Bill Simons
PARIS
MICHELANGELO WOULD BE PROUD: It’s said that, centuries ago, Tuscany’s marble was key to Michelangelo’s genius works. Lorenzo Musetti’s father long worked those marble quarries.
His son is a bit of a sculpture on a clay court. The 23-year-old is on the rise. He won the Olympic bronze medal, and this spring he’s reached the semis of all four big clay-court tourneys – Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Paris. He’s only lost to Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper. His movement is easy – he glides with ease, he flows on clay. He’ll slap a forehand winner, then display touch and finesse. Today he told the crowd, “We are Italian – we are elegant.”
“It’s amazing how one player can be so effortful and the other is so effortless,” said Eleanor Preston. “We saw that for years with Rafa and Roger.”
American Frances Tiafoe is a powerhouse. Charismatic and boisterous, emotion is key. Beloved by many, his wristy forehand is, shall we say, unorthodox. Traditionally, clay hasn’t been his pal. Before this season, he’d only won four French Open matches.
But this year has been different. He swept into Roland Garros with power and zest. He didn’t drop a set.
But today, at the outset of today’s quarterfinal, he was flat. “He looks like the shell of the player who barged his way to the quarterfinals,” noted Radio Roland Garros. “We’re not getting the best version of Tiafoe… He’s hardly the picture of a contented tennis player…Maybe he’s just waking up.”
Early in the set, the uninspired Tiafoe had few answers to “the Musetti magic,” as he dropped the first set 6-2. But, patient and resilient, Big Foe mounted a big comeback. He smashed an overhead to break in the second set. At last we saw that beaming Tiafoe smile we love so much. He charged the net, unleashed crosscourt forehand winners and claimed the second set 6-4. Way to go Tiafoe! Match on!
Frances was in ascendance. A cluster of fans offered French encouragement: “Let’s go Tao-foe! Let’s go Tao-foe!” Fully aware of Tiafoe’s surge, Musetti was tight and tentative. But when he was down 6-5 in the second set, inexplicably, Foe’s serve wavered and his groundies faltered. Lorenzo ran down an ill-advised drop shot to break and capture the tight third set.
Musetti howled in triumph – everything changed. With the lead, the Italian again played with ease.
The American in the turquoise Lululemon outfit got the blues. Drained and adrift, Frances cussed. His explosive winners vanished. His zeal vanished. He suffered a questionable line call. He netted the simplest of forehands. The Tuscan prevailed 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to reach his second Grand Slam semifinal. Michelangelo would have been proud.
DOUBLE STANDARD: Midway through the second set a frustrated Musetti kicked a ball that gently hit a lineswoman in the chest. But, even though the rules say players should be disqualified if they recklessly hit a ball within the court, the Italian was only given a code violation.
The incident brought to mind Novak Djokovic’s disqualification from the 2020 US Open after he bopped a ball and inadvertently struck a lineswoman in the throat causing her to fall to the court.
Tiafoe later said, “I think that’s comical, but it is what it is. Nothing happened, so there’s nothing really to talk about. Obviously it’s not consistent.”
Musetti said, “It was a really unlucky coincidence…I was a little bit, honestly, scared, because I really didn’t want to harm nobody…I immediately went to the line umpire, and I of course said, sorry, I apologize to everyone.”
The Italian said the chair umpire saw there was no intent to harm anyone and so he was allowed to play on.
Djokovic wasn’t.
ALWAYS A GOOD DAY: You’re walking down a Paris boulevard approaching Roland Garros and you spot a legend – the singular Chris Evert walking your way. She stops, we chat and she says, “Come on Bill, give me a hug.”
‘YOU’RE IN PARIS? GET ME SOME STUFF:’ Family dynamics are always fun to track. Even the wondrous Bryan brothers had their spats.
Back in the days of Team Tennis, there was the time when the Cleveland Nets’ General Manager Clark Graebner traded his wife Carole to the Pittsburgh Triangles. Their marriage didn’t endure.
Years ago Madison Keys’ sister once called her and they had this sisterly exchange.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at the French Open?”
“Where’s that?”
“Paris.”
“Oh, that sounds like a good place to shop. Get me some stuff.”
After years of success, Rafa Nadal split with his uncle and coach, Toni. More recently, it’s been said that Keys won this year’s Aussie Open in part due to the coaching of her new husband, Bjorn Fratangelo. Madison told TNT, “He’s definitely ‘unfireable’ and I think he toes the line…There are definitely times where he’ll say something and I just glare at him, and he just laughs because he knows [he can’t be fired]…He doesn’t really hold back…[or] have much of a filter…Sometimes when you’re down in the third (set), it’s not really what you want to hear. But, sometimes, it’s what you need to hear.”
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE: American men had a fabulous French Open. Three greats made deep runs. But Carlos Alcaraz downed Ben Shelton in the fourth round. Then Tiafoe fell to Musetti this afternoon and No. 2 Alcaraz again put a dagger into the hopes of American men’s tennis when he thrashed No. 12 Tommy Paul in 1:33, 6-0, 6-1, 6-4.
In the post-match interview Mats Wilander asked the 22-year-old, “How does it feel to play the perfect match?” Candid Carlos replied, “I could have closed my eyes…everything went in.”
Paul had beaten the Spaniard twice before. He gave him a run at the August Olympics. But tonight was a merciless beat down. The Spanish boy who is a man, seemed to apologize to Tommy at the net. Then Carlos told the crowd, “I know you wanted to see more tennis. Sorry about that. But I have to do my work.”
Indeed, Carlos’ work is not done. He’s on a 12-match French Open winning streak and is into his third straight Paris semis where, in a replay of the Monte Carlo final, he’ll face Musetti. Tonight Carlos won 12 of the first 13 games. In the Monte Carlo final he won 12 of the last 13 games.
IS IGA THE PLAYER TO BEAT? After hitting her third straight ace in the final game of her quarterfinal match against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, Iga Swiatek scored a 6-1, 7-5 win to collect her 26th straight French Open match. Hoping to win a record four French titles in a row, she’s advanced to the semis, where she’ll have a delicious face-off against Aryna Sabalenka. Their 2024 Madrid Open final remains one of best WTA matches in memory.
Recently, Swiatek’s once dominant form has wavered. She hasn’t won a tourney since last year’s Roland Garros. Broadcaster Chris Bowers noted, “Iga may be No. 5, but she’s still the player to beat on clay.” At the top of the stadium, ecstatic Polish fans, waving their red Polska banners, couldn’t have agreed more.
NO. 1 BEATS THE QUEEN: Aryna Sabalenka had a 6-1 record over “the Queen” – China’s Qinwen Zheng. But the Barcelona-based Zheng, No. 8, beat the No. 1 player in the Rome final just a few weeks ago. Plus, on Roland Garros’ center court, she won Olympic Gold last August.
So it wasn’t shocking that Zheng went up early in the first set. But Aryna powered her way back, played a great first-set tiebreak and went on to prevail 7-6 (3), 6-3, keeping her hopes alive to win her first Slam title on a natural surface. Aryna has never made it to a final here or at Wimbledon.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: For decades, Russia has been a force in tennis. Serena once said, “I don’t know who I’m playing next, but I know her name ends in ‘ova.'”
Now, Mirra Andreeva is making a deep run, but Russian tennis hasn’t always been a big deal.
Decades ago, Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev claimed he didn’t know what Wimbledon was. There were precious few Russians on the tour. Then an attractive blond from Moscow emerged.
Anna Kournikova wouldn’t win one singles tournament. But perhaps no other winless player so changed the game. She showed that you could come from a freezing Moscow basement apartment to the West and make a fortune.
Kournikova was a phenom. It wasn’t so much that she packed press conferences to talk about her new line of bras, or that she sued her parents for $5 million over the Miami home they jointly owned. It was more about the way she sashayed through the sport with a breezy arrogance. “I could snap my fingers,” she’d claim, “and have any man I want. People can look [at me] and wonder about…the sensuous delights of the dish, but they can’t afford such an expensive luxury.”
But, despite some wonderful charity work, Kournikova was not universally loved. Mary Carillo said Anna feels as if, “Everybody’s there to serve her, everybody’s her underling. Her attitude toward everybody is, ‘Peel me a grape.’” Justine Henin bristled, “She is unapproachable: What should I be envious of? Her body? Her income? Her boyfriends?…I wouldn’t exchange anything with her. I feel good the way I am. I don’t need a boyfriend every week. I’m serious and try to be generous and loyal and love. I don’t drink and I hate discos.”
The late wordsmith Frank Deford captured Anna’s essence, writing that she was “like a trim sloop, skimming across the surface, her long signature pigtail flying about like a torn spinnaker in the wind. Her lines are perfect – especially now that she doesn’t jam the second-service ball up her knickers.”
