The 122ᵉ edition of Roland-Garros has been in full swing since Sunday, but wouldn’t there be a lot of notable absentees? Don’t panic ladies and gentlemen, we still have this Tuesday to discover the last big favorites of the tournament. We see you coming, don’t expect an appearance out of nowhere from a perked up “Rafa”. No, that won’t happen, but Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud and Holger Rune are coming to Porte d’Auteuil for our greatest pleasure.
We can dissect Roland’s program in every way, nothing excites us more than the possibility of seeing Gaël Monfils set fire to the Central (one last time?). And this concept of night session seems totally destined for a crazy showman like him, so you might as well go for this meeting with your eyes closed. We may (surely) be disappointed, but even at 36 and with an improbable ATP ranking (386th), we tell ourselves that the “Monf” will return the Philippe Chatrier to us. It remains to be seen whether it will be thanks to cinder blocks in the forehand or by hitting the key in the beatbox show supposed to accompany this night session.
Ah yes, we almost forgot to tell you: Gaël Monfils will have the Argentinian Sebastian Baez (22) on his way. This one is obviously much better ranked than our French puncher (42nd at ATP) and he almost snagged Stefanos Tsitsipas in 16th in Rome this season (5-7, 6-3, 3-6). But we are still not talking about a crack against which Gaël Monfils would have absolutely no chance of affording a last stand. Then maybe…
We are already looking forward to seeing the Polish Iga Swiatek again at Roland. World number one and defending champion, she really impressed us last year and the Spaniard Cristina Bucsa risks being in a real mess against her, this Tuesday afternoon at the Central. On the boys side, we are served with three members of the Top 6 who will be there, Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud and Holger Rune. Respectively opposed to the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild, the Swede Elias Ymer and the American Christopher Eubanks, we see them all charting their course without incident (Team taking insane risks).
In addition to Gaël Monfils, there will remain six other French people for this end of the first round at Porte d’Auteuil. We necessarily have a special tenderness for Richard Gasquet (36), which could also be his last participation, against his compatriot Arthur Rinderknech (on the Lenglen in the late afternoon-early evening). Another curiosity with the revelation of Roland 2020 Hugo Gaston, placed in the Bombonera of 14 (the lucky one) against the Slovak Alex Molcan. Don’t mess around Hugo, no anti-game fault eh! The Lyon giant Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (19 years old, 2.01m) will demonstrate his firepower in service on court number 7 (late morning) against the Argentinian Genaro Alberto Olivieri. And finally, we will have Quentin Halys, also on the 7th in the afternoon against another Argentinian (decidedly), namely Guido Pella.
In the women’s draw too, there will be several tricolors involved, starting with Fiona Ferro on the 14th against Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson. Two other young players, dominant among the juniors with major titles gleaned in 2018 and 2019, namely Clara Burel (against Sara Sorribes Tormo on the 14th) and Diane Parry (against the Ukrainian Kalinina on the Simonne-Mathieu at the end of the morning), are on view. Finally, if you absolutely want to chain French meetings, court number 6 will be for you, with the tricolor clash Selena Janicijevic-Océane Dodin, then the entry into the running of Grégoire Barrère in stride against Ruusuvuori. Phew, we went around this last day (of the first round) very tough.
No worries, we will still be entitled to Venice Beach Porte d’Auteuil. Between 17 and 24°C roughly from the start of the matches at 11 a.m. The key parameter could once again be the wind (hello Caro Garcia), since gusts of up to 45 km / h are announced.
We would still see the Heat win in Boston in this hyper-hot match 7, even without home advantage. How are we totally off topic? Come on, since we have to get started, and even if it pains us to leave on this, we can well imagine Arthur Rinderknech overthrowing his glorious elder Richard Gasquet on the Lenglen in the afternoon. The pressure of a possible last time here, a rocky year, an elimination in the first round in Lyon last week, almost everything shows that “Richie” is far from the form of his life. To the unknown Rinderknech to take the opportunity to catch the eye of the general public, at 27 years old.