2023 ROLAND GARROS

no rafa

no cry

Alcaraz gonna be alright

Lol

Truly excited for both the men and women's French Open.

Alcarraz looks great but 2-3 others have a great shout. It would be shit if Novak were to win but he is not a favourite. Medvedev has adjusted his game for clay too.

The women's section looks phenomenal too. Swiatek is not as dominant as last year. Rybakina is looking good.

Alcaraz should be favourite but that really depends on how he's been able to rest/reset in the last 10 days; he looked pretty spent in losing to qualifier Marozsan in Rome. Not going to be fooled by Novak's form; he's on his usual late spring uptick anyway, won three rounds in Rome and Rune was probably the only player left in the draw who could've beaten him. Medvedev is the only active, elite-level player who has beaten Djoko in a completed Slam match in the last five years (sadly leaving #91 Thiem out of this, and #73 Cecchinato too). I suppose if you can slog through rain delays and heavy courts at Foro Italico, you can win on clay anywhere, but can't believe DM can win this (20 career titles at 20 different events though, what a record). There was a point during the Rome semi when I thought that Ruud was timing his return to form perfectly and would do a Ferrero and sweep through RG but... nah. Rublev and Sinner may have peaked too early in the season. Which leaves Tsitsipas - who probably won't beat any of the above :)

Not sure how serious Swiatek's injury was in Rome, but that tournament was an endurance event for everyone, not sure anyone escaped unscathed. Still think she's a clear favourite if fit.

thiago seyboth wild takes out medvedev in 5 sets

And that was possibly only the third craziest men's match yesterday, after Vavassori saved many MPs on the way to a five-hour three-TB comeback win over Kecmanovic, and the night session drama of Gael M, hobbling back from 0-4 in the 5th to beat Baez. Gael's other half, Elina S, made a slow start today, unsurprisingly, but is also through.

altamier takes out sinner, 5h 28m & saved two MPs

I'd forgotten that Altmaier took Sinner the distance at USO last year too.

Shame that Monfils' wrist isn't allowing him to play Rune tonight; so dropping into the night slot on Chatrier is... Zverev-Molcan? Meh.

Mirra Andreeva (younger than both of my kids ffs) is thrashing ppl - five emphatic straight sets wins from qualies on, likely Gauff up next.

Seems like I was right about Sinner and Rublev :(

Watched brief highlights of the Sinner match last night - smash on mp straight at Altmaier, who whipped it back off the net cord for a winner. Ridiculous. I think Sinner saved a mp an hour or so later in a similar matter, but still. ADF seems to be doing most things right vs Novak except holding on to a lead. Gah. Tauson-Avanesyan match means a guaranteed qualifier in the last sixteen of the women's.

Can't really argue against Alcaraz-Shapo for the night session but tomorrow it really has to be Gauff-Andreeva, surely?

manner*

seyboth wild goes out to nishioka but some other impressive south americans do get thru to the 4th rd including francisco cerundulo, tomas etcheverry, nico jarry & jp varillas

lot of 5-setters so far too

top half is still shaping up as expected id say, musetti/alcaraz tomorrow should be p interesting. musetti has looked great but can he go toe-to-toe vs carlitos in best of 5? not so sure

happy 37th bday to rafa btw, he had a hip surgery yesterday, & likely wont be back playing til 2024

good match zverev/tiafoe.. i really wanted to see a 5th set & francis had chances… served for it at 5-3 30-love if i recall… good defense by sascha

nevertheless, ill be damned if ive watched an unentertaining tiafoe match in like the last 3 yrs at least

Gauff too good for Andreeva after an epic first set, double-bagel for Swiatek.

Sad Tiafoe couldn't force it the distance but, yes, he's so great to watch. 14 nationalities in the last 16 of the men's? I guess that's not *too* unusual in the French, where you might expect a host of Central/Southern European and S American countries to be represented but... no one from France or the US (or Australia, Sweden or Czechia, if we're naming historically strong tennis nations).

super tense moments in rune/cerundulo, match tiebreak

my tennis channel commentator, mark petchey i think:

"one's struggling physically, one's struggling mentally"

holger survives it

"Beatriz Haddad Maia, who outlasted Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5 in a marathon 3hr 51min battle." is a sentence I've just read 😱

tied for tenth longest womens match ever (in the open era)

UK ppl you are all just watching it on Eurosport right?

Not true there's no Rafa. He's faster and sharper too, insane court coverage, brutal, and taught Tsitsipas how to do drop shots.

Didn't Sorribes Tormo basically get her opponents DQ'd for an accidental ball-girl hit in the doubles? I still haven't seen a proper clip of that incident. So, yay for Haddad Maia. Seems like these two have form for marathons. Right now BHM has just forced a decider vs Jabeur.

I've had a sinking feeling about the men's since Hurkacz and Rublev disappeared from Novak's path and ADF couldn't take his chances in R3. Alcaraz's path to the semi so much tougher. And yet, he's battered everyone. So, fingers crossed. I think I'll be on a plane when this is happening.

Rune-Ruud renew their old pals' act later. Should be fun.

And, no, I can't see any of this. I have Prime, but I'm not coughing up extra for the Eurosport bolt-on. Bring back the awkward pairing of Inverdale and Bartoli on ITV4!

Haddad Maia into the semis! Gauff giving Swiatek something of a contest so far; in contrast to BHM/SST, Swiatek has only spent about 4hr on court in four rounds. Ok, one was a retirement, but four love sets in there too.

Swiatek has won that.

Shame about Jabeur :-(

bhm pushed iga hard in that 2nd set

also muchova was wildly impressive to get past sabalenka

Sounds like Sabalenka froze though.

Djoko has been red hot so far..

fashion opinion on the mens' side: the nike and adidas kits look like shit this year. just ugly. the nike shorts especially, with the weird flap in the back. it looks like they're wearing boxers that are longer than their shorts and hanging out the bottom. djoker's lacoste fit looks great as usual.

back to the tennis...

usually a rule of thumb, anytime djokovic asks for the trainer/appeara injured, live bet djokovic

we’ll see if it holds here

Was this before or after he was broken?

7-5 Alcarraz, would've been dying to watch this in a pub (if pubs screened it)

medical timeout was before he was broke

level now

alc-cramp-araz

:-(

damn man

So glad this pub that screens tennis matches was not found

First he takes your legs …….

— andyroddick (@andyroddick) June 9, 2023

ruud is collecting a lotta slam runner ups

Iga Swiatek is the first singles player to win their first seven Grand Slam final sets in the Open Era. Lindsay Davenport, Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt won their first six.

— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) June 10, 2023

Swiatek broken at the 2nd, has to serve it out tho'

Predictably broken back

Broken again. A 2nd chance

Swiatek responding straight off to a poor game. 0-15

Set point..

To deuce we go

One more sp

A mini epic, as it should be

Sounds like a special point from Muchova to get another sp

Muchova gets it!! On we go

Muchova breaks midway at the 3rd set!

Two break back points saved from Muchova. An ace to deuce

3rd bp

Apparently a terrible dp: 4-4

Deuce at the next..

Swiatek: 5-4. Muchova to serve to stay in it

Two serves who were returned to the net..

A long lob: 0-15

0-30..long fh

Big serve, 15

Two CPs...feel Muchova is handing it here

DF, ah well. Swiatek had more experience. Muchova sounds fantastic, lots of variety in her game and hopefully she can stay fit and make more finals

amazing defense from ruud on that 0-15 point

The greatest men's player of all time is an anti-vaxxer, probably fascisty too.