Bill Simons and Vinay Venkatesh
PARIS
Tennis is a radically individual sport. A brilliant play by your shortstop can’t bail you out. Unlike golf, you can’t consult your caddie and come up with a game plan before each stroke.
But, not so fast. There’s actually a hefty collective, team aspect to the game. Support teams matter. A good coach can make every difference. Tennis whiz Brad Stine transformed Tommy Paul’s career. Roger Federer’s longtime trainer, Pierre Paganini, was said to be the most important little-known figure in tennis.
Of course, every country has its own tennis history and culture. Britain is linked at the hip to grassy Wimbledon, and its singular press corps has long stirred things up. Globetrotting Aussies often draw on their tennis DNA, and are quite the patriots, even if they’re named Nick Kyrgios. Swedes ruled the roost for a while, and Viking victories were common. But Bjorn, Mats and Stefan are now but memories.
Spanish tennis is a wonder, with a thoughtful, deep-rooted heritage. From Rafa to Carlos, what’s not to like? But, today, Italy rules. Jannik Sinner is a dominant No. 1 – and that’s just for starters. Long-range vision, passion, great infrastructure and lots of tourneys and role models help.
As for America, the women’s game continues to thrive. Billie Jean, Chris and Martina were trailblazers. The Williamses took it to the stratosphere. Jessica Pegula is a trooper, Madison Keys won the Aussie Open, and 2023 US Open champ Coco Gauff is as charismatic and giggly good as they get. For the first time in 40 years there are eight Americans into the Roland Garros and five of them are women: Gauff, Pegula, Keys, Amanda Anisimova and the rising Hailey Baptiste
As for our guys, we all know the most disheartening stat in the US game. A red, white and blue fellow hasn’t won a Slam since Roddick in 2003. And we’ve won just one Davis Cup in 30 years.
Yet, we’re surging. From No. 4 Taylor Fritz to wannabes like Alex Michelsen, Ethan Quinn and Learner Tien, Team America is filled with promising prospects. We haven’t summited yet, but, in most Slams, we’re getting closer to the top. Just last September, Fritz made the US Open final.
To the delight of many here in Paris, for the first time since 1994, three American men have reached the fourth round. Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Aaron Krickstein did it back then.
The versatile No. 12 Tommy Paul has called on his speed, variety and grit to win two five-set marathons, despite minor niggles. The 22-year Floridian Ben Shelton, No. 13, has rarely drawn comparisons with Nadal. But, not so quietly, he’s shouting, “Hey! Big-hitting lefties can win on this slow dirt!”
On Friday Frances Tiafoe, who loves big courts and big moments, downed his fellow American, Seb Korda. The No. 16 in the world has yet to lose a set this week.
For some, Roland Garros is the world’s premiere tourney. But for Americans, it doesn’t quite have the edge of Wimbledon, or especially the US Open, where US players are thrown into a Big Apple pressure cooker.
Paris is lovely in the spring sunshine, but there are only a handful of media here. American matches often are assigned to lesser courts and played at unappealing hours. And for decades, Roland Garros has been the place where powerful American men have gone to get stuck in the mud.
Most men in US tennis history – Jack Kramer, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick – never won here. The last American to prevail at Roland Garros was Andre Agassi, in 1999.
In some ways this year, American men are home free and playing with house money. Today, the young Californian Ethan Quinn, No. 106, lost in five sets to the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor. But US players have had decent draws, and have taken advantage of two walkovers. Sunday, former French junior champ Tommy Paul and the always dangerous Tiafoe will find themselves in winnable matches, but Shelton will face Alcaraz, who he’s lost to twice.
Here in the USA camp, there’s a buzz. “All the Americans are really excited,” commented the tennis-wise Shelton. “[It’s amazing] how much respect you would gain for doing well here. With TNT coming on, we feel like there’s a huge American presence…People back home [are watching]. We’re getting more messages – more people care.
“And when Foe [Frances Tiafoe] is on a big court, he lights it up. For all of us, this has just been a tournament where we’re figuring things out and are excited about the opportunities. Arguably, Tommy’s best surface is clay…He’s a dog, and always a contender. The other guys aren’t afraid to get a little dirty.”
Tiafoe noted, “It’s super critical not to worry about what was and just worry about what is…Just try to be elite. Guys are just hungry, man. Just believe it. That’s kind of all it is.”
THE ROLAND GARROS PROBLEM THAT WON’T GO AWAY: French tennis has a problem: women.
They can’t quite figure it out – they seem stuck. While Wimbledon has made some good changes (thank God, big matches don’t still start at 2 PM) and some not so good (the fancy new “interview theatre” is far distant from where reporters actually work).
The US Open’s decision-making has been pretty good. Decades ago, they changed the name of their stadium court to honor Arthur Ashe. They eventually ditched Super Saturday, and they often tap into their favorite mantra: “If we build it, fans with deep pockets will come.”
Five years ago, the French Tennis Federation built a glistening new center court in just a year – magnifique! But the tournament’s issue with women remains.
• Virtually all their prime time matches feature men. All but two of the 38 night matches staged in recent years have featured men. Gael Monfils was on twice.
• The snoozy, “Where’s-my-coffee” 11 AM sessions are usually assigned to women.
• Empty seats at Roland Garros women’s matches are commonplace.
• French women’s tennis is almost as dreary as a limp baguette. Their top two players are No. 72 and No. 93. (There’s a committee looking into it.)
• A Masters tourney for men is staged in Paris in the fall. There’s no such women’s event.
On Friday, the French Open’s Tournament Director, Amelie Mauresmo, a former No. 1 player in the world, was hammered with about 25 questions on the issue. It was brutal.
No one quoted Ons Jabeur’s objections. The former French finalist has noted the self-fulfilling nature of the tournament’s policy: they don’t feature women’s tennis, and then they say that fans mostly watch men. Ons added, “It’s unfortunate for women’s sports…I hope whoever is making the decision doesn’t have daughters, because I don’t think they would treat their daughters like this.”
Understandably, Mauresmo bobbed and weaved. She noted that with men’s tennis, fans are guaranteed at least three sets. She added, “I am not the only one to make the decisions… I’m not the only one signing the contracts…It has never been that the girls have not been worthy…[But] it’s the same answers as last year…We won’t change everything again…We cannot check off every box…We have to take into consideration the 15,000 spectators…What would you do?”
Reporters weren’t pleased, saying, “You are essentially telling women they are not worthy. If I were a Prime viewer I wouldn’t know there was a woman’s tournament going on…I have three daughters…I would listen to them.”
One skeptic muttered, “Kind of tone deaf – right? Why don’t they just schedule one or two women’s matches at night and be done with it?”
Today’s night match will feature Djokovic. Tomorrow night, it’s Lorenzo Musetti.
AN ALPHA WOMAN: The feisty, perpetually outspoken Danielle Collins lost Wednesday. But her “Damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead!” approach has not been forgotten. Broadcaster Eleanor Preston commented, “It’s important to have an alpha woman…It’s interesting that she doesn’t feel she has to be liked.”
COMPARING TENNIS WALKS: Walking by Melbourne’s Yarra River to the Australian Open is a delight. Navigating across the boardwalk to the US Open (while weaving through New York Mets fans) is always an adventure. And Wimbledon’s majestic St. Mary’s Walk is the most important walk in tennis.
But there’s nothing like strolling down Roland Garros’ leafy walkway to Simone Mathieu Stadium. And, for the third straight time, American fans saw Tommy Paul prevail there. All his previous worries about his Ford truck being repossessed were behind him. The 28-year-old veteran possessed his usual calm, variety and speed, prevailing after 4:07 over the 6’ 6” Russian Karen Khachanov to reach the fourth round, where he’ll face the Aussie Alexei Popyrin.
CALLING ALL GORANS: Years ago, Goran Ivanisevic was famous for his three personalities, Goran 1, Goran 2 and Emergency Goran, which he said he had. Now, Stefanos Tsitsipas has called on the sage Croatian, who’s previously worked with Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina, to be his coach.
Tsitsipas just lost to an Italian qualifier with a triple-digit ranking, has been switching rackets and has dropped out of the Top 20. Some have questioned whether he’ll ever contend for a Slam again.
LEATHER POWER FOR COCO: Coco Gauff wanted to spice up her walk-on look at matches. So for this year’s French Open she chose to wear a leather jacket as she enters and exits. ”I think it’s cool,” noted the 21-year-old fashionista. “I feel it matches the Parisian vibe here, and it just makes me feel super powerful going onto the court.”
RANDOM RAFA REFLECTIONS: Before we let go of all the hoopla about Nadal, let’s not forget that, in Rafa’s entire career at the French Open, he played only once outside of Court Philippe Chatrier or Stade Suzanne Lenglen. He never played Roger Federer at the US Open. Like Roger and Novak, he’s never played a match in Los Angeles. He withdrew mid-match from just one French Open match, and he never broke a racket.
NICKNAME DU JOUR: Ethan Quinn, who reached the third round, is a product of the University of Georgia Bulldogs, and has been called, “the Dirt Dawg.”
