Bill Simons
PARIS
DEODORANT GIRL ROLLS ON: Boisson means drink in French. And today, the well-named but unheralded Lois Boisson drank from the magic cup.
Just last year, the 22-year-old was dealing with yet another injury and facing a daunting question: would her knee surgery derail her career?
Coming into this year’s Roland Garros, she was considered to be one of those hapless longshots the French Federation often wastes a wildcard on. She was only ranked No. 361. Worse yet, she was known as “the Deodorant Girl.” Six weeks ago, a British player threw a mean-spirited dart at her. “Can you tell her to wear deodorant? She’s smelling really bad,” Harriet Dart asked the ump in Rouen, France.
Here in Paris, some had claimed French women’s tennis stank. Their two top players were No. 72 and No. 93. But, for a week, Boisson’s play has been sweet. The 22-year-old from Dijon, had (dare we say) cut the mustard. After downing the No. 24 seed Elise Mertens, she raced to the fourth round, and was the last French man or woman remaining in the singles draw.
But certainly America’s Buffalo gal, the wise, crafty Jessica Pegula, would keep the American party going in Paris. No. 3 Pegula had never lost to a non-seeded player at Roland Garros, and had a 19-2 record against players outside of the top 100.
The lean French rookie was playing her maiden Grand Slam and it was her first time on Phillipe-Chatrier Stadium. Before the French Open, she’d won only one main-level tour match. Not surprisingly, she fell behind 6-4, 4-3.
But odd things happen on Parisian tennis courts. Just ask Serena, who in 2012 suffered a shocking loss to France’s Virginie Razzano. And the free-swinging Boisson, who’d hit more winners than anyone else in the women’s draw, blasted high, heavy forehands. She defended well, protected her backhand, displayed great calm and began to improve on her cat-and-mouse game.
As she claimed the second set, the crowd sang La Marseillaise, and Lois somehow seemed to be the more confident player. “The American is in the web of Lois Boisson. She’s running Jesse right and left,” said Radio Roland Garros.
Pegula had her chances, but in the third set she was 1-6 on break points, and she faltered in the two last dramatic games of the match. Boisson’s 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 shock victory meant that she was the lowest-ranked Grand Slam quarterfinalist since Kaia Kanepi in 2017, the first wildcard to reach the quarterfinals since Mary Pierce in 2002, and the first French woman to reach the quarters since 2017.
In an interesting twist, the inexperienced Boisson will next play a much younger player, 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who seems poised to win a Grand Slam. But don’t tell that to the French throng, who want to smell the flowers. After all, not to be rude, but they want to see their “Deodorant Girl” roll on.
WILD WONDERINGS: Could Frances Tiafoe or Tommy Paul end the 22-year drought American men are suffering, at, of all places, Roland Garros…France’s soccer team thrilled the nation by winning the Champions League trophy. Can Boisson possibly score an even more stunning win here in Paris…Can old man Djokovic, who dismissed Cam Norrie with ease today, win a record 25th Slam…Could there be an all-Italian (Jannik Sinner vs. Lorenzo Musetti) final…China’s Li Na changed the tennis landscape when she won the 2011 Roland Garros. What impact will it have if No. 8 seed Qinwen Zheng lifts the trophy…Can we imagine Madison Keys winning Roland Garros and then (what the heck) going on to win Wimbledon and the US Open?
COCO AND KEYS: Coco Gauff, the world No. 2, is just 21. Now that she’s downed Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, she reached her fifth straight French Open quarterfinals – amazing! There she will meet her fellow Floridian, Madison Keys.
Madison, the Aussie Open champ who’s on an 11-match winning streak, survived three match points against Sofia Kenin and beat then Hailey Baptiste, 6-3, 7-5.
When Inside Tennis asked Keys to reflect on Gauff, she replied, “I remember meeting Coco for the first time when she was nine…[and] I knew she was going to be pretty dominant pretty quickly. She just carried herself with such poise…Even to this day, I’m always so impressed by the way she handles the pressure…It’s been really fun getting to see her do so well…Sometimes I feel very old when talking to Coco, because she says things, and I’m, like, ‘Yeah, I don’t get that.’”
SAY IT ISN’T SO: Eighteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva said, “I’m getting old.”
A FUN-LOVING PHILOSOPHER KING: In the biggest moment of his career, Alexander Bublick downed Jack Draper to reach the quarterfinals where he’ll meet Jannik Sinner. He says he’s won more clay court matches this year than in the past three seasons combined because he stopped complaining about the slower surface.
A man who takes a distinctive path, Bublick is spontaneous, fun-loving and reflective, and is perhaps the ATP’s current philosopher king, who doesn’t hesitate to reflect on work-life balance, the sometimes robotic nature of the tour, and a wide range of other topics.
DJOKOVIC TRIUMPHANT ON COURT AND OFF: Novak Djokovic continues to roll on at Roland Garros. And one of his better triumphs was just getting back to his hotel last night. His place was near the epicenter of the chaotic soccer celebrations in Paris that have included gas bombs, car fires and all-round havoc.
ARYNA HAMMERS HER EARLY COACHES: Aryna Sabalenka said that when she was a young kid she heard a lot of her coaches saying, “I’m not smart enough, that I’m stupid, and I’ll never make it, and I don’t have anything to make it to the top. I guess I want to send a quick message to them to quit their job, because honestly, I think they know nothing and they better quit just to save other players.”
GO FIGURE: The two most dominant women players of our era, Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, have never met in a Slam final. If they both win Tuesday, they will meet in the semis.
ALEX’S ECHOES: Alexander the Great was one of the world’s great warriors. Before he died at just age 32, the Macedonian set off to conquer Greece and Egypt, and made it all the way to northwestern India.
His influence goes on, even at this Parisian tennis tournament. A week ago, six of the nine first players on were named Alex, Alexander or the like. The two show courts today featured four “Alexes.” Russian Ekaternina Alexandrova, German Alexander Zverev, Kazak Alexander Bublick and Serbian Alekksandra Krunic.
YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN PARIS: Up close or at a distance, you spot Eiffel’s big brown tower. There are a plethora of orange pants, stylishly groomed poodles, chic businessmen on motorcycles, cigarette smoke, the odd cigar, as many cafes as any existentialist could want, ambulances with sing-song sirens, morning and noon church bells chiming loud, and a language that may not be as operatic as Italian but is arguably more lyrical.
SPEAKING OF LANGUAGES: Aside from his native Serbian, Novak is fluent in Italian and obviously has mastered English. He’s also pretty good in French, Spanish and German. And, a while back, he said he wanted to master Mandarin.
