Russian Arrested in Paris – the French Open Buzz

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RUSSIAN ARRESTED: Yana Sizikova was arrested after a massage at the French Open on charges of sports bribery and organized fraud. Hundreds of thousands of Euros were bet on her losing her serve and in that game she hit two double faults and had another error. The Russian, who is ranked No. 101 in doubles, was released from jail after her arrest and then issued a statement in which she denied the charges and said she was “shocked.”

An investigation reportedly has been going on since October. The 26-year-old could face five years in prison and a $365,000 fine. She issued a statement denying any wrongdoing and said she was shocked.

Yesterday John Isner endorsed the increasing high profile involvement of gambling in tennis and said it was only lower ranked players who had been involved.

After odd gambling patterns emerged in 2017, Urkainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, then ranked No. 63, was accused of gambling. The charges eventually were dismissed.

Today, before the news of Sizikova’s arrest was announced, Serena was asked about gambling. She said, “In general with my beliefs, I don’t bet. I don’t believe in it. It’s against what I grew up in. That’s just my spiritual beliefs.”

DANIELLE’S DEN NO PROBLEM FOR SERENA: Millions hope Serena finally notches a 24th Slam title to tie Margaret Court’s record for most singles wins in majors. But even though Serena has claimed three French Open titles it was assumed her best chance to equal Court’s mark would be at Wimbledon or the US Open. Plus, Serena was far from impressive in the clay warm-up events. She had trained hard, but she lost two of the three matches she played. But the French-speaking 39-year-old does love Paris, and today she handily beat her friend and fellow Floridian Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-4 to reach the fourth round, where she’ll face No. 21 seed Elena Rybakina. The Kazakhstani of Russian heritage is a considerable player. But there could be a tougher fourth-round opponent. It didn’t hurt Serena’s cause that both Angie Kerber and Petra Kvitova, who have five Slams between them and were projected to meet Serena in the third and fourth rounds, fell in earlier rounds.

Today No. 3 seed Arya Sabalenka fell. So Serena now is the only Grand Slam champ or top ten player in the bottom half of the draw.

IT WAS GREAT WHILE IT LASTED: Americans celebrated loud that four US men navigated through Roland Garros’ dirt and made it to the third round of the French Open. It was America’s best result for the men in decades. But today UCLA grad Marcos Giron went down to Chile’s Cristian Garin, who saved match points in the previous round against former Bruin Mackie McDonald. It wasn’t that big of a surprise that big Reilly Opelka fell to No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev. The supposedly clay adverse Russian is proving in fact he can do mighty well on this surface. After back-to-back five setters, Stevie Johnson fell to No. 12 seed PCB – Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. And John Isner, who is again proving he can win on clay, captured the first set of his match against No. 5 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas before he suffered a late night loss 7-6, 3-6, 6-7, 1-6.   

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF STEVIE JOHNSON: Veteran Steve Johnson has had many coaches and trainers. In particular his career has been marked by two key guides. His late father Steve Sr. and his longtime mentor Peter Smith, who was his coach at USC and still works with Stevie. Smith, who is now the General Manager and Director of Tennis at the Jack Kramer Club, reflected on Johnson’s incredible five-set wins in his first two French Open matches. “Stevie could have just packed his bags, but deep into his last match he hit two unbelievable backhand passes. That makes me think he’s really progressing. He’s loving his tennis right now.” Smith added that, “Against Frances Tiafoe in his opening match, he wasn’t going to back down.” Smith noted there’s a real competitive edge when American’s, particularly of different generations, face off. And Johnson, who’s 31, has been really working hard on his conditioning. 

Smith suggested that now that Steve has a daughter, he has a different perspective. “You look at life differently. He’s never appreciated tennis more. He doesn’t owe anyone anything. These results are a great sign.”

ISNER’S SCOUTING REPORT: Taylor Fritz is No. 33, John Isner is No. 34 and Reilly Opelka is ranked No. 35. IT went to middleman John Isner and asked him to analyze his two other countrymen. Starting with Opelka, John said, “Of course there are a lot of similarities between Reilly and myself. Reilly, for as big as he is, is an incredible mover. He’s very, very fast. He’s got that going for him. He’s still very young. So I think very highly of him. The number one thing he needs to work on, he will probably say the same, is his mental game. He’s in a good mental space right now, I believe, because he’s playing well coming off the semifinal result in Rome. He’s got a bit of confidence. But there have been some times when he can get down on himself and he can certainly beat himself on court. Once he matures, he’s going to get a lot better in that regard. He’s going to be a force no matter who he’s playing, no matter what tournament he’s at. He’s going to be a handful against everyone.”

As for Taylor Fritz, Isner said, “Taylor is a maximizer. He works hard. Off the court he’s kind of goofy. He’s a lot of fun to hang out with. But when he laces the shoes up, he competes his ass off. It’s very admirable. He definitely believes he’s going to win every single match and every single point that he plays. He goes out there, and no matter the score he’s going to compete. He does a great job. He has a lot of weapons, incredible backhand, good serve, good return. But I think the number one thing he has going for him is the way he competes.”

Well said, but Fritz fell in the second round 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 4-6 to Germany’s Dominik Koepfer. And despite Reilly’s upside, he lost to No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev in straight sets. As for Isner, he went down to No. 5 seed Tsitsipas.

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