In the emotional aftermath of Swiatek’s win over Karolina Muchova in the French Open final, as his Polish compatriot sank to her haunches, overwhelmed with emotion, Wiktorowski stood impassive. The 42-year-old looked more like a man who had just discovered a mistake on his bank statement than someone who had just guided the world’s best tennis player to a fourth grand slam victory.

So when Wiktorowski later revealed that injury almost prevented Swiatek from appearing at Roland Garros, he did so with a matter-of-fact air. From everyone else, though, there was a sharp intake of breath. Swiatek, after all, had encouraged us to believe that the thigh problem she suffered in Rome, where she was forced to retire early in the final set of her quarter-final against Elena Rybakina, “shouldn’t be anything serious”. In hindsight, perhaps greater weight should have been given to the final message she posted on social media before flying to Paris. “Booking my flight,” wrote Swiatek. “Fingers crossed, please!”

“As we know, she was injured badly in Indian Wells, then we skipped Miami,” Wiktorowski told former world No 2 Alex Corretja, who now works as a pundit for Eurosport.

“Then [came] Rome. From the very last moment, we weren’t sure if she would be able to play here. That’s why it was the most difficult match since I am her coach.”

The challenge was mental as well as physical. Any player needs time to regain trust in their body after an injury; for one like Swiatek, whose physicality is the bedrock of her game, that need is only magnified. At a time when the 22-year-old was trying to come to terms with the psychological burden of a title defence, it was one more thing to deal with.

“Iga felt more pressure than last year,” said Wiktorowski. “[It was a] huge match, the final of a grand slam. 

“Being here back-to-back, it means something, but also, you know very well how it is, you feel it from inside, and you demand from yourself more and more and more, and then you hit the wall. 

“You have to step back and keep it going, and she made it. She passed through this tough moment, passed through all the tough moments this year.”

Those junctures have included defeats to Rybakina at the Australian Open and in Indian Wells, where Swiatek suffered a rib injury that left her side-lined for more than a month, as well as a pair of losses in finals, to Barbora Krejcikova in Dubai and Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid. 

Yet the good moments have far outweighed the difficult ones, particularly given the pressure of living up to the historic achievements of last season, when Swiatek set the bar stratospherically high with a 37-match winning streak. In seven tournaments since the Australian Open, the Pole has made five finals, mounting successful title defences in Qatar, Stuttgart and Paris. It has been an outstanding six months, combining passages of dominance redolent of last year with further evidence that Swiatek is more than ready to battle when occasion demands. 

Both aspects of the defending champion’s game were in evidence at Roland Garros. Having swept into the semi-finals without dropping a set, she fended off a stern challenge from Beatriz Haddad Maia, saving a set point with a late display of aggression. Having never previously dropped a set in a grand slam final, Swiatek twice recovered from a break down in the decider to see off Muchova in the final. The resilience Swiatek demonstrated at the sharp end of the tournament offers further evidence of the continuing evolution in her game overseen by Wiktorowski in tandem with Daria Abramowicz, the sports psychologist who has been a mainstay of her rise, and Maciej Ryszczuk, her physical trainer and physio.

“This one, for sure, was a little bit tougher in terms of, injuries and the pressure, and also coming back to this tournament as a defending champion,” said Swiatek of her third Roland Garros victory in four years. 

“I needed to really handle that. I’m super happy that I managed to do that and that Daria helped me, as well, because for sure these past three weeks weren’t easy. 

“[It’s been a] team effort also, Maciej taking care of my health and actually managing these little injuries that happened. We know that it’s going to happen in sport, but he’s the reason basically I was able to compete, both after Indian Wells – I came back really quickly – and after Rome. 

“So, really, shout-out to the team – because without them, I wouldn’t be here.”

Team effort or not, Swiatek increasingly stands alone as the standard bearer for her generation. With her latest win, she becomes the youngest player to win four majors since Serena Williams, and the youngest to defend the French Open title since Monica Seles won three in a row as a teenager between 1990 and 1992. Swiatek also joins Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic , Venus Williams and Naomi Osaka as one of only five active players with four or more slams. 

It is rarefied company indeed. No wonder, as he embraced Swiatek in the stands, even Wiktorowski allowed himself a smile.

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He carries himself very well. No doubt very nice guy on and off the court. Brings a lot of intensity on the court. Reminds me of someone from his country that plays with a left hand.

Obviously, you lose to someone seven times, you feel crappy.

Coco Gauff on losing to Iga Swiatek seven times in a row.

Every time it finishes, I’m happy… again, same today, because [there was] wind, a dry court, I had a mouthful of clay since probably the third game of the match, and I don’t like it. I don’t know if people like to eat clay, to have clay in their bags, in their shoes, socks. White socks, you can throw them to garbage after the clay season. Maybe some people like it. I don’t. I am happy to have it finished.

Daniil Medvedev on bidding adieu to clay courts after his loss to Brazil‘s Thiago Seyboth Wild.

I think if it’s meant to be, I will get there one day. If it’s not, then I will go have a daughter and make her win Wimbledon. You always have options.

Ons Jabeur on her quest to win a first grand slam title.

I think tennis players have smaller bladders.

I’m talking about the juniors until the seniors. I never had that. You just pee before the match and that’s it. I never saw anyone wanting to pee during the match. I think there is a bladder problem.

I don’t want to be the only oldie talking about the old times, but something we could do together is to check this bladder problem. We definitely have to do something about it. It’s strange.

Yannick Noah, the 1983 champion, on the modern penchant for bathroom breaks.

I think Hawk-Eye just takes the guessing out of it. Mentally, you do kind of have to move on because there’s nothing you can do about it. I do think in that sense it helps.

But of course, I don’t think it’s 100% accurate. Jelena [Ostapenko] probably, like, wants to do a third-party investigation.

Jessica Pegula on the case for using electronic line-calls on clay.

You play with balls that get bigger after two seconds. The new balls don’t even last a game. The balls are rubbish.

You can’t play tennis with that type of ball. You can’t attack, you can’t move ahead. It’s impossible to play an ace. It’s another style of tennis, which is different. It requires physical qualities; it’s a question of who can keep the ball in the court for the longest. My game is based on service and aggressive hits back, but the ball is just not moving. It’s terrible.

It’s Roland Garros, one of the greatest tournaments in the world, and we’re playing with these silly balls.

Local favourite Benoît Paire was not impressed by the Wilson balls in use at Roland Garros.

I don’t want to really talk about [Iga’s Bakery jokes]. I really get why people do that, because it’s fun and tennis is entertainment and everything.

But from the players’ point of view, I want to be respectful to my opponents and, you know, you don’t see the stuff that is behind the scenes. Sometimes it’s not easy to play such matches and sometimes it’s not easy also for the opponents.

I don’t want to talk about the bakery. Twitter can talk about it, but I’m just going to be focused on tennis.

Iga Swiatek is more comfortable doling out bagels and breadsticks (6-0 and 6-1 sets) than talking about them.

This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.

Holger Rune on winning a point against Francisco Cerúndolo after a double bounce.

It was very close, but very far.

Karolina Muchova on her defeat to Iga Swiatek in the final.

Guys, I don’t have a lot of things to tell you. He played great. I mean, I don’t think he played exceptional, but he played great. One thing that I’m going to try to avoid in the future is have melatonin pills and naps before matches because it clearly doesn’t seem to be working.

Stefanos Tsitsipas attempts to explain his quarter-final loss to Carlos Alcaraz.

The dream? I know that Djokovic, he did 22 Grand Slams or 23, so I want to go until 25, if it will be possible.

Mirra Andreeva, 16, outlines her ambitions for the future.

Novak knows. Novak waits. Like Roddick said, he takes the legs, then he takes your soul, then he dig your grave and you have a funeral and you’re dead. Bye-bye, thank you for coming.

Goran Ivanisevic, Novak Djokovic’s coach, on what makes his man special.

I’m not supporting the war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now.

Aryna Sabalenka clarifies her stance on Belarusian support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

I’m Ukrainian. I’m standing for my country. I’m doing everything possible to support, to give a good spirit for the men, for the women, who are right now in the frontline, fighting for our land, for our country.

So can you imagine the guy or a girl who is right now in the frontline, you know, looking at me and I’m, like, acting like nothing is happening. I’m representing my country. I have a voice. I’m standing with Ukraine. I’m standing, I have my position in this war.

What the Russian government or Russian soldiers are doing on our land is really, really terrible. For us, it’s just our position in this, and it touches many different areas. It touches sport, it touches acting, it touches all different areas. So, you know, we are all united, Ukrainians. And this is our position.

Elina Svitolina with some of the most powerful words uttered at Roland Garros in 2023.

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Throughout a clay-court campaign blighted by unexpected defeats and concerns about an injury to the same elbow on which he had surgery five years ago, Djokovic maintained that his goal was to peak at Roland Garros. 

The absence of the injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal in Paris, for the first time since 2005, can only have hardened his resolve. The prospect of a men’s record 23rd grand slam title that would break the 36-year-old’s two-way tie with Nadal, eclipsing the Spaniard as the oldest winner in the 16th arrondissement and making him the first man in the open era to win all four majors three times, was enticing enough. To achieve it all on Court Philippe Chatrier, an arena that has become Nadal’s second home, would make victory all the sweeter.

With a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 7-5 victory over Casper Ruud on another hot and humid day in the French capital, Djokovic got what he came for. As Ruud looped a final forehand wide, Djokovic fell to the clay, flat on his back à la Nadal, before acknowledging both his opponent and the crowd. He crouched on his haunches to take in the moment, and then set off towards his support team, cavorting wildly. 

“When I saw his forehand going wide, I felt a huge relief and I was overwhelmed with wonderful emotions,” said Djokovic, who has now won six of the last 10 majors.

There were no tears this time, at least not at first. Six months ago, when Djokovic won his 10th Australian Open title, he dropped to the ground in his player box and sobbed uncontrollably. This time, there was only unbridled joy as he exchanged hugs, smiles and backslaps with his family and support team. Everyone wanted a piece of the history maker. Even Gustavo Kuerten, a three-time champion in these parts, stopped him for a photo. 

But when Djokovic returned to the court, and the enormity of the moment began to sink in, he buried his head in a towel and wept. No wonder. His career, played out in the shadow of Nadal and Roger Federer, has been nothing short of an odyssey: now, for the first time, he stands ahead of both. 

That it happened in France could hardly have been more appropriate. Fifteen years ago, Djokovic’s mission to be acclaimed the greatest male tennis player in history began with victory over a Frenchman, the Serb defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win his first grand slam title in Melbourne. Now, as he finally realised that ambition – for the time being at least – it was another Frenchman, Yannick Noah, the charismatic champion of 40 years ago, who presented him with the Coupe des Mousquetaires. 

“It’s kind of symbolic in a way that I won my historic 23rd here in Roland Garros,” said Djokovic. “[It] makes it even sweeter and greater, knowing what it takes to win Roland Garros for me. 

“It’s not to take anything away from the winning of any other slam, but just Roland Garros is the highest mountain to climb for me in my career. That’s why it’s even more satisfying.”

What Ruud would give to scale such heights. The Norwegian has now reached three of the past five grand slam finals and earned just one set for his troubles. The footballers Kylian Mbappé and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, seated at courtside, would perhaps be tempted to liken the world No 4 to a striker who keeps getting into good goalscoring positions, only to miss the target. 

Yet, for the better part of 81 minutes, the time it took for an enthralling first set to unfold, Ruud bore down on goal with genuine intent. As Djokovic committed an unusually high number of mistakes, Ruud pumped down one mighty topspin forehand after another, winning almost every rally of significant length as he thwarted Djokovic’s best efforts to dictate with his own forehand. 

More than half of Djokovic’s 32 unforced errors came in the opener, and few were more memorable than the routine overhead he sprayed long to concede an early break. It was one of several shaky Djokovic smashes, a sure indication that even he was not immune to the magnitude of the occasion. 

The pressure on the Serb can hardly have been eased by the sense of expectation surrounding him. Having seen off Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals, Djokovic faced an opponent with a patchy recent record even on his beloved clay. Taro Daniel and Matteo Arnaldi, both ranked outside the top 100, have beaten Ruud on clay this season, and to most observers anything other than a Djokovic win seemed unthinkable.

But while Djokovic might be a tennis colossus, history remains a substantial burden. It did for him when he faced Daniil Medvedev two years ago at the US Open with the calendar year grand slam at stake and, as Ruud consolidated the break to lead 3-0, it briefly looked as though it might complicate matters again.

Pressure is a two-way street, however, and as he trailed 2-4 Djokovic made his move in a game that was a tale of two smashes. The first came when Djokovic miscued another inviting lob, spurning an opportunity that would have given him two break points. The second saw Ruud mar a patiently constructed rally by dumping an overhead into the net at break point down.

“That was unfortunate,” said Ruud. “A really long rally where I missed the overhead, which was sort of a bit devastating. But, you know, I was still leading. 

“I don’t think I lost because of that. But it would be nice to sit down and have 5-2 and then there is new balls, obviously. So that was tough.”

Tougher still for Ruud will be the memory of a missed return after Djokovic obligingly delivered a 91mph second serve into his strike zone at 5-4, 30-30. Let off the hook, Djokovic was deadly in the tiebreak that followed soon afterwards. He had previously played five breakers over the fortnight, all of which he won without making a single unforced error. So it was again, Ruud salvaging only a solitary point as Djokovic pocketed seven of the next eight points, bookending that passage with a pair of searing forehand winners.

“He just steps up,” said Ruud. “Either he plays ridiculous defence, or he plays beautiful winners. Just doesn’t do any mistakes.  

“He just locks in and makes you have to play either ridiculously well to win the points, or he steps up with a winner himself. He knows how and when to step up. He’s smart. He’s played so many matches where he knows where he has to raise his level. It’s just annoying for me, but it’s very, very impressive.”

It was also a body blow for the Norwegian’s hopes of a first grand slam title. With the first set in the bag, Djokovic began to take charge, dictating with his turbo-charged forehand, suffocating Ruud with his relentless accuracy and consistency. Ruud did not fall away, as he did against Nadal in last year’s final, but the only question that realistically remained was whether Djokovic would falter down the stretch. It was one he answered emphatically, winning 12 of the last 13 points.

“Like [Andy] Roddick said, he takes the legs, then he takes your soul,” said Goran Ivanisevic, Djokovic’s coach, when asked what sets Djokovic apart. “Then he digs your grave and you have a funeral and you’re dead – bye-bye, thank you for coming.”

With Nadal hopeful of returning for a farewell season next year, it still feels slightly premature to say that the last rites have been read on the grand slam title race. That moment will probably come next month at Wimbledon, where Djokovic will be a heavy favourite to equal Federer’s haul of eight titles. Win that, and he will go into the US Open chasing a calendar year grand slam for the second time in three years. It is hard to imagine now that, when Djokovic won his second major at the Australian Open in 2011, Federer had 16 grand slams and Nadal nine.

“It’s amazing to know that I’m ahead of both of them in grand slams, but at the same time, everyone writes their own history,” said Djokovic. “I think that everyone has a unique journey that they should embrace.”

No journey has been more singular than his own.

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Crowned champion twice before at Roland Garros after dominant performances on the final Saturday, Swiatek was forced to dig deep on the Parisian clay for a third, battling Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic for almost three hours before she finally prevailed 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

At a set and a break to the good, the Polish world No 1 looked home and dry. At 2-0 down in the decider, and with her composure fraying in the face of Muchova’s all-court excellence, she looked down and out. Never before had Swiatek dropped a set in a grand slam final, but she remained hard as nails throughout, her courage and resilience carrying her to a 29th victory in 31 matches at the tournament.

Only when a Muchova double-fault finally confirmed victory did the mask slip. Swiatek dropped to her haunches, covering her face with her hands as her name was chanted by a crowd treated to one of the best finals in many years, and the emotion poured forth. Before long, though, she was up in the stands, tears turning to laughter as she exchanged hugs with her team and her family.

“I’m feeling all these different emotions right now,” Swiatek said later. “It’s pretty surreal, everything. The match was really intense, a lot of ups and downs. Stressful moments and coming back.

“I’m pretty happy that at the end I could be solid in those few last games and finish it.”

Back down at courtside, Muchova sat in her chair, disconsolate. Serving at 4-3 in the decider, the gifted 26-year-old had stood within two games of the biggest win of a career that, were it not for persistent injury problems, might already have delivered so much more.

“The feeling is a little bitter, because I felt it was very close,” said the 43rd-ranked Muchova, who struggled to hold back tears during the trophy ceremony.

“But overall, I mean, to call myself a grand slam finalist, it’s an amazing achievement, and for sure big motivation for me to work in the future and to get a chance again to play for these big titles.”

She surely will. Comebacks have become Muchova’s forte: from a complicated abdominal injury that kept her out of the game for seven months; from the nadir that came when doctors warned she may never again play professional tennis; from the sprained ankle that cruelly stopped her in tracks at this event last year, just as she was finally recapturing her form. There have been comebacks on the court, too: from match point down against Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 2 and Australian Open champion, in an epic semi-final; and, here, from a difficult first set that, while it looked close to the naked eye, was nothing of the sort in scoreboard terms.

When Swiatek established a 6-2, 3-0 lead, Muchova looked on course for the heaviest defeat in a women’s final since Henin defeated Ana Ivanovic for the loss of just two games in 2005. Her game, a luscious combination of power, finesse and supreme athleticism that has drawn comparisons with Roger Federer, had clicked in fits and starts, but intermittent excellence is no match for the relentless consistency of Swiatek. The Pole frequently played the role of Rafael Nadal to her opponent’s Federer, sending fizzing topspin forehands up high to the Czech’s backhand to draw defensive one-handed slices. Such shots were meat and drink to the defending champion.

Muchova finally stopped the rot, holding serve with a crisp backhand volley that kissed the side-line, and when Swiatek went fractionally wide with a two-hander to go break point down, the Czech seized the opportunity to build on that slender second-set lifeline, firing a laser-like forehand down the line for a winner.

Though she was back on serve, the odds remained firmly stacked against Muchova. In 54 matches on clay as a professional, Swiatek had only once gone on to lose after taking the first set. The consolation for the Czech was that it was she herself who inflicted that defeat, winning the only previous meeting between the pair four years ago in Prague. Then, though, Swiatek was a 17-year-old qualifier ranked 95 in the world. Surely she would not allow history to repeat itself?

“I felt pretty confident with my game in the second set, but I also knew that it was only one break,” said Swiatek. “So I needed to stay constantly aware and ready for everything, especially playing against Karolina, knowing that she’s come back from really crazy situations in this tournament, and she managed to win those matches.

“I just wanted to be ready. But I felt like I let her a little bit into the match, which I shouldn’t do. Obviously, she’s a great player, so she used that chance.”

Use it Muchova did, albeit at the second time of asking. Having broken for 5-4 as Swiatek, showing the first signs of strain, capped an error-strewn game with a double fault, Muchova made four mistakes of her own, thwarting her hopes of serving out the set. But with Swiatek still struggling, another break followed, and this time Muchova made the most of it. Having missed two set points, the Czech fashioned a third with an incredible lunging volley that almost left her face down in the clay, and Swiatek then sent a return long to leave the match level with an hour and 55 minutes gone.

Those two rallies began a remarkable sequence of 11 straight points against Swiatek, who started the decider in frazzled fashion. Another double fault cost her a love break, and when Muchova then held with back-to-back aces, the defending champion was staring down the barrel.

“I took the chances in the second set and I felt like the momentum went a bit on my side,” said Muchova. “I started well in the third set as well.

“But to play against her, you have to be ready. The balls are coming fast. She’s not doing any easy mistakes, and you always know that [if] you have a chance, you have to take it, because maybe there is no other chance.”

In fact, Swiatek twice battled back from a break down in the decider, each time raising the tempo with huge hitting from the baseline. It was testimony not only to her composure but also to her bravery and enduring commitment to the attacking style that her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, encouraged her to adopt from the moment the pair began working together in late 2021.

“In the third set, I didn’t want to have any regrets about the second,” said Swiatek. “I just looked forward, and I said to myself, ‘OK, you know what? I’m just going to give it all.’ No thinking, no analysing. Just play my game, use my intuition.”

How it paid off. At the age of 22, Swiatek is the first woman to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup in consecutive years since Justine Henin won her fourth and final title in the 16th arrondissement in 2007. She is also the youngest player to defend the title since Monica Seles, and only the third woman in the open era to win each of her first four grand slam finals, following in the footsteps of Seles and Naomi Osaka.

When the lid fell from the trophy as Swiatek cavorted on the winners’ podium afterwards, it felt as though the pressure and expectation of the past few months went with it.

“I’m happy that I finished the whole clay-court swing so well, and that I kind of survived,” said Swiatek. “I guess I’m never going to doubt my strength again maybe, because of that.”

Nor should she. The queen of clay’s reign continues, and it will take something truly special to unseat her.

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It was billed as a blockbuster, a moment that, after a year-long wait and a prolonged tug-of-war for the No 1 ranking, would bring either a changing of the guard or a reaffirmation of the old order. There is an obvious danger of overpromotion in such circumstances and yet, as the pair showcased their wondrous shot-making and athleticism, it felt as though the match might even have been undersold.

Then, calamity struck.

With Djokovic preparing to serve early in the third set, Alcaraz suddenly clutched his right hand in discomfort. He cast a quizzical look towards his box, missed a forehand return, and then hopped awkwardly on one leg, his body seized by cramp. 

From that moment, the match was over in all but name, Alcaraz winning just one more game as Djokovic eased to a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 victory to reach his seventh final in Paris.

“The first set and the second set were really, really intense, and I started to cramp in my arm,” said Alcaraz, who defeated Djokovic in a final-set tiebreak in the only previous meeting between the pair, last year in Madrid. 

“At the beginning of the third set I started to cramp every part of my body, not only the legs. The arms, as well, every part of the legs. 

“It was really tough for me to move [in] the third set, and in the fourth set let’s say I had a little chance, but it was really tough. My full body started to cramp.”

Barely able to move in the third set, Alcaraz improved only marginally in the fourth as a match that began with a bang ended in a whimper. 

Djokovic will now face Casper Ruud, a 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 winner over Alexander Zverev, in Sunday’s final with history on the line. Victory over the Norwegian, who was routed by Rafael Nadal at the same stage last year, will earn Djokovic a men’s record 23rd grand slam title, moving him one clear of Nadal. It would also return him to No 1 and, for the second time in three years, leave him half way to achieving the first grand slam in the men’s game for more than half a century.

“This was a big win today under circumstances that were obviously a little bit strange, especially in the third and fourth,” said Djokovic. “But a win is a win. I have said it many times this year, that during the clay season Roland Garros is where I want to peak, where I want to play my best tennis.  

“I put myself in another really ideal position to win a grand slam. That’s basically what still drives me when I wake up in the morning.”

The magnitude of the occasion was tangible from the outset. No less remarkable than Alcaraz’s physical dynamism and outrageous shot-making is his ability to enjoy the cut and thrust of competition. Here is a man who treats the court as his playground, who greets his most outrageous winners with the broadest of smiles. But for a set, as Djokovic exerted suffocating pressure with the precision and consistency of his serving, and with the peerless quality of his returns, Alcaraz looked anything but happy. 

Uncharacteristic errors and miscues betrayed an anxiety that has hitherto been alien to the Spaniard. It was hardly surprising, given the significance of the match, and Alcaraz admitted afterwards that the tension coursing through his body in those early stages was the root of his undoing.

“I have never felt something like I did today,” said Alcaraz. “I have never felt the tension that I did in that match. 

“[It] is not easy to play against Novak, you know, a legend of our sport. If someone says that he gets [on] the court with no nerves playing against Novak, he lies.

“Of course, playing a semi-final of a grand slam, you have a lot of nerves, but even more with facing Novak. That’s the truth.” 

Djokovic turned the screw ruthlessly in the early stages. Having started slowly against Karen Khachanov in the previous round, the Serb knew he could ill-afford a repeat against a man 16 years his junior, and he guarded against that eventuality by landing 23 of his 29 first serves. Even that was not enough to prevent Alcaraz from fashioning three break points in the seventh game. But with the Spaniard struggling to play with his customary freedom, the breakthrough proved elusive. The singular sight of Alcaraz screaming towards his box in frustration offered an insight into his heightened emotional state.

The US Open champion’s turmoil was magnified by Djokovic’s trademark ability to elevate his level at the moments of greatest need. Deadly throughout with the accuracy of his centre-line serves in the ad court, the Serb threw in a clever change of direction to deny Alcaraz another break point at 5-3, prising a return error with a penetrating wide delivery as he served out the set. 

But as Alcaraz came to terms with the intensity of the contest, the smile returned to his face. After racing on to a drop shot early in the second set, he wrong-footed Djokovic, steering the ball down the line for a winner. It was a near thing, though, the ball landing plum on the baseline, and the Spaniard shot a broad grin to his team, amused by his needless brinkmanship.     

Suddenly, Alcaraz began to look like Alcaraz. The shoulders relaxed. The liveliest arm in the game began to loosen. Soon afterwards came the first big Alcaraz moment, the 20-year-old racing back to the baseline after retrieving a Djokovic drop shot to somehow manufacture a swatted pass with his back to the court. Both men laughed at that one. Alcaraz was on his way, and in the eighth game he broke after Djokovic had received treatment on his forearm. Unable to serve out at 5-3, he clinched the set four games later with a love break.    

The stage was set for an epic, but it was not to be. As Alcaraz was stricken by cramp at 1-1 in the third set, he stood hunched over, clutching at his right calf and unable to place his right foot down. Aurélie Tourte, the French umpire, descended from her chair and was soon joined by Djokovic, who appeared to offer a few consoling words.

“I can’t play like this,” said Alcaraz as he tried to stretch out the muscle. 

“Well, we have a problem,” replied Tourte, explaining that, with the rules not allowing play to be halted for cramp, the world No 1 could not take a medical timeout until the next changeover. It meant that, in order to receive immediate attention, Alcaraz would need to forfeit the next game, a situation he accepted with characteristic good grace. 

The Spaniard was still smiling as he explained the problem to the trainer, who rubbed ointment into the muscle and returned at the next change of ends to provide further treatment. But it was all to no avail, Alcaraz winning just one more game as Djokovic advanced to his 34th grand slam final in 70 attempts.

“Not the best way to end the match for him, but respect [to] him for hanging in there until the last point,” said Djokovic. “It was obvious that he was struggling with his movement. 

“It’s unfortunate for the crowd, it’s unfortunate for a match of this importance for both of us, but that’s sport. You know, it happens when you play on extremely high intensity as we both did, I think, for the first two sets. 

“It was so even. It was very demanding physically for both of us, and things like that physically, cramps or whatever he was struggling with, can happen. 

“I wish him fast recovery. I’m sure he will be back strong.”

You can be equally sure that Djokovic will be back strong two days from now.

The post Djokovic beats ailing Alcaraz to reach French Open final appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

That has been easier said than done in a season when Sabalenka, who won her first major six months ago at the Australian Open, has claimed more wins than any other player on the WTA Tour. But in one of the most dramatic matches of the year, the unseeded Muchova produced one of the biggest upsets of the year, saving a match point at 2-5 in the final set as she used her guile and variety to claim a 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 victory.

In her first grand slam final, the Czech world No 43 will face Iga Swiatek, the world No 1 and defending champion, who avenged her loss to Beatriz Haddad Maia last year in Toronto with a 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) win. 

Muchova, a former world No 19, has previous when it comes to toppling big names. Two years ago, she defeated Ashleigh Barty, then ranked No 1, en route to the Australian Open semi-finals. She followed up a couple of months later by beating Naomi Osaka, the world No 2 at the time, in Madrid. Those results, and a few more like them. meant Muchova came into her meeting with Sabalenka undefeated against top-three players. 

Even so, few would have predicted this latest milestone. The 26-year-old, who has been plagued by injuries throughout her career, arrived in Paris still looking to make up lost ground in the rankings after returning from a seven-month layoff with an abdominal problem in March of last year only to roll an ankle at Roland Garros. Muchova fell out of the top 100 in the months that followed, dipping as low as No 235 in the world. Yet, as her first-round victory over Maria Sakkari demonstrated, she remains a richly gifted player, and against Sabalenka she put her extensive repertoire to good use, absorbing the Belarusian’s power with her sliced backhand, disrupting her rhythm with drop shots and frequent forays to the net, and serving with precision and authority. 

Regardless of which way the final goes, Muchova is now guaranteed a long overdue place in the top 10 – not bad for a player whose serial injury travails led some medics to warn she might have to give up the sport entirely.

“There have been many moments, many lows, I would say, from one injury to another,” said Muchova. “When I missed the Australian Open last year, and I was in a pretty bad state healthy-wise, I was working out a lot to try to get back. 

“You never know. Some doctors told me, ‘Maybe you’ll not do sport any more.’ But I always kept positive in my mind and tried to work and do all the exercises to be able to come back.”

Muchova’s determination served her well down the stretch against Sabalenka. The final games were a mixture of the brilliant and the bizarre. On the one hand, once she had slotted away a forehand behind a fine first serve to stave off match point, Muchova barely put a foot wrong. Defying cramp, she laid the groundwork for a subsequent break by rifling a huge return winner down the line, and continued to play with the same calm authority she had shown throughout. At the same time, Sabalenka inexplicably went into a fatal tailspin, her game deserting her as she won just four of the last 24 points.

“I think after I lost my serve [at 5-3 in the decider],” replied Sabalenka, when asked where she felt the match began to slip away. 

“I was serving for the match, so I think after that game she kind of stepped in and started playing a little bit more aggressive, and I kind of lost my rhythm. I wasn’t there.”

Sabalenka’s late dropoff was in stark contrast to the first two sets, where the quality on display from both women was frequently mesmerising. It was a collision of power and artistry, Sabalenka determined to bulldoze her way through the Czech’s defences, Muchova doing all she could to disrupt the Belarusian’s rhythm and play the match on her own terms.

Yet it was also so much more. Each player showed a willingness to take on the other at their own game. When Muchova attempted to break up the pace with a sliced backhand early in the first set, Sabalenka moved forward and feathered away a drop shot. When Sabalenka fashioned a break point with a crushing return, Muchova replied with an ace. It was cat and mouse stuff, the Czech testing Sabalenka’s patience and mental strength with her athletic defending, forever forcing her to make one more ball, even as Sabalenka attempted to overwhelm Muchova with her sustained intensity and strength of will.

Such tennis has been par for the course for Sabalenka over the past fortnight. For a player who had never advanced beyond the third round of the French Open before last week, the Belarusian cut through the lower half of the women’s draw as though to the manner born. A highly anticipated meeting with Swiatek began to look inevitable, particularly once Elena Rybakina withdrew from the tournament with illness, but a reprise of the Stuttgart and Madrid finals, which ended with one title apiece, was not to be.

One had to wonder whether the various controversies in which Sabalenka became embroiled over the fortnight contributed to her downfall. She was involved in politically-charged matches against Marta Kostyuk and Elina Svitolina, both from Ukraine, and twice declined to attend open press conferences after a Ukrainian reporter pressed her to clarify her stance on Russia’s invasion, which has been supported by Belarus. Sabalenka acknowledged that her reserves were depleted, but attributed her tiredness to the physical demands of clay-court tennis rather than politics.

“I’m really exhausted right now,” said Sabalenka. “But I think it’s only because I lost this match. It’s a very, very tough, tough match for me to lose. I think it’s normal to feel exhausted after two weeks of playing non-stop and playing on the clay. It’s always physical matches.”

Sabalenka’s defeat meant Swiatek needed to defeat Haddad Maia to retain the No 1 ranking, a task the Pole accomplished only after withstanding a late fightback from the never-say-die 14th seed.

Haddad Maia has been the master escapologist of these championships, recovering from a set down in three straight matches, and when she outrallied Swiatek to bring up a set point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreak, she looked to be on her way once more. What the 27-year-old Brazilian would have given at that stage for one of the laser-like forehand winners with which she frequently tormented Swiatek. Instead, a meek effort nose-dived into the net and the chance was gone, the world No 1 shaking off her passivity to reach a third final in four years.

“I’m just pretty happy to be in the final again,” said Swiatek. “It was a tough match, and especially [in the] second set, every point counted. It was stressful in some moments, so I’m happy that I was really solid and I was able to close it in the tiebreaker.”

Swiatek has now won 13 matches in a row at Roland Garros, and has yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament. In Muchova, she will once again face an opponent who won their only previous meeting, although much has changed since that day in Prague four years ago. A confirmed admirer of the Czech’s game, Swiatek knows what to expect in Saturday’s final.

“I played many practices with her since 2019, and I also watch her actually more than most of the players,” said Swiatek. “Just a coincidence, but it happened.

“I really like her game, honestly. I really respect her, and she’s a player who can do anything. She has great touch. She can also speed up the game. She plays with that kind of, I don’t know, freedom in her movements. And she has a great technique.

“So I watched her matches and I feel like I know her game pretty well. But obviously in matches, it’s a little bit different and I’ll be ready no matter what.”

The post Muchova stuns Sabalenka to set up Swiatek final in Paris appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Early in the second set of an entertaining quarter-final, Gauff followed a drop shot into the net. It was a tactic to which the American sixth seed made frequent recourse on an afternoon when she explored various ways to unsettle the top seed and, having just botched an almost identical opportunity that would have earned her three break points, Gauff showed that she was determined not to repeat the same mistake twice.

On the first occasion, Gauff seemed to pull out of a backhand drive when she spied the defending champion bearing down on the net, a late change of heart that resulted in a tame lob sailing over the baseline. Was she trying to avoid hitting her opponent from point-blank range? Whatever the case, this time around the 19-year-old held nothing back, blasting a full-bore drive volley straight into the upper right thigh of Swiatek, who toppled backwards on to the clay. 

Gauff may have succeeded in knocking the world No 1 off her feet, but she ultimately came no closer to knocking her out of the tournament than she did 12 months ago, when Swiatek crushed her in the final to win her second title. This was undoubtedly an improvement on last summer’s showing, yet the manner of Swiatek’s 6-4, 6-2 win was barely less emphatic, the 22-year-old reeling off eight of the final 10 games to set up a semi-final meeting with Beatriz Haddad Maia, who recovered from a set down to defeat Ons Jabeur, the seventh seed, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

“I don’t really know if that was her only option or not,” smiled Swiatek when asked about the incident. “But I know Coco is a nice person, and she wouldn’t mean it. Nothing personal. It happens.”

Gauff, who immediately raised her hands in apology, said she had not intended to hit Swiatek, but admitted that her decision-making was influenced by her previous miss. The teenager also made the valid point that Swiatek, rather than retreating, stood her ground at the net, effectively making her fair game.  

“I mean, the last point I lost because I was avoiding the… I kind of shanked the backhand,” said Gauff. “The next one, I said, ‘If I get it again, I’m going to hit my target.’ It wasn’t her. I didn’t try to hit her. I was just trying to hit the ball hard in the middle of the court, and it happened to hit her obviously.”

“I apologised after, but I think she knows that’s part of the game. If you hit a bad ball and you decide to run to the net, there’s always a risk that you get hit, and there’s always the risk that the person might miss trying to avoid you. 

“It worked the first time. The second time it didn’t work. But if I was in her position, I wouldn’t be mad at me either because she ran forward. I think when I said sorry, she shook her head, and we had a mutual understanding that that was the only shot I really had.”

In many ways, the moment encapsulated Gauff’s performance on an afternoon when the soundness of her approach was not always matched by the quality of her execution. Drawing Swiatek forward with drop shots made sense, given that the Pole is neither as comfortable nor as dextrous at the net as Gauff, a double grand slam finalist and world No 3 in doubles. Targeting Swiatek’s second serve, while hardly a novel tactic, was equally pragmatic.

Yet the fact remains that the top seed won six of the 10 points she played at the net, and claimed 75% of her second serve points. Gauff’s tally of 23 unforced errors, many of which came as she blasted returns wide or long, did not help. Neither did the punishment Swiatek meted out to Gauff’s second serve, behind which the American had a success rate of just 29% in the second set.

More successful, in the early stages at least, was Gauff’s policy of breaking up the rallies with high topspin balls that hung in the air, devoid of pace and subject to the vagaries of a swirling wind. It was a Swiatek miss on one such ball that enabled Gauff to cancel out an early break, and it was no coincidence that 12 of the Pole’s 15 unforced errors came in the opening set, when she was still coming to terms with her opponent’s tactical curveball. 

“I was surprised, because when I was playing against the wind, sometimes these forehands were just stopping, and you had to work twice to kind of get to them,” said Swiatek. 

“I don’t know if that was her tactic or it just happened because of the wind. I’m happy that I managed to get the win and be aggressive anyway.”

Swiatek will need to continue in that vein against Haddad Maia, for whom it has been a Roland Garros of firsts. In her first grand slam quarter-final, the Brazilian world No 14 played her first match on Court Philippe Chatrier, defeating Jabeur to become the first Brazilian woman to reach a grand slam semi-final since Maria Bueno at the 1968 US Open. The 27-year-old will now break into the world’s top 10 for the first time.

Haddad Maia may be breaking new ground, but there was nothing new about the way she reached her latest milestone. Having recovered from match point down against Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova and won the longest women’s match of the season against Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain, Haddad Maia once again came from behind to seal victory. Staring down the barrel in the 11th game of the second set, where she faced two break points that would have left Jabeur serving for the match, Haddad Maia held firm and went on to level the match on a tiebreak. The Brazilian dominated the decider.

“I think a tennis match is like a marathon, it’s not a 100-metres race,” said Haddad Maia. “I’m very patient and I never give up, so I wait for the moment because I know that my level is high. 

“Even if I’m not playing well, or even if I’m missing a few shots one moment, the tennis will appear, and I’ll have my opportunity to go for it.”

Swiatek, who was defeated in her only previous meeting with Haddad Maia last year in Toronto, is alive to the threat posed by a player who feels she has “nothing to lose”.

“She’s a fighter, and she showed even today that she’s fighting until the last ball,” said Swiatek. “It pays off.”

The post Swiatek dodges Gauff’s tactical curveball at French Open appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Sabalenka declined to speak to the media following her previous two matches at the French Open, claiming she “did not feel safe” after being challenged by a Ukrainian journalist over her position on the war, which she has denounced. But after defeating Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 6-4 to advance to her first semi-final in Paris, the world No 2 returned to a packed press room to offer her clearest statement yet about Lukashenko. 

“It’s a tough question,” said Sabalenka, asked if she supports the Belarusian president. “I mean, I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now.”

Sabalenka said photographs and videos of her in Lukashenko’s company stemmed from the 68-year-old’s regular attendance at Billie Jean King Cup matches played on home soil, pointing out that images circulating online pre-dated the war in Ukraine. She also reiterated her desire not to be drawn into political debate.

“We played a lot of [BJK] Cups in Belarus,” said Sabalenka. “He was in our matches taking pictures with us after the match. Nothing bad was happening [at] that time in Belarus or in Ukraine or in Russia. 

“I said it many times already, I’m not supporting war. I don’t want my country to be involved in any conflict.

“I don’t want sport to be involved in politics, because I’m just a tennis player, [a] 25-year-old tennis player. And if I would like to be political I wouldn’t be here. I don’t want to be involved in any politics. I just want to be a tennis player.”

Yet politics were inescapable for Sabalenka from the moment she drew Marta Kostyuk in the opening round of the tournament. The match ended in controversy when Kostyuk, who is from Ukraine, was booed after refusing to shake hands following her 6-3, 6-2 defeat. It has become the norm on the tour for Ukrainians to decline the traditional post-match handshake when facing Russian or Belarusian opponents, and Kostyuk remarked afterwards that spectators who booed “should be embarrassed”. 

Similar scenes unfolded after Sabalenka’s latest win, with Svitolina jeered by the crowd for ignoring the Australian Open champion as she stood leaning on the net, waiting to shake hands. It was a bizarre moment, partly because Svitolina has made it plain that she will not engage in post-match formalities with Russians and Belarusians, and partly because, as the wife of the popular French player Gaël Monfils, she has been adopted by the Parisian crowd as one of their own throughout the fortnight. Svitolina, a former world No 3 who gave birth to the couple’s first child last October, felt Sabalenka had made things worse by approaching the net.

“Yeah, I think so, unfortunately,” said Svitolina when asked if her opponent’s actions had inflamed the situation. 

“I don’t know, to be fair, what she was waiting [for], because my statements were clear enough about the handshake.

“My initial reaction, don’t know, was like, what are you doing? Because [in] all my press conferences I said my clear position. 

“Maybe she’s not on social media during the tournaments, but it is pretty clear. I made multiple statements that I’m not shaking hands, and she played obviously Marta as well the first round. So is quite simple.”

Sabalenka, who looked towards her box and laughed after the boos had subsided, said she had lingered at the net out of habit. 

“It just was an instinct, like I always do after all my matches,” said Sabalenka, who has yet to drop a set in Paris.

“I think she didn’t deserve all these boos. I’m giving such big respect to her [for] what she’s doing after giving birth. It’s impressive.”

On that point, everyone could agree. The renaissance of Svitolina, a title-winner in Strasbourg the week before the tournament, has been the talk of the town over the past 10 days. In the previous round she claimed a notable win over Daria Kasatkina, the ninth seed and one of the few Russians to have publicly denounced the war, and a tight first set against Sabalenka suggested there might be more to come. The 28-year-old broke early in the second set, but was ultimately unable to contain the Belarusian’s power and intensity. 

Sabalenka said she had lost sleep over her decision to shun the press, but insisted she did not regret the move.

“I felt really disrespected, and I felt really bad,” said Sabalenka, who will face Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals after the Czech defeated Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-2. “[A] grand slam, it’s enough pressure to handle, and I just tried to focus on myself, on my game.  

“I really hope that you guys will understand me, my feelings. You know that I really respect all of you, and I [am] always open. You can ask whatever you want. You will get all the information.  

“But in the last press conference, I felt like my press conference became a political TV show, and I’m not [an] expert in politics. I’m just a tennis player. I just need to step back and just bring focus on my tennis and on my game.”

The post Sabalenka, into French Open semis, disavows Lukashenko appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

A year ago, the Brazilian world No 14 won the first tour-level titles of her career in Nottingham and Birmingham. She has since reached a first WTA 1000 final in Toronto, made a debut appearance at the WTA Finals alongside Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina, and reached the quarter-finals or better in Portoroz, Tokyo, Talinn, Adelaide, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Stuttgart and Rome. Along the way, she has beaten Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Maria Sakkari. 

It is a formidable body of work, one that has confirmed the 27-year-old as the finest female player to come out of Brazil since Maria Bueno, who won three Wimbledon titles and four US Open crowns between 1959 and 1966. Yet there has been one glaring hole in her resumé: an inability to compile a grand slam run commensurate with her talent. Improbably, Haddad Maia arrived in Paris having never previously advanced beyond the second round of a major in singles.

It has been a heavy cross to bear for a player regularly mentioned in the same breath as Bueno and Gustavo Kuerten, who won the first of his three titles in Paris in 1997, shortly after Haddad Maia’s first birthday. But the landscape has altered over the past nine days at Roland Garros. On Monday, Haddad Maia survived an epic contest against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo to become the first Brazilian quarter-finalist in Paris since Bueno in 1968. 

In a triumph of industry, self-belief and determination, the 14th seed recovered from a set and a double break down to prevail 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-5 in three hours and 51 minutes. It was the longest tour-level match of the year – eclipsing by 10 minutes the mark set by Haddad Maia and Anhelina Kalinina in Rome last month – and third longest main draw women’s singles match at the French Open in the open era.

“It’s a dream,” said Haddad Maia. “I think since I started to play tennis, me, my family, and everybody from my team, I was dreaming and working very hard for this moment.  

“I’m very proud for what I did today, and also the last matches, because I had to fight a lot.”

That is putting it mildly. Haddad Maia recovered from match point down in the previous round against Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, and this was the third successive match in which she has been extended to a deciding set. To give her achievement some context, it took the Brazilian only 13 minutes less to subdue Sorribes Tormo than Swiatek has spent on court in four matches, although admittedly that statistic is somewhat skewed by Lesia Tsurenko’s retirement with illness just 31 minutes into her fourth-round meeting with the Pole.

Had she been able to convert any of the three match points she held in the ninth game of the decider, Haddad Maia would have been home and hosed almost half an hour earlier.

But Sorribes Tormo, a player of ferocious intensity and competitive appetite, is not noted for making life easy on her opponents. Neither woman had previously made the fourth round of a major and, with so much at stake, a meeting of two of the tour’s most courageous competitors was never likely to be a straightforward affair.

So it proved. After a blistering start by Haddad Maia, Sorribes Tormo chiselled away at a 5-2 first-set deficit, making ball after ball, keeping the Brazilian away from the centre of the court with the spin and penetration of her forehand, revelling in the chance to ensnare her opponent in the kind of physical, mental and emotion marathon that is her forte. 

A first set of six breaks culminated with a tiebreak in which Sorribes Tormo won a sequence of brutal, extended rallies. When went on to edge a 10-minute battle to break again at the start of the second set, combining some dazzling defensive play with powerful counterpunching, audacious drop shots and even a brilliant lob volley, the tide looked to be turning decisively in her favour.

That impression deepened when Sorribes Tormo battled to a 12-minute hold before stealing into the net to seize a second break with a drop volley. By this point, the 6ft Haddad Maia was being forced to play most of the rallies from above head height as Sorribes Tormo sought to nullify the power of the Brazilian, who had resolved that attack was the best form of defence, by throwing up looped topspin balls. 

But Haddad Maia, who was only 15 years old when she made the first of four visits to the surgeon’s table, is no stranger to adversity. Even as her glances towards her coach, Rafael Paciaroni, became more frequent, so her spirit rose. Stepping inside the baseline, she rediscovered her quality and her conviction, claiming 11 of the next 14 games to move within touching distance of victory.

“Tennis is not 100-metre race, it’s a marathon,” said Haddad Maia. “Especially my matches. I worked very hard since [I was] young, and my mentality is to not give up, always to give one more chance to [myself], even if things are not going the way that I want. 

“I think the key today was the discipline, to be calm and to accept that, okay, I was missing. Okay, she was playing better. She changed the game. 

“But we are in Roland Garros playing on Suzanne Lenglen, and I will try until the last point. I think the key was to fight today.”

That was never more the case than when Sorribes Tormo fought off three match points against her serve at 3-5 in the decider, the last with an impudent flicked pass that bamboozled Haddad Maia into stabbing the ball long after the Spaniard had shaped to go the way.

It set the scene for a dramatic finale, Sorribes Tormo summoning a final gesture of defiance to break Haddad Maia as she served for the match, only for the Brazilian to reclaim the break and complete the job at the second time of asking. Having blasted her 65th winner of the afternoon, Haddad Maia’s features crumpled with emotion.

“I think the emotions were there for both of us,” said Haddad Maia. “As I said [after] the last match, when we play big matches against big players in big tournaments – we played almost four hours – it’s not only about tennis, it’s a lot of things that come through our minds.

“I was trying to give one more chance for me, because I knew that I was missing a few shots. But I’m very happy and proud that I did not give up and I was trying to push until my limit. I think I deserve it because of that.”

Few would argue. Haddad Maia will now face Ons Jabeur, the seventh seed, with more history on the line as she attempts to become the first Brazilian woman to make the semi-finals since Bueno in 1966. Jabeur saw off Bernarda Pera of the United States 6-3, 6-1.

The winner of that match will face either Swiatek or Coco Gauff, who defeated Slovenia’s Anna Schmiedlova 7-5, 6-2 to set up a repeat of last year’s final.

“Since last year I have been wanting to play [Swiatek], especially at this tournament,” said Gauff. “I’m the type of mentality, if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. I think also if you want to improve, you have to play the best.”

In the men’s draw, Holger Rune will face Casper Ruud in the last eight after edging past Francisco Cerúndolo of Argentina 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7). The match was marred by a moment of controversy when the chair umpire, Kader Nouni, failed to spot a double bounce early in the third set as Rune scrambled to hoist up a defensive lob. To the evident irritation of Cerúndolo, the Danish sixth seed failed to own up to the error and went on to break for 3-1. 

“When I was hitting the ball, I didn’t know, I just ran for it,” said Rune. “I saw it after the next point on the TV, and I saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened and [Nouni] called the score.  

“So I felt sorry. Sorry for him. Yeah, I mean, then I managed to break him. I held serve. Then after he broke me, it was close again. You know, this is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Ruud, the fourth seed, defeated Chile’s Nicolás Jarry 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 7-5 to set up a repeat of last year’s quarter-final against Rune, which ended with a frosty handshake from the Dane. Rune later accused Ruud of screaming in his face in the locker room, a claim the Norwegian denied.

The post Haddad Maia makes history with epic French Open win appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Of course, for a player of Djokovic’s stature, a record like that is little more than a statistical footnote. The Serb is infinitely more interested in edging ahead of Nadal in the hard currency of grand slam trophies, a feat he would achieve were he to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires for a third time next weekend. 

Even so, to eclipse Nadal in any respect at an event where he has been so dominant that a statue has been erected in the grounds in his honour, one must clearly be doing something right. Djokovic’s little slice of Roland Garros history is a reminder that he has been comfortably the world’s second best clay-court player for almost two decades, quite an achievement in itself when you consider it is the surface on which he is least comfortable.

“I’m proud of it, but my attention is already on the next match,” said Djokovic, who will face Karen Khachanov, the Russian 11th seed, for a place in the last eight. 

“Obviously, quarter-finals, Khachanov, I know what my goal is here. I’m trying to stay the course mentally and not look too far. The performance of today gives me a great deal of confidence about how I felt, about how I played.”

With the possibility of a blockbuster semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz moving ever closer, such confidence will be needful. Alcaraz dispatched Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, the 17th seed and a man almost as flamboyant of shot as the Spanish world No 1 himself, in straight sets, matching Djokovic’s 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 score-line to accentuate the sense that the pair are destined to collide. Alcaraz won their only previous encounter, a tight three-setter at last year’s Madrid Open, but they have yet to meet over five sets at a major. 

“I think this was my best match in the tournament so far,” said Alcaraz, who will face former finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas, against whom he is unbeaten in four meetings, in the quarter-finals. “I think I played a good level.”

Musetti had hoped to dictate with his forehand, focusing his attack on Alcaraz’s backhand side to carve out space before delivering the coup de grâce to the opposite corner. A similar strategy served the 21-year-old well last summer in Hamburg, where he consigned Alcaraz to his first defeat in a final. But Musetti, not helped by a second-serve win percentage that languished at 33% in the first set and 38% in the second, was never allowed to play the match on his own terms. For all the sumptuous shot-making displayed by both men, Alcaraz was the more solid player at the key moments. 

“He is probably the best player in the world, and at the moment it’s really tough to beat him, especially on clay,” said Musetti. “I think he grew a lot since the last meeting we had in Hamburg.

“I think today he showed that he probably can win this tournament.”

Djokovic is all too aware of the challenge that lies ahead.

“You always follow the top guys in your half, how they’re playing,” said the Serb. “Of course you’re looking, you’re analysing everyone’s game. You’re basically following what’s going on in the draw.  

“But most of the attention is obviously focused on you, on what you need to deliver on the court, how you need to perform, how you need to win the next match. It’s only about the next step. But of course I do keep in mind what the others are doing.”

Djokovic’s vigilance extends to Nadal, who will be side-lined for a further five months after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on the hip injury that has kept him out of action since the Australian Open.

“I really hope that his rehabilitation process can go well and that we can see him next season,” said Djokovic. 

“I think that he’s so important for our game on and off the court, one of the greatest legends of tennis in the history of the game. We want to see a healthy Rafa, no question about it, playing for what he has announced [will be] his last season. 

“Hopefully he’s going to be able to do that.”

In the women’s singles, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina’s fairytale run continued as she defeated Daria Kasatkina, the Russian ninth seed, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Svitolina, who is married to the French player Gaël Monfils and gave birth to the couple’s first child eight months ago, will face Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, in the quarter-finals.

“I have played [my] last two matches against Russian players so it will not change, everything will be same,” said Svitolina of the prospect of facing the Belarusian.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, who came through a testing match against former finalist Sloane Stephens on Sunday night, declined the opportunity to hold an open press conference for the second match in a row. The Australian Open champion said after her third-round win over Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova that she did not “feel safe” addressing the press after she was twice challenged by a Ukrainian reporter over the Putin regime’s invasion of the country, which is supported by Belarus.

“She’s playing really great tennis here in Paris, moving well,” Sabalenka said of Svitolina following her 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory. 

“[She’s] another player who is going to run a lot and put a lot of balls back, and I just have to be patient and wait for that perfect shot to finish the point.” 

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