French Open 2022

Draw sections

1- Djokovic (possible R4 Schwartzmann or Dimitrov)
2 - Nadal (possible R2 - Wawrinka, possible R3 Fognini)
3 - Zverev
4 - Alcaraz (possible R4 Norrie/Thiem)
5 - Ruud
6 - Tsitsipas (possible R4 Shapovalov)
7 - Rublev
8 - Medvedev

Possible QFs
Djokovic vs Nadal (!)
Zverev vs Alcaraz
Ruud vs Tsitsipas
Rublev v Medvedev

Tough draw for everyone in the top half. Tsitsipas moves into contention a bit more after this draw.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/tennis/french-open-2022-draw-possible-routes-to-final-for-djokovic-nadal-alcaraz-swiatek-and-raducanu-explained/ar-AAXu4Mz

Cameron Norrie's first match is against French WC Manuel Guinard.

Dan Evans takes on Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo. Emma R will play a qualifier first.

Incidentally, ATP site had to apologise for getting the number of Rafa triumphs at RG wrong. Understandable, really, as there have been so many everyone's lost count.

13 French Opens is ridiculous. Before Rafa (and Roger and Novak) no-one ever won more than about 7 of the same tournament, at least on the men´s side.

Getting to your 5th, 6th, 7th was like proper legend territory.

Last few RG performances (2018-21)
Bottom Half (top seeds):
Medvedev (2): R1, R1, R1, QF
Rublev (7): A, A, QF, R1
Tsitsipas (4): 2R, 4F, SF, F
Ruud (8): A, 2R, 1R, 1R

The bottom half looks mediocre compared to the top half of the draw.  If Tsitisipas is healthy he should get to the final. I expect the top half of the draw will get most of the viewership and interest while the bottom half matches not so much.

The once ‘Prince of Clay’ Dominic Thiem’s woes continue. The twice Roland Garros runner up goes out in R1. Thiem’s comeback has been horrific so far. Played 7, lost 7. The Austrian has won 1 set in those 7 matches.

Alcaraz eases into R2 with 6-4 6-2 6-0 win over Argentina’s Londero
Zverev, FAA and Dimitrov also advanced.

Swiatek another day another drubbing. Destroys Tsurenko 6-2 6-0

Henman Bill wrote:13 French Opens is ridiculous. Before Rafa (and Roger and Novak) no-one ever won more than about 7 of the same tournament, at least on the men´s side.

Getting to your 5th, 6th, 7th was like proper legend territory.

I always find his W/L ratio of 105-3 ridiculous.

Amanda Anisimova beat Naomi Osaka 7-5 6-4. Osaka subsequently suggests she will not play Wimbledon.

French teenager Diana Parry takes out the defending champion Barbora Krejčíková

Jeff Navarro wrote:Amanda Anisimova beat Naomi Osaka 7-5 6-4. Osaka subsequently suggests she will not play Wimbledon.

Won't miss her.

Afro wrote:

Henman Bill wrote:13 French Opens is ridiculous. Before Rafa (and Roger and Novak) no-one ever won more than about 7 of the same tournament, at least on the men´s side.

Getting to your 5th, 6th, 7th was like proper legend territory.

I always find his W/L ratio of 105-3 ridiculous.

Wasn't there a point where it was something in the regions of 70 wins to 1 loss?

I think it's fair to say Rafa's a pretty decent clay court player.

Rafael Nadal breezes past Jordan Thompson for the loss of 6 games. 6-2 6-2 6-2.
Just the 106th win at Roland Garros...

Stan Wawrinka goes out in R1, denying us the rematch of the 2017 final vs Nadal in R2.

Emma Raducanu survives a scare against 17 year old Linda Noskova to reach R2, the Brit won 6-7 7-5 6-1. Solid win for Raducanu as Noskova is the reigning junior champion at Roland Garros.

dummy_half wrote:

Afro wrote:

Henman Bill wrote:13 French Opens is ridiculous. Before Rafa (and Roger and Novak) no-one ever won more than about 7 of the same tournament, at least on the men´s side.

Getting to your 5th, 6th, 7th was like proper legend territory.

I always find his W/L ratio of 105-3 ridiculous.

Wasn't there a point where it was something in the regions of 70 wins to 1 loss?

I think it's fair to say Rafa's a pretty decent clay court player.

70-1 sounds about right as he won 9 out of first 10 RGs.

Soderling's result looked impressive at the time as if was Rafa's first lost as a 4-time champion. Looked an even more impressive result after Rafa won the next 5 RGs after that.

Djokovic wins 6-3 6-1 6-0

No hanging around there.

Medvedev hammers Bagnis 6-2 6-2 6-2. Good win for the Russian considering he’d only played one match on clay this season prior to RG.

Holger Rune outclassed Denis Shapovalov in straight sets. 6-3 6-1 7-6. The Norwegian is a threat.

Andrey Rublev overcomes dropping the opening set to Kwon, to advance 6-7 6-3 6-2 6-4. Potentially someone that makes the final from the bottom half of the draw.

Casper Ruud beats Jo Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 7-6 6-2 7-6. The Frenchman sails off into retirement. Marvellous personality and a genuine entertainer.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Casper Ruud beats Jo Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 7-6 6-2 7-6. The Frenchman sails off into retirement. Marvellous personality and a genuine entertainer.

Yes, sorry to see JWT go, but at least it was a fighting performance. At his best he was a handful for everyone and his career included some excellent GS wins against the big boys.

Highlight for me came early on in his career when he absolutely destroyed Rafa in the AO semi in 2008. He also managed to come from two sets down to beat Federer at Wimbledon and also bested him at RG.

I see that 19-yr-old Rune, who gave Norrie a good match last week, has knocked out Shapovalov in straight sets.

Another seed ousted was de Minaur, beaten by Gaston of France.

Stefanos Tsitsipas outlasts Lorenzo Musetti to reach the second round. For the second straight year the young Italian blows a two sets to love lead.
Tsitsipas won 5-7 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-2

The Tsitisipas match shows just how hard it is to beat top players at a Slam.

First, the lesser-ranked player may not be able to keep up fine form for long enough to win three sets.

Then there is the advantage the big boys have in having the experience of playing a lot of five-set matches.

My reaction to seeing Tsitsipas was two sets down was not "ooh, he's in a lot of trouble" so much as "he'll probably win in five."

Emma R in action in first match of the day with Norrie also playing later.

Sad seeing Tsonga go, but age and injuries had taken their toll. Actually went out on a pretty decent performance and on the stage he would have wanted to. A player who in another era might have won a slam or two, but his peak years were obviously right through the prime of the Big 3. Was never consistent, but his best was very good indeed.

Sir Fred makes a good point about how hard it is to beat the top few players over 5 sets, especially on clay as you need to keep a high level for well over 2 hours and often approaching 3, and the lesser players simply can't do that on a regular basis.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich comes from a set down to see off Emma Raducanu. Raducanu’s level dropped massively in sets 2 & 3. The Belarusian won 3-6 6-1 6-1

The more I watch of Raducanu the more I feel we've seen the best of her already, the consistency and inability to play over three sets is worrying.

Sascha Zverev comes back from the brink to move into R3. The German comes from two sets down and saving match point at 4-5 in the fifth set.
2-6 4-6 6-1 6-2 7-5

Novak Djokovic beats Alex Molcan 6-2 6-3 7-6. Djokovic too good for Molcan but he improved in the third set.

‘El Peque’ Schwartzman comes from two sets down to beat Jaume Munar. 2-6 6-7 6-2 6-2 6-2

Carlitos Alcaraz survives a big scare to eventually see off Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1 6-7 5-7 7-6 6-4. Alcaraz struggled with BP conversion 8/31.

Baez proving the point being made earlier about the difficulty of getting the three sets against the top guys.

Must say I thought Alcaraz had had it today. Really amazing win. Just hope he's not taken too much out of himself.

Win #107 for Nadal as he’s beats Moutet 6-3 6-1 6-4

With Alcaraz's match, as he was on the brink of losing, I was all ready to say "I told you so".

I thought, indeed I still think, that it was a little crazy to make him favourite, or at least one of the favourites, for the title as he has had so little experience of five-set matches.

Well it could be argued that he had plenty of experience during last night's epic. RV was just the type of player to give him a difficult time - an experienced old clay-court guy.

The young Spaniard managed to come through. I can't see him going all the way at RG but will be quite happy to see him prove me wrong.

Cant see anything stopping a Novak - Rafa clash in QF

Medvedev beats Djere 6-3 6-4 6-3. Good win for the Russian as Djere is a good clay court player.

David Goffin comes from a set down to see off the ever entertaining Frances Tiafoe. 3-6 7-6 6-2 6-4

Of what I saw of the Alcaraz match, he played poorly and found AR-V a real handful. Seemed to be struggling to find winners and so ended up going for shots that weren't really on, leading to a lot of UEs.

I think his game probably better suits hard courts, but he gets tagged as a clay courter just by virtue of being Spanish.

Iga Swiatek wins her 30th consecutive match as she dismantles Alison Riske 6-0 6-2. Swiatek just a different level at this moment.

dummy_half wrote:Of what I saw of the Alcaraz match, he played poorly and found AR-V a real handful. Seemed to be struggling to find winners and so ended up going for shots that weren't really on, leading to a lot of UEs.

I think his game probably better suits hard courts, but he gets tagged as a clay courter just by virtue of being Spanish.

To be fair, most of his wins and good results so far have been on clay.

However there is the argument that this is because he's improved this year and his improvement might have just coincided with the clay season - we'll have a clearer picture by next year...

Rafa and Novak seem to be on cruise control at the moment, possibly making them look favourites then (?) as other top players are struggling to get past non seeded players, but let's see...

Chinese teenager Qinwen Zheng takes out former champion Simona Halep 2-6 6-2 6-1. Starting to think it’s the beginning of the end of the Romanian’s career.

Rublev beats Delbonis 6-3 3-6 6-2 6-3

Tsitsipas beats Kolar 6-3 7-6 6-7 7-6. Pretty good game.

Jannik Sinner comes from a set down to see off Roberto Carballes Baena 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3

well, we got plenty of action today.

Dont expect any surprise for Djokovic or Nadal but it is gonna be a tough one for Alcaraz.

The good thing for Carlitos is that he already experienced how difficult any player can turn on a certain day, but Korda isnt any player, Korda is another great talent and he beat Alcaraz on clay a month and a half ago.

Anyway, considering what Alcaraz did in Barcelona and Madrid, he has to be considered the favourite today. I think last round scare might help him for this.

I think Alcaraz vs Korda could be a very interesting match. Alcaraz had a big scare in the last match which should help him having come through that but I think Korda could prove a tricky opponent. As Naxroy pointed out, they played only a month or two ago on clay in monte carlo and Korda beat him.

The big thing with these matches is do certain players really believe they can beat the very top players in the biggest events. I dont get the feeling Korda is the type that will fear Alcaraz and if anything he has a lot less to lose and he could come out swinging. You would expect Alcaraz to come through but that will be a really interesting one to watch.

Schwartzman currently a set up on Dimitrov. Schwartzman is a very tough competitor

Schwartzman totally outclasses Dimitrov to reach R4, 6-3 6-1 6-2. Really thought this would be a close match.

Very surprised how comfortable that win was for Schwartzman. Dimitrov really is a tough player to predict, he is so hit and miss. I know clay is not his better surface but that sounds like a very poor effort unless he was injured in some way. Schwartzman has more clay court pedigree but he isnt a player who will blow you off the court. If you were a Dimitrov fan, he would drive you crazy

Really poor effort by Dimi to get as few games as that. As Slasher says, following Dimi must be tough.

USO r-up Leylah Fernandez saw off Bencic in a tight three-setter. Although LF has done better than Emma R this season, she has hd her struggles, too.

Coco Gauff, almost forgotten amid the Emma-Leylah hysteria in New York, also won today and could go deep now. Amazing to think Gauff is only 18.

For Alcaraz, today's match is, on paper, a tougher one than his previous encounter. But I have a feeling he'll have less trouble against Korda than RV.