The French Open wrapped up this previous weekend, with Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz taking house the trophies. Aside from a short return for the Olympics, the clay season is over, and the vast majority of the tennis world will put together for Wimbledon. The SportsAreena tennis trio takes a glance again on the event and fingers out some awards.
Owen Lewis: Giri, Patrick! Roland-Garros is behind us. We are clearing the clay from our keyboards. We are freed from killer pigeons. In the afterglow of a serious with two likable winners in Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz, it’s simple to overlook the stressors and slogs alongside the best way. Though this event wasn’t stacked with epics, there have been sufficient pure tennis moments for me to name this yr’s version a hit. What first involves thoughts for you two within the rapid aftermath?
Giri Nathan: Two ideas on the winners. Swiatek might simply win eight of the following 10 Roland-Garros titles; she looks like she’s going to assemble a Rafa-esque résumé right here, barely assembly any resistance in these title runs (Naomi Osaka being the one stunning exception this time). And Alcaraz proving his cross-surface excellence, and skill to win a complete main with out working at his high degree for all that lengthy, all at age 21, is terrifying.
Patrick Redford: My major takeaway is considerably contradictory: The high of the ladies’s recreation is so good proper now and will stand to get even higher if a handful of gamers full their pipe-dream comebacks or mature in a short time. Also, Swiatek is completely untouchable on clay and is a superb kind of participant to be on the high of the game. Her post-Osaka run was a complete breeze, but I by no means was bored of watching her. Her motion is so pure and he or she’s such a smothering participant, and the best way she completely bullies opponents off the courtroom is so dominant that you simply surprise how anybody might ever beat her when she’s on.
Then you watch Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka (after they’re on, which is to say, the primary few rounds in Paris), and also you see how their video games are much more suited to the opposite surfaces. I can’t wait to look at this phylum of gamers enhance, and I hope others can be a part of them. Mirra Andreeva was a revelation, although she bought rocked by Jasmine Paolini, and I cherished watching Ons Jabeur, Bianca Andreescu, and Osaka. I don’t actually suppose anybody in that cohort can beat Swiatek proper now, but when they supply some unimaginable quarterfinals, that’ll be thrilling sufficient. Perhaps that is the fresh-eyed cope of a brand new fan, somebody who hasn’t had time to get my hopes dashed as I’m certain you two have. Am I delusional to depart this event feeling this hopeful?
OL: Not in any respect. In the couple days after Iga waxed Paolini 6-2, 6-1, to win her fifth main and fourth Roland-Garros title, I used to be disillusioned to learn and listen to a pair takes concerning the girls’s recreation not being sufficiently aggressive in the meanwhile. Doomsaying after one main event fails to supply an epic last is dumb, but additionally, the ultimate isn’t the one match that issues. We noticed Swiatek survive an absolute hell-raising thriller in opposition to Osaka—she was pushed more durable in that match than in her complete title runs in 2020 or 2022—and such as you talked about, Patrick, the remainder of the draw was filled with standouts.
If there’s one factor I’m disillusioned about, it’s that Sabalenka couldn’t make the ultimate to create a 3rd straight title conflict with Swiatek throughout the clay season (she had match factors in opposition to Iga in Madrid earlier than dropping extra comprehensively in Rome), however anybody who noticed her slim loss to Andreeva is aware of she was severely compromised. Sabalenka had made the semifinals or higher on the earlier seven majors—which was the longest energetic streak on both tour—so I feel we can provide her a break right here. Plus, Swiatek could be unstoppable on clay, however she’s by no means been previous the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and has misplaced sooner than anticipated at the previous few hard-court majors. Those who need to see Swiatek face extra challenges ought to get what they need quickly.
GN: Swiatek, who may be very aware of the sensation of a win streak, has 19 in a row now after successful Madrid, Rome, and Roland Garros back-to-back-to-back. She additionally has a reasonably pedestrian grass-court historical past for a participant of her all-time-great caliber, with some losses to gamers who wouldn’t remotely bother her on exhausting courtroom or clay. While I count on her to be alive within the second week at Wimbledon—and I feel that the surfaces now all play equally sufficient, and that she is gifted sufficient, to determine it out finally—I additionally suppose the grass season shall be an apt time to look at the opposite huge storylines on the high of the sport.
PR: Giri, can I briefly ask a dumb query? What distinguishes grass, apart from the outsized significance of serving large? I’ve seen a few compilations of Jannik Sinner falling in every single place as if on a slip-n-slide, and I gotta know: what’s the cope with the ft?
GN: At this level within the recreation’s historical past, motion might be a very powerful distinction between all of the surfaces. Grass is each slick (particularly when dewy) and irregular (as a result of it’s a dwelling factor), which poses some novel challenges. The primary factor I’ve seen is that it’s extremely tough to defend on grass, and altering route a number of occasions in a single rally is a recipe for consuming grime, particularly within the early days of the season as gamers are nonetheless making their changes. Rare is the participant (like Novak Djokovic) who can slide confidently on turf as if it have been clay; you’ll see much more tentative footwork and far smaller steps. One associated level, with regards to the problem of defending properly, is that the ball stays decrease when it bounces off grass. Players with potent slices, and gamers who’re snug with extra aggressive patterns of play than passive baseline rallies, shall be rewarded. Big servers, too, as you famous.
PR: I like the concept of sentient grass getting its revenge on gamers for making an attempt to do too many painful adjustments of route upon it by tripping them up.
Before we adjourn to the garden, a be aware on the dusty fellas: the non-Carlos males’s participant I’ve thought most about because the event ended is Djokovic. The doomed sense of willpower he confirmed in these two all-nighter wins in opposition to Lorenzo Musetti and Francisco Cerundolo left me feeling a novel feeling in the direction of him: admiration, bordering on true affection. Maybe that’s easy as a result of, after having to look at him mercilessly destroy so many cool gamers for years, he bowed out early. He’s now third within the ATP rankings, ceding the primary spot to Sinner, and his French Open title to Alcaraz. Djokovic can be 37 and simply suffered a critical harm, which feels just like the type of illness that ushers within the endgame of his profession. Do both of you count on extra from him this season?
OL: Of all of the thankless sports activities, tennis could be king. Djokovic received three majors and the ATP Finals in 2023 and had some individuals questioning whether or not the runaway world No. 1 might lastly win the Calendar Grand Slam on the spry ages of 36 and 37. Now, Djokovic is with out a event victory in 2024 and simply went beneath the knife to restore a broken knee that took him out of Roland-Garros earlier than the quarterfinals for the primary time in 15 years. He actually could be executed on the highest degree. He’s managed to guard his physique from extreme harm higher than simply about some other athlete, however you get the sense that nothing would be the similar after he comes again from this.
While Djokovic’s expertise will most likely stick with him till he hangs up his racquet, I feel we’re lastly seeing the bounds of his physicality. After watching Alcaraz do what Djokovic did, successful consecutive five-setters down 2-1 (and in opposition to a lot better gamers than Musetti and Cerundolo), I’ve a tough time picturing Djokovic’s stamina lasting by a grinding five-setter with Alcaraz or Sinner. I’d certain wish to see Novak strive, although.
As for the passing of the torch, it’s right here—Djokovic is ranked No. 3 now, the bottom he’s been in years, and the Sincaraz duo have received three of the final 4 majors with a mixed 2-0 document in opposition to Djokovic in best-of-five-set tennis alongside the best way. Say hi there to the long run.
GN: Who do you suppose is finest geared up to problem the Sincaraz duopoly over the following 5 years? Based on what you noticed over the clay season, who will sneak in some main titles alongside the best way?
PR: Conventional knowledge says Alexander Zverev, although I’m not so certain. His groundstrokes are so booming and his first serve is so good that he’ll constantly have the ability to play his approach into quarterfinals, although there’s something about his recreation in opposition to the perfect gamers that leaves me skeptical (once more, perhaps that is cope, since I despise him). The Zverev of the second and third units of the ultimate, the man who was going for winners and denying Alcaraz the house to maneuver, that was a man who scares me, although he’s so not often proven that tendency or skill in large matches. My precise solutions are Andrey Rublev (that is an irrational take, however I feel he shall be animated by no matter unholy power strikes him to completely increase that forehand for some two-week interval as a substitute of screaming/crying/throwing up) and Daniil Medvedev, who I’ve to imagine will grow to be regular now that he doesn’t must step on grime once more this season apart from on the Olympics. Also, I’ve an everlasting smooth spot for Holger Rune, who almost beat Zverev, and he’s nonetheless so younger that I might see him doing his We Have Carlos At Home factor, most likely at Roland-Garros.
OL: When Zverev received the third set, I began to consider how everybody was going to speak concerning the event that had produced his first main title. Though I used to be relieved that Alcaraz received and we prevented that dialog, I do suppose it’s coming finally. Zverev has constantly gone deep at majors within the final yr. Sinner and Alcaraz will possible gobble up the majority of the main titles within the coming years, and whoever performs properly sufficient to advance within the uncommon events after they lose or are harm will seize the rest. I don’t have a ton of confidence in anybody energetic to try this, however Zverev figures to get at the very least one in some unspecified time in the future.
Rune appears to have potential that would see him web a pair main titles, however has been intent on hiding it thus far this yr. I do suppose he’ll determine issues out sufficient in some unspecified time in the future to win at the very least one. Big-picture, although, my guess is the following main males’s participant not named Sinner or Alcaraz is beneath the age of 20 in the meanwhile and stays exterior the mainstream eye.
GN: I nonetheless suppose Medvedev goes to choose up a hard-court main right here and there, presumably when accidents have picked off one of many two golden boys; in spite of everything, he was about half-hour of peak match health away from successful in Australia this yr. I additionally count on Zverev to finally break by, and Rune to finally to shut the hole and look extra just like the participant that was only a half-step behind Sincaraz for some time. Overall, although, I might see Sinner and Alcaraz splitting one thing like 12 or 13 of the following 20 majors. Patrick, do you have got some awards to announce?
PR: Absolutement! Our first award is the Prix Mousquetaire D’Excellence Française. The French didn’t have a very sturdy displaying at their house Slam, particularly my two favourite French gamers (Caroline Garcia and Diane Parry), although our winner Corentin Moutet gave the followers one thing to cheer about. He received three matches and took a set off Sinner, although most significantly, he was a cheeky little rascal all through his time at Roland-Garros, with a bunch of underhand serves and different antics, and the group cherished him for it. Owen, would you wish to current the award for Best Player You Only Watched Lose?
OL: It could be my honor, although there’s not a lot suspense: Osaka takes this one comfortably for me. Not solely was she the one participant to take a set from Swiatek, she had a match level and made her opponent’s life depressing even within the units she misplaced. Giri, in honor of our males’s winner, do you have got ideas on the Carlitos Alcaraz Award For Most Sweetest Person?
GN: I’ve to notice that our candy boy was arguably much less candy than common. He was snippy in methods I’ve by no means seen earlier than: complaining to the umpires about issues like the supply of the ice towels and the slipperiness of sure components of Court Philippe-Chatrier. (In equity, different gamers together with Djokovic raised the identical concern all through the event.) The runaway sweetest particular person of the fortnight was Paolini, a pleasant participant and one that had a variety of entertaining interviews and should by no means attain these heights once more, however appeared to have a variety of enjoyable doing it. She now enters the highest 10 for the primary time at age 28. I left the event feeling that she could be the highest-ranked tennis participant on the earth who would nonetheless truly be enjoyable to hang around with. Who desires to award Worst Match?
PR: Conventional knowledge says Swiatek-Potapova, because it was shorter than an episode of status TV. However, it was so one-sided that it grew to become cool, so my vote is Rublev’s meltdown loss in opposition to Matteo Arnaldi. I hated watching it, virtually as a lot as Rublev hated collaborating in it. Any different contenders?
OL: I’ll toss within the semifinal between Zverev and Casper Ruud. After successful the primary set 6-2, Ruud was struck down by what appeared like a abdomen virus and spent the remainder of the match simply making an attempt to remain afloat. Ruud’s a really stable high participant who might have been within the last barring some dangerous luck that had terrible timing, and the final three units of the semifinal simply weren’t enjoyable to look at.
GN: With that extraordinarily disagreeable reminiscence recent in thoughts, we now conclude protection of the clay season. On to the grass!
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