That’s it, serious things start this Tuesday on the Porte d’Auteuil side with the start of the quarter-finals. As the days go by, there are fewer matches on the program – even though the juniors have started their tournament – but the posters are getting more and more exciting. See instead.
Once is not custom, the poster of the day will be an evening poster. And what a poster children! To my right, the world number 1 and announced successor to Rafael Nadal: Carlooooos Alcaraaaaaaaz! And on my left, a hair of Greek angel and an immoderate love for clay: Steeeeeefanos Tsitsipaaaaaas! (It’s good, our speaking career at Roland is validated by the street?). If Alcaraz has beaten everything that has come in its way since the start of the tournament, we want to believe that the Greek, seeded number 5, does not intend to act as a whipping boy on Tuesday evening.
At the center of all attention, and not necessarily from a sporting point of view, the Belarusian world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka faces the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (or the French Eline Svitolline, it depends) in a match that still smells geopolitical tension. In amazing form, just three months after giving birth to the daughter she had with Gaël Monfils, Svitolina would dream of hitting Sabalenka to secure an absolutely unexpected place in the semi-finals. To achieve this, she should be able to count on the support of the Central public and that of Monfils, behind her since her last minute package. In the process, for men, Novak Djokovic and his magic patch will face Karen Kachanov on the Central.
To find trace of one or a tricolor, it will be necessary either to turn to the junior tournament, or to that of the Legends, which begin this Tuesday. We will thus be pleased to find Nathalie Tauziat, associated with Caroline Wozniacki, facing the Argentinian pair Dulko-Sabatini.
We’re starting to run out of ideas there… So we’re going to keep it simple and bet our PEL (and that of the neighbour) on Svitolina’s victory against Sabalenka. Well yes, we are patriots, it would be nice not to support and believe in our last chance of victory (a little) French in singles at Roland.