Roland Garros I

First rounds to look out for

It’s upon us, friends, tousled hair and unshaven faces, scarves around men’s necks and women’s lips touched by the faintest, most elegant hint of burgundy red, the Cannes film festival only a mere memory, because it’s time for the main event in France this year: the French Open. A place where tiny little glasses of French wine are dispensed alongside raw beef wherever you go. Because life.

I’m currently placed at a table in an airport lounge, a slice of good German cake in front of me before I become fully enwrapped in fancy pastries, buttery mille-feuilles and musky scents of France. While waiting for my flight to board, I studied the Roland Garros draw forward, backward and sideways and I’m ready to spill the beans on which first round encounters you should keep an eye on.

Here we go. Let’s start with the men.

Marton Fucsovics vs. Matteo Berrettini

Now, listen. I pride myself with the intellectual side of this newsletter but I never wanted to be the fourth song on the B-side of a free jazz record. I’m very much okay with writing a hit every now and then. Incidentally, my biggest hit by a mile this year was “How to pull a tennis player”. I see you, tennis friends, I see you. So, while tennis-wise this encounter might not be much in this particular moment of time - Fucsovics is on a four-match losing streak, Berrettini has been mostly playing challengers lately - there are other aspects, the aesthetic kind, that I know part of my audience might enjoy. Berrettini leads the head-to-head 3:1.

Tallon Griekspoor vs. Matteo Arnaldi

Tallon Griekspoor might be ranked 31 in the world and pose as the 29th seed of the tournament but the only clay court news he’s made this season is the engaging (*clears throat*) approach to coaching his girlfriend Anastasia Potapova during her incredible run as a Lucky Loser to the Madrid semifinals. He gets Matteo Arnaldi in the first round, yet another up and coming Italian talent, who has struggled mightily at the beginning of the season, dropping all the way to 96 in the world, but Matteo has just recently found his form again. He won a big challenger tournament and beat both Jaume Munar and Alex de Minaur in Rome before succumbing in three tight sets to Rafael Jodar. Arnaldi has a penchant for Sorrentino-style (my personal favourite Italian in the world) five-setters while Griekspoor is not a stranger to occasional drama either. It’ll be hot in Paris, it will make playing conditions fast and Tallon has a beautiful volley in his carry-on luggage. This is the first meeting between the two and I hope we’re in for a good one.

Hugo Gaston vs. Gael Monfils

I don’t think it would have particularly mattered who Gael Monfils was facing in his last French Open ever but drawing Hugo Gaston in the first round makes things just a bit spicier than expected. Hugo loves a drop-shot just as much as he loves making a splash when Roland Garros comes around. He’s one of these French players who you barely hear of throughout the year but the moment tennis stops in Paris, they will play in front of 20,000 French people on Philippe Chatrier, frenetically celebrated as if they are legends of the sport, because that’s the law in France. And who knows, maybe it is more fun to watch tennis that way. In 2020, Gaston beat Stan Wawrinka in five sets, drop-shotting the 2015 champion into stunned oblivion. One of the quickest players our sport has ever seen, Gael Monfils, will not go gently into the good night, nay, he will sprint and dash and burst. I predict that around the start of set three, after exasperated French air-blowing through the lips and Gael keeling over on his knees about ten times per game, the crowd will strike up the Marseillaise like the house band did in Casablanca (what a scene!). This is the first meeting between the two. Good luck to us all.

Stan Wawrinka vs. Arthur Fils

No matter how involved the fans, no matter how passionate the scarf-throwing, no matter how loud the allezs, it’s been 44 years since the last French man (Yannick Noah) won Roland Garros and 26 years since the last French woman (Mary Pierce) triumphed on the red clay in Paris. Just when we thought we might as well give up on it, why garner hope when all fate does is crush you like a bug - Tsonga gone, Monfils about to, Gasquet vanished - Arthur Fils descends from heaven. All new and glowing, talented and humble, charismatic and beautiful. Is this the man that will make France collapse on herself from joy? Is he the chosen one? Hold on a second here, to become a hero you need to defeat a hero first. The ancient Greek Gods weren’t real Gods until they defeated the Kraken (at least according to Clash of the Titans), Naomi Osaka became Naomi Osaka after she beat Serena Williams. Stan Wawrinka, another soon-to-be retiree and our 2015 Roland Garros checkered-shorts champion, will want to delay the making of a hero by just a while longer. Arthur Fils leads the head-to-head 1:0. How do you say blockbuster in French?

Tomas Machac vs. Zizou Bergs

Ever since the pandemic, introverts from all corners of the world had a moment. They were the ones who got through lock-downs and virtual meetings, through social distancing and TV watching, like nothing ever happened. It was just the way they had always lived. The pandemic was what introverts had trained for all their lives. If you were one of those, congratulations, but this match-up between Machac and Bergs is the Alessandro Michele Gucci of the draw. The Katy Perry of first rounds. The loud child in kindergarten. Whether it’s Tomas’ persistence to try and make short shorts happen for men or Zizou’s twerking in press gatherings, everything about this match will be colourful, will be flashy, will be in your face. Shorts had a moment in 2015 (see above), Tomas might get the short shorts over the finish line if he did the seemingly impossible in 2026. The head-to-head between the two is tied at 2:2 and three out of the four matches were tight three-setters.

Other notable men’s first round encounters:

Jaume Munar vs. Hubert Hurkacz, Alexandre Muller vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Daniel Altmaier, Igancio Buse vs. Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev vs. Benjamin Bonzi.

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Let’s head over to the women. We’ll start with an absolute banger.

Iva Jovic vs. Alexandra Eala

The future of women’s tennis, the present of women’s tennis. It feels strange writing women when they still look like girls but their toughness on court certainly is that of a grown woman. Iva Jovic has the emotional maturity of what I can only hope for myself in about ten years time (and I’m 38 years old now) and Alexandra Eala is already carrying the hopes of an entire nation on her shoulders. Both are the epitome of modern tennis: taking the ball early, going up the line whenever the possibility presents itself and fantastic returning. Iva Jovic is the younger and higher-ranked of the two but wherever Alexandra Eala goes a single question presents itself. How big is the expat Filipino community in the city she currently resides in? Will Iva finally show her age in the face of a rowdy crowd? My money is on no. This is the first meeting between these two stone-cold killers. Who will flinch first?

Laura Siegemund vs. Naomi Osaka

Naomia Osaka has never won a major title on one of the organic surfaces, clay or grass, but she has shown prowess on the red dirt before. Do we not remember the time she held match points against Iga Swiatek in the second round of Roland Garros? Naomi lost the match and Iga won the tournament but Osaka certainly demonstrated what she’s capable of. The weather prediction for Paris is Hot with a capital H which will favour most of the hard-hitters. Balls fly quicker through the air, clay becomes ash and you can almost glimpse the hard courts underneath. But Osaka’s first-round match is not a walk in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Laura Siegemund was a quarterfinalist in Paris many moons ago and she knows how to slice, dice, chop and puree. Interestingly, the head-to-head between the two stands at 2:2. Who will steal the jam off the other person’s croissant?

Coco Gauff vs. Taylor Townsend

Coco Gauff comes to Paris for the first time as defending champion. La Défense is a business district in Paris but Gauff-fans will hope that it becomes the narrative of what lies ahead for Coco in the coming two weeks. Gauff’s been in some stellar form in Rome, making the final (just like last year), losing in the final (just like last year) and displayed the typical Cocoesque features that win titles. Competitiveness, scratchiness, genius under duress. She’s drawn Taylor Townsend in round one, somebody who is not afraid of the occasional big name. Taylor’s blessed with a nasty little forehand topspin. Again, the conditions will be quick and they will make the balls bounce. Not an easy first ask in the Coco La Défense mission. The only match they played in the past was won by Taylor against a 16-year-old Coco but we knew then what we still know now: Coco’s always been ahead of the game.

Elina Svitolina vs. Anna Bondar

All hail the great Elina Svitolina, champion of Rome, mother of Skai, and all around amazing person and woman! What a display of longevity and craftsmanship! But tennis is a fickle sport, success is a bird in your hand that flies aways with the tiniest movement, the smallest whiff of air. Less than a week after Elina’s great success, she draws Anna Bondar in the first round of a major tournament, one of the few real clay court specialists we still have on the women’s side, and a player who has beaten Elina twice in the last nine months. Once at the US Open and once earlier this clay court season in Madrid. Anna has a spinny forehand and a flat backhand, moves around the court like her past is chasing her and is a truly dangerous player on the clay courts of this world. The rallies shall be long, the sweat will fly high and a real test awaits the 7th seed and woman of the moment Elina Svitolina in her very first match. The head-to-head is 2:2.

Hailey Baptiste vs. Barbora Krejcikova

Hailey Baptise managed a rare double-feat in Madrid this year. She not only saved six match points against the world number one, beating Aryna Sabalenka 7:6 in the third, she also performed the coolest racquet smash of the season in her match against Belinda Bencic. Just a casual rupture of graphite over the knee. Whoever has attempted to do so themselves (um, yes) will know that it’s no easy task. It requires core strength, timing and a faint knowledge of physics as well as the balance point of an object. Equipped with a heavy forehand and a brilliant kick serve, Hailey’s game, though effective on every surface, is practically made for clay. She gets 2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova whose tennis and beautiful technique never was a problem but whose body has let her down with injuries plenty of times. Where does Barbora stand at the moment health-wise? We don’t know. But we definitely know that two of the most talented players on the WTA tour will face each other in an epic first round encounter. The head-to-head stands at 1:1.

Other notable women’s first round matches

Anna Kalinskaya vs. Lois Boisson, Linda Noskova vs. Maria Sakkari, Jasmine Paolini vs. Dayana Yastremska

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Things that make me happy

Elina Svitolina winning in Rome! Ever since a random 16-year-old kid nearly retired me in Pune, India, I’ve been following Elina Svitolina’s career closely. After a few months, when I realised that I hadn’t lost to a random kid but, in fact, to soon-to-be star Elina Svitolina, I humbled myself and unretired quicker than Jannik Sinner wins tennis matches these days. I have never seen Elina not give her absolute, all-encompassing best in every single second of her career and it makes me extremely happy to see her being rewarded for it. An incredible human being and player.

Things that make me unhappy

Leaving Rome always makes me extremely unhappy because I belong to a place where carbs flow freely and happily and coffee is cheaper when you drink it standing up.

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Roland Garros is a couple of escargots away. May it be the best one yet!

Yours truly, Andrea