Poster of the day
Not many people to get their teeth into for this end of the first round. We will therefore fall back on a safe bet, Novak Djokovic, opposed in night session to the Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Not great on paper, of course, but it looks like a reward for the Alsatian, back at an interesting level after having had to overcome a series of traumatic injuriesincluding a ruptured cruciate knee ligament in 2022.
Obviously he starts from a long way against the Serb, but we have known the latter to be more dashing: no tournament won in 2024 and suspicious chain eliminations on earth in the spring. “My expectations are low, but my hopes are very high,” Novak explained in one of those phrases he loves.
Today’s favorites
The second knife among men, let’s not hide it, even if we will have to consider Casper Ruud as a big player one day. The two-time reigning finalist shouldn’t have too much trouble against Meligeni, whose surname you’d swear you heard on the circuit in the 90s. Ah, there’s also Holger Rune, all the same. The Dane has gone down in the rankings (seeded n°13), but he remains one of the biggest “thrill” players on the circuit. Among the girls, Sabalenka should tackle the Andreeva obstacle without even a little burp, like Rybakina against Minnen.
The French of the day
It’s never pleasant to be at the tail of a comet, but the blue contingent is still very strong on the third day. There will be eight of them, including the revelation at the start of the year Arthur Cazaux, promised a good battle against the specialist Etecheverry…. who has just lost the Lyon final against another French hope, the giant Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who will be pitted against an aging David Goffin.
Coming from the qualifiers, Barrère will have a good chance to play against the intermittent Bublik. But before that, we will undoubtedly have accompanied Alizé Cornet towards the exit. For her last Grand Slam tournament, the Frenchwoman drew the Chinese Zheng, 7th in the world. Also to follow are Mannarino, Mladenovic, Rinderknech, and Lestienne.
The weather update
Do we really need to dwell on this autumn weather which never ceases to spoil our spring. Clouds, showers, polar bear temperatures, give us global warming back asap.
The daring pronoun
Mannarino will win a match at Roland. No, we’re kidding. Errani will manage to serve at more than 120 km/h. Oh well no, we’re kidding too. Sorry, not much inspiration today. Come on, yes, the thriller of the day will occupy us on court number 8. Popyrin vs Kikkinakis, the duel of the Australians: the real ones have already reserved their place.