French Open 2024

The draw is out.
A few headlines:
Absolutely brutal first round match of Zverev v Nadal. Not sure who will be more upset by that one.

Djokovic looks to have it easy enough to at least Round 4. Ruud possibly QF opponent, then whoever came through Nadal v Zverev

Dan Evans with a tough starter against Rune
Draper with a qualifier first but Alcaraz waiting in round 2

Norrie v Kotov, Murray v Wawrinka, with winners to meet in round 2, and Sinner potentially waiting in Round 3.

So unlikely to get any British men beyond the third round.

Really not sure where my money would go - don't see Rafa finding enough form to win, especially with Zverev first up (although if he gets through that, he effectively takes the #4 position in the draw). Djokovic is quite up and down so far this year, while Alcaraz and Sinner have both had injury issues recently. The sort of open tournament where someone like Ruud could come through for a surprise win.

Women's:
Difficult to look past Swiatek

HArriet Dart in the main draw against the improving Noskova, so a tough first round.
Katie Boulter with a bit of a rough draw, getting former world #2 Badosa who has dropped down the rankings after injury, possibly the very streaky Sloane Stephens in R2 and Sabalenika in R3

Yes, that Rafa-Zverev draw is terrible for both players. I was thinking that Zverev might be in the running for actually lifting the title and I thought Rafa might get thru a few rounds. Now one of these is going to come a cropper.

Djoko's disappointing season continued yesterday with another surprising defeat - to Machac in Geneva semi. But it would be crazy to dismiss his chances at RG. He must still be considered one of the favourites.

But as DH says above, it's difficult to pick a winner. It's certainly the most open French for 20 years and we could get a new Slam winner.

Swiatek is such an overwhelming favourite that you wonder if something might go wrong. I thought she was very close to defeat in last year's final before pulling through. What's definite is that she's putting in a terrific stint as number one.

They are away at the French. Rublev and Dimi are among the early winners as well as Naomi Osaka who has been drawn to play Swiatek in the second round.

Draper was very close to defeat v a qualifier having lost the first two sets. But he's won the third-set tiebreak so is still alive, for now.

Murray and Stan the Man will be last on the main court today. Could be a late finish.

Draper is out - beaten in five sets by qualifier De Yong. Probably the rain break didn't help Draper.

Alcaraz only dropped four games in his win. If he's fit then, clearly, he must be counted as one of the favourites.

French number one Humbert is out. Astonishing how badly French players do at RG. In contrast look how well, under intense pressure, Henman and Murray did at Wimbledon.

Rafa lost the first set 6-3 v Zverev but served for the second at 5-4 only to be broken. Rafa has now lost the second set on a tiebreak and looks to be heading out.

Sinner and Tsitsipas had convincing wins.

Zverev proved too much for Rafa, winning in straight sets. It was an awful draw for Rafa.

Not a good start to the tournament from the British point of view, with Draper and Norrie losing winnable matches, Murray losing comfortably to Stan Waerinka.

Evans and Boulter starting later today, weather permitting.

Alcaraz looking good, and Zverev came through against Rafa with relatively little drama.

We've been debating who will win the most slams and who will be the (male) GOAT on this forum, other forums, and elsewhere for years.

I've just realized a minute ago that Rafa's defeat arguably has definitively ended the debate?

If he had won the French Open this year he would have been only one slam behind Djokovic and it wouldn't have been over.

But now he's two slams behind so very unlikely he'll win two more slams, especially if he retires this year. Even if he did, and Djokovic won no more, Djokovic is still the statistical GOAT given a slam count tie, based on other stats.

So, is it time to call it?

I suppose you could argue that it isn't decided for certain until Rafa retires - or at least one more slam for Novak.

But it must be at least 98% sure that Djokovic is the statistical GOAT, and can't plausibly be caught for a decade or so either.

Funny how after all the energy and passion and argument spent on this when it gets to the final round of the GOAT competition the interest has considerably waned. It's as if there were massive crowds and cheering and rival supporters half way through a marathon but by the time they got to the last stadium lap everyone's gone home or got bored of it.

Slam wins certainly give Djoko the statistic GOAT title. Always going to be a tall order for Rafa to chalk up another RG triumph, and practically no chance given the awful draw he had.

Excluding the sheer statistics, the GOAT debate will probably never be settled. Style, taste and favouritism then enter into it. You could argue that for sheer style and pleasure-giving then Federer is the main man. Rafa fans will point to his rampaging, piratical, boundless energy and commitment.

Djoko has been the least spectacular of the three but comes out tops for solidity, consistency and longevity.

Meanwhile Novak is under way in another Slam quest, coming thru in straight sets in his first match.

Evans and Boulter exited so British interest in the singles is already over. One or two intriguing matches today, not least Swiatek v Osaka.

Rain halting play on all but the two roof-covered courts. Caroline Garcia has crashed out to Kenin continuing this constant theme of underperforming French at their own tournament.

Her exit followed Mannarino who has been playing arguably his best tennis of late, losing to a qualifier yesterday in the first round.

Tsitsipas is thru in four against Altmaier. The Greek won the first two sets easily but lost the third in a tiebreak and was a break down with his opponent reaching 4-3, 30-0 in the fourth before a late rally saw him break back, hold and break again for the match.

Alcaraz now on court and was broken in his first service game v De Jong only to break back to get it back on serve at 1-2.

Alcaraz, who according to reports looked unhappy at times, was made to work before beating De Jong in four sets.

The match might have proved particularly tricky for Carlos had his opponent being able to take advantage after twice being a break up in the 4th set. But he failed to hold any of his four service games in that set to go down 6-2.

By all accounts a terrific match between Swiatek and Osaka, with Osaka having a point for a 5-1 lead in the final set and also having an MP when serving for the match at 5-3.

Swiatek, though, broke back, held and then broke again to serve for the match at 6-5 and came thru 7-5 in nearly three hours.

The number one seed will be even harder to beat having survived some terrific tennis from Osaka. Iga was not too impressed with the noisy crowd, though. Her unhappiness mirrors that of Goffin who was booed during his first-round match and was highly critical of the Paris mob later.

Djoko thru convincingly in straight sets today. Medvedev, Zverev, Hurkacz and Dimi among the other winners. Very goods result for the now-lowly-ranked Shapovalov who beat Tiafoe in four.

I see that the authorities have banned alcohol in the stands after the Goffin match incident(s). Shouldn't be too much trouble from now on as nearly all the French players have been knocked out.

I thought Rublev might have a bit of trouble against rising star Arnaldi and, indeed, the Italian has just taken the first set on a tiebreak.

Some good matches today, including one hard to predict - Shelton v FAA.

Looking at GOAT debate, I know it will always be subjective but even with the bias as a Djokovic fan I think its very hard to argue against him being greatest. If you even forget about the 24 slams, just look at his other achievements:

Of his 98 titles, he has 40 Masters series (more than anyone)
7 ATP Tour Finals
427 weeks at world number one (over 100 weeks ahead of next on list Federer)
Only male player in open era to have won all four grand slams 3 times
Only player in open era to win 4 consecutive slams
His spread of slams is also unbelievably impressive with 10 in Oz and 7 at Wimbledon
Has a winning head to head record against all his biggest rivals across his career

I also dont mind the whole, he is the least spectacular of the three. I definitely agree that Federer was immensely talented and spectacular to watch but for me Djokovic infinitely more talent and variety as a player than Nadal. I massively admire all three of the big 3 but for me I think its increasingly hard to argue with Djokovic being the greatest of them all.

On a separate note and back to French open, I think this could well be Zverevs biggest chance. His form is great and I think its a very open draw with so many of the top players having been injured lately or out of form.

Djoko's easily the greatest.

The pure blood King reigns supreme.

Rublev is out - beaten in straight sets by Arnaldi of Italy. Sinner, though, is going well and is two sets to love up v Kotov.

Totally agree with Slasher's views on Djoko. But there will always be some who argue that greatness is not simply about mere statistics. Mind you Novak's staggering numbers OUGHT to put the argument to bed.

Sinner and Alcaraz came safely thru yesterday. Their injury probs appear to have receded which suggests there may not be a new GS winner in this tournament. I'm reckoning the champion will come from Djoko, Alcaraz, Sinner or Medvedev.

Medvedev has survived a tricky encounter with Machac who has had some good results this year. Med won in four.

Zverev, some people's tip for the title, is in trouble. He led by two sets to one v Griekspoor but the Dutchman took the fourth set and is a break up early in the fifth.

Sabalenka and Rybakina both went thru.

Tremendous escape by Zverev who was a a double break down in the final set with Griekspoor serving for 5-1. Zverev then took four games in a row and although the Dutchman did well to hold both his remaining service games Zverev ran away with the final set tiebreak 10-3 to go through....just.

Hurkacz held off Shapovalov to win in four while the match I thought would be close was won easily by FAA who downed Shelton with the loss of only seven games.

Djoko survived a fairly hairy match v Musetti, coming back from two sets to one down in an encounter that finished after 3am.

Some have/had written off Novak's chances but IMHO it would be foolish to exclude him from the list of favourites. In both the men's and the women's draw the top five survive. The men's matches, in particular, have gone close to seeding.

Swiatek took just 40 minutes to double bagel Potopova this morning, with the hapless Russian winning just 10 points which could be some sort of record, especially as this was a 4th round match.

A somewhat greater challenge awaits Iga next as she will play Wimbledon champion Vondrousova who is also a former RG finalist. The winner of that will probably play Gauff who is 5-0 up in her 4th round match today.

Later, Alcaraz and Sinner will be in action. I hesitate to predict a close match between Hurkacz and Dimi as I came totally unstuck with the same kind of forecast for the FAA-Shelton encounter which the Canadian won easily.

When will they sort out these ridiculous schedules at the grand slams. Djokovic and Musetti finishing at 3am. Farcical stuff, super match though.

Musetti played really well, Djokovic is way past him prime now and a shadow of the player he was but huge kudos to him for fighting through. You wonder how he stays motivated to fight like that when he already has won everything. Its unreal

Agree about the ridiculous scheduling. But as I've said before sports organisers have the welfare of players and spectators at the bottom of their list of priorities.

Tsitsipas was in real danger of going two sets to love down to Arnaldi but the Italian missed a number of SPs in the second set, lost the subsequent tiebreak and is already a break down in the third.

Alcaraz has taken the first set v FAA. Jamie Murray and his partner Michael Venus are out of the MDs. Andy has hinted he could play doubles with Jamie at Wimbledon this year.

The Tsitsipas match completely changed on the failure of Arnaldi to take that second set, with the Greek waltzing thru the third and fourth sets to victory.

Next up for him will, probably, be Alcaraz who leads FAA by two sets to love and is a break up early in the third.

For those who like these sort of stats, there is an intriguing partnership in the women's doubles between 39-yr-old Zvonareva and 17-yr-old Andreeva*. Z is comfortably old enough to be A's mother and indeed she has a child of eight herself. They won their match today.

*Andreeva is the one who said she liked the look of Andy Murray. Murray replied that the kid would be fine once she got her eyes fixed.

Alcaraz did indeed come thru comfortably. Another winner today was Dimi who had an excellent straight-sets win over Hurkacz. Again, I was quite wrong in one of my too-close-to-call predictions.

In mitigation, I hadn't realised that Dimi had won all five previous matches v Hurkacz. Meanwhile Sinner lost the first five games v Moutet, with the Frenchman taking the first set 6-2. But then the number two seed won the next two sets, so looks on course for the quarters.

Medvedev defeat by De Minaur a bit of a surprise today but I gather the Russian was troubled by a foot blister.

There were few probs for Rybakina or Sabalenka. Andy Murray-fancier Andreeva is also thru to the quarters.

As I type Djoko has lost the second set to Cerundolo so it's one set all. They've already played two hours and there will be at least two more sets which could help the Argentinian.

Djoko now two sets to one down and calling for medical assistance. But no doubt by the time you've read this he'll have it all done and dusted in five sets.

Djoko in trouble, Djoko appearing injured....he's such a drama queen that you have to reckon he actually thrives on these situations. I won't feel he's out of the tournament until the final point.

Must have been wonderful painkillers! I think that he is trying to send a message to the locker room. I think it is insulting to Musetti and Cerundolo. If he was genuinely injured then he should withdraw. This is becoming a repetitive story to try and win hearts in the audience.

As soon as I heard that Djoko appeared to be struggling and injured I thought it meant nothing. Even with him 2-4 down in that 4th set and facing defeat, I felt he would still win.

You never know with him whether it's all an act. Wasn't there a Slam when he was playing with a torn something or other, with those in the know saying he couldn't possibly have done so?

What it all does mean is that poor form hitherto this season or not, the world number one is still very much on target to snare another Slam. Of course, playing two 4hr-plus matches in a row is hardly great preparation for taking on the likes of Alcatraz or Sinner. But I wouldn't bet him against him.

Looks like Novak's next opponent is going to be Casper Ruud who is having a marathon match of his own but is now 2-1 up in sets and 4-2 up in the 4th v Fritz.

The Djokovic Cerundolo match was superb. The final set was top quality. Hopefully Zverev takes out Rune, can never warm to that guy

Slasher - Your wish about Rune was granted. Another late finish thanks to the continuing ridiculous scheduling.

Djoko is already talking about the possibility of not being fit for his next match. But it's all complete tosh. Of course he'll be fit. There are far too many tourneys where he does this. I'm sure Ruud, his next opponent, is paying no attention to it all.

Gripes about his attitude apart, Djoko is once more going deep into a Slam, with fatigue rather than fitness his main concern now. Zverev has also had a couple of long matches which could derail him against De Minaur.

sirfredperry wrote:Swiatek took just 40 minutes to double bagel Potopova this morning, with the hapless Russian winning just 10 points which could be some sort of record, especially as this was a 4th round match.

A somewhat greater challenge awaits Iga next as she will play Wimbledon champion Vondrousova who is also a former RG finalist. The winner of that will probably play Gauff who is 5-0 up in her 4th round match today.

Later, Alcaraz and Sinner will be in action. I hesitate to predict a close match between Hurkacz and Dimi as I came totally unstuck with the same kind of forecast for the FAA-Shelton encounter which the Canadian won easily.

Just checked that Graf beat Zvereva in the final in less time (officially 34 minutes, with a couple of minutes break for shower dodging) but lost 13 points.

sirfredperry wrote:Slasher - Your wish about Rune was granted. Another late finish thanks to the continuing ridiculous scheduling.

Djoko is already talking about the possibility of not being fit for his next match. But it's all complete tosh. Of course he'll be fit. There are far too many tourneys where he does this. I'm sure Ruud, his next opponent, is paying no attention to it all.

Gripes about his attitude apart, Djoko is once more going deep into a Slam, with fatigue rather than fitness his main concern now. Zverev has also had a couple of long matches which could derail him against De Minaur.

Scheduing has been ridiculous, although obviously the bad weather has played a part, as well as the length of some of the matches. Wouldn't have expected Djokovic to need 5 sets in both his last two matches. I feel that this shows his level is a bit below his prime, and expect the fatigue to get the better of him next round or SF. Still good at his age, but it looks increasingly as though the younger generation is taking over. (so given my normal predictive ability, everyone lump all the money you have on Djokovic winning the title...)

Gauff shrugged off the loss of the first set to overcome Jabeur and move into the semis.

We're starting to see the emergence of a Big Four in the women in the shape of Swiatek, Sabalenka, Gauff and Rybakina. They've all won Slams and have, of late, swept up most of the big tournaments.

Of course, there's no comparison, at least not yet, with the Big Four or Big Three that dominated the men's game for the last few years. But there are some big rivalries developing.

Later today we'll have Sinner-Dimi, where I'm taking Sinner to win, and Alcaraz-Tsitsipas, which might be close.

The current question in the women's game is will I complete this message before Swiatek beats Vondroseva?

Not Vondroseva playing badly - first set she made 5 UEs and 7 winners, but lost it 6-0 in 29 minutes.

I thought Von would run Swiatek close but it was something of a rout. Meanwhile, Sinner is two sets up v Dimi.

Djoko has withdrawn from the French thru injury. He's got a miniscus tear. I take back what I said about him exaggerating his injuries. But Hhe has cried wolf so many times that people started to think there would be no wolf.

All of this means Sinner will go to number one whatever happens. At the moment the Italian is two sets up against Dimi and they are into a third set tiebreak.

LATER: Sinner has just taken the tiebreak to win the match. No doubt he'll want to mark his elevation to the top of the rankings by claiming the RG title and Novak's withdrawal makes that task somewhat easier.

Question now is whether Djoko will be fit for Wimbledon.

A real shame to see Djokovic out of the French Open. While he was a mile away from his best form, you could definitely say his matches have drawn in the viewers! You never want to see the very best players pulling out. Given its a knee injury that is revealed from the scan, I wouldnt be at all surprised if he misses Wimbledon. A tear in the knee can take a number of months so I guess its a case of how bad it is.

Nice one for Ruud who now marches into the semi finals fresh as a daisy. I still think this could be Zverevs best chance at a slam and particularly now with Djokovic not in his path to the final (He has a poor record vs Novak in the slams).

Sinner and Alcaraz are the clear favourites but I have had a feeling about Zverev winning since day one.

We have probably seen the last of Djoko as number one but it may still be too early to say that he won't win another Slam.

Wimbledon may come too early for him and his main focus may well be getting fit for the Olympics.

The start that Sinner made to the year plus the fact that an under-firing Djoko had so many points to defend pretty much ensured that the Italian would eventually take over at number one. Now everyone will be gunning for him and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.

As for Zverev's chances, he might find De Minaur difficult but the German does have a good chance.

Alcaraz has taken the first set v Tsitsipas and they are in to a second set tiebreak.

Alcaraz grunting an absolute joke. I can totally get why tsitsipas is annoyed about it, especially in that tie break. Some of those grunts lasted until tsitsipas was hitting his shots. Why do umpires allow it?

Agree that noisy players are a nuisance. Sometimes you have to turn the sound down.

Most were expecting Sinner and Alcaraz to meet in the semis. A few months ago you would have taken Alcaraz to win this one but Sinner is slight favourite now.

These two could well be number one and number two for some time and might not meet in a semi for a while. Clever money is probably on one of this duo taking the RG title but could the three left in the top half of the draw thwart them?

Reports that Djokovic going for surgery tomorrow, that will almost certainly rule him out of Wimbledon. I would say it would be a very close call for Olympics too and even if he is able to play he will likely have played 0 proper matches heading into it.

You would have to think this could be the beginning of the end for Novak contending for the biggest titles. Time waits for no man and especially when you are up against the next gen of top players in their early 20s.

Whatever happens, what a career he has had up to this point and he bowed out of French open reaching a quarter final despite being way below his best, says a lot about how determined and competitive he still is even at 37

sirfredperry wrote:Djoko has withdrawn from the French thru injury. He's got a miniscus tear. I take back what I said about him exaggerating his injuries. But Hhe has cried wolf so many times that people started to think there would be no wolf.

All of this means Sinner will go to number one whatever happens. At the moment the Italian is two sets up against Dimi and they are into a third set tiebreak.

LATER: Sinner has just taken the tiebreak to win the match. No doubt he'll want to mark his elevation to the top of the rankings by claiming the RG title and Novak's withdrawal makes that task somewhat easier.

Question now is whether Djoko will be fit for Wimbledon.

Hope it isn't too serious - a torn meniscus was the injury that Fed got slipping while lifting one of the kids out of the bath, and marked the beginning of the end for him (obviously we don't know the relative severity or the necessity for surgery to remedy any issues, nor if there's other unusual wear and tear in the area of the injury).

So Sinner certain to be #1, and Alcaraz goes to #2 if he wins the tournament.

Will be interesting to see what happens if zverev reaches the final. I didn't realise but he has a winning record over both Alcaraz and Sinner. He has beaten Alcaraz at both the French open and the Australian open before. I see him as the only one truly capable of taking down Sinner or Alcaraz, he has the firepower

Just when I was talking about the consistency of the new Big Four in the women's, two of them crash out in the quarters - Rybakina to Italian Paolini and Sabalenka to 17-yr-old Mirra Andreeva.

Sabalenka, according to reports, was ill and needed a time out and probably did well to take it to 6-4 in the final set in nearly two and a half hours. Andreeva is the youngest GS semi-finalist since Hingis in 1997.

You'd expect Zverev to beat De Minaur but the Australian has been very consistent this season and will start the fresher after Z's two long matches.

Rybakina going out in particular makes swiatek win a near certainty. Rybakina is the one player who doesn't fear Swiatek and has a very good winning record against her. Even harder to see past Swiatek now

Yes, it looks very much like another RG title for Swiatek.

Meanwhile, Zverev is a set up against De Minaur and was a break up in the second before the Aussie got it back on serve.

Zverev was at least given a good match by De Minaur but the Aussie could not take his chances and it ended up in a straight-sets victory.

Last year Ruud beat Zverev at the semi stage in Paris but there will be plenty who think it will go the other way this time. But I still think the winner of the Sinner-Alcaraz match will go on to take the title.