed), why not take a flyer on a start-up?
37. Your periodic reminder that tennis is an international sport, and currency markets matter. When a US dollar is $1.33, prize money is X. When a US dollar is $1.06, as it currently is, prize money is Y.
38. Move over U.S. Open. Roland Garros has an even bigger, well, what a gastroenterologist might call a “lower bowl” problem. The grounds are packed. Practice courts are thronged. Yet the prime seats on the prime courts are unused. You try to sell a match—“Ons Jabeur is up next!”—and then she takes the court to a pasture of empty stands. It’s a terrible look. All the more when it doesn’t reflect reality on the grounds.
39. The Edward R. Murrow Award goes to…
Q: This time last year I said that you reminded me of Casper the Ghost because you almost ghosted into the second week without a lot of people noticing. Are you still haunted by what happened in the final? How spooked out should the rest of the field be that you’re playing scarily good right now?
CASPER RUUD: Nice wordplay there (smiling).
Perhaps this is less than collegial to point out. And no sector eats its own quite like the media does. And sometimes the offbeat, cringefest questions generate fun answers. It cannot—and should not—be all forehands and backhands; how excited are you? Can you forecast your next match? But Casper the Ghost? What are we doing here? At the other end of the journalistic spectrum…
Aurelien Morissard/AP
40. A tip of the chapeau to Chris Clarey, who is transitioning from the grind of daily journalism to the world of book writing (look for Rafa Nadal bio next year). A real loss for the press room.
41. If you’ll indulge in more media talk … I think I mentioned last year that—because Paris still needs more charms—you can get into most museums gratuit with a press card. Apart from the cost savings, it’s a lovely gesture, a nod to the critical importance of an independent press. Which makes Roland Garros’ various media erosions—limiting access, mischaracterizing “pool reporting,” forbidding certain topics as a criteria for player interviews—all the more troubling.
42. Apropos of nothing, here’s a stat that stopped us cold: Stan Wawrinka is 5-0 against world No.1 players when he has faced them at majors. He is 0-18 against No.1 players elsewhere. Want more? What about Muchová holding a 5-0 record against top three players. And four of those wins came at majors.
43. Jabeur might reign as the minister of happiness. But she raised an excellent point during the tournament when she talked about the decidedly unhappy topic of sports gambling. Namely, the tournaments and tours can profit off the explosion of the sector. Media companies can as well. The players, however, are not only foreclosed from making deals, but receive the brunt of the fallout on social media. “We are not allowed to have betting sponsors but people are betting on us, but we get the hate messages and all the people that threaten us and everything.” Bring on the union. (Aside from the labor law cohort: The ATP and WTA status quo types like to argue that players cannot unionize because they are independent contractors and there is no employer. Why, then, can Hollywood writers—who produce scripts for no fixed employer; who are often without any work—be allowed to form the WGA?)
44. Long as we’re here … Player after player complained about the balls. Again, the tournament gets the revenue; the players get the wrist injuries. Name another sport in which the competitors have no say over the equipment. If there were a new basketball that NBA players hated and feared might cause injury, the union would respond with the velocity of an Alycia Parks serve.
45. Another fine event for college tennis—which is becoming redundant given how many players have had D-I experience. Cerundolo was once a prize recruit at South Carolina. Peyton Stearns played free of fear and beat former champ Jeļena Ostapenko. Diana Shnaider, the piratical lefty who played deep in the Australian Open before enrolling at NC State, again won a round. In a match fit for the SEC Network, Nuno Borges (five-time All-American during his four-year college career at Mississippi State) beat John Isner (UGA, several moons ago) in round one. Speaking of college tennis on a less happy note….
46. Mark Booras: “Tulane's Head Tennis Coach, needs our tennis community’s help. He has been in the ICU at Cleveland Clinic since April 17th, awaiting a heart transplant, which he received this morning. The expenses are massive. If you can help, please reach out to me for info to donate.”
47. Spark up YouTube next week to watch Stanford’s commencement speaker…John McEnroe.
48. As always, a nod to Tennis Channel. As the high school newspaper headline might put it: “A good time was had by all.” And a gentle reminder that the on-air folks—while not without their flaws—are not responsible for the verkakte broadcast deals, the quality of the feed, NBC’s move to streaming, the schedule of night matches, etc.
49. The Netflix crew was here in full force, shooting for another season of Break Point. But also note the forthcoming Amazon Prime show 15-Love and prepare to guess which players, coaches and agents inspired which characters.
50. Always fun geeking out on tennis with you guys. Back to the day job but we’ll return for Wimbledon.
