Whether it’s raining, selling or snowing at the Porte d’Auteuil, there will be at least three French people in the second round of this Roland-Garros still struck by the withdrawal of its “dictator” Rafael Nadal. The draw orchestrated by the freshly statufied Antoine Dupont and Iga Swiatek gave birth to four entry duels: Richard Gasquet – Arthur Rinderknech, Arthur Cazaux – Corentin Moutet, Adrian Mannarino – Ugo Humbert. As well as Dodin against Janicikevic.
The enigma Gaël Monfils inherited the Argentinian earthman Sebastian Baez, while Benoît Paire fell (badly) on the Englishman Cameron Norrie, seeded number 14. On the relief side, if they manage to respectively dominate the Italian Marco Cecchinato and the whimsical Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Luca van Assche and Arthur Fils will offer themselves a remake of the 2021 junior final (won by the former), before probably challenging Novak Djokovic in the third round.
Djokovic – Alcaraz in the semi-finals?
“Djoko” finds himself in the same half of the table as world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz, whom he could face in the semi-finals if he triumphs over a possible quarter against the inconstant Andrey Rublev, recent winner in Monte-Carlo , while the young Spaniard disposes of Stefanos Tsitsipas in another hypothetical quarter. In the other half, the “logical” quarter-finals would pit Daniil Medvedev against Jannick Sinner, and Casper Ruud against his rival Holger Rune.
On the ladies’ side, Caroline Garcia remains the greatest source of hope for our suffering tennis, despite a very mixed start to the season. The only French seed (No. 5), the Lyonnaise has already had a more difficult draw, and will start with the Chinese Wang Xinyu. If all goes well for her, Garcia could meet Aryna Sabalenka (2nd in the world) in the quarter-finals, who finally unlocked her Grand Slam counter at the last Australian Open.
Swiatek has a job
If we hope, without believing too much in it, for nice surprises, we are sure that at least one Tricolore will cross the first round, since Océane Dodin and Selena Janicijevic will challenge each other in the first round to win the formidable honor of rubbing shoulders with Ons Jabeur.
In order to hope to win a third “Roland”, after 2020 and 2022, Iga Swiatek will not have an easy tournament. Here is her possible menu: Barbora Krejcikova (winner in 2021) in the 8th round, Coco Gauff, her victim last year in the final, in the quarter and the formidable Elena Rybakina, freshly victorious in Rome, in the semi-finals.