On the opening day of the French Open, the spotlight very much centred on Carlos Alcaraz and whether his forearm had fully recovered from the injury he picked up in Miami hampering his preparations on clay for Roland Garros, the second grand slam of the season, which for some time, looked like he would miss.
My forearm is getting better and better. Carlos Alcaraz
As it turned out, the world No.3 showed no signs of discomfort in his forearm as he made light work of his first-round opponent, the American JJ Wolf who came through the qualifying competition.
He dismissed his opponent 6-1 6-2 6-1 to maintain his unbeaten first-round record at grand slams at 13-0!
He made a tentative start as if feeling his way on court Philippe Chatrier by dropping his serve but once he got his eye in, he recovered and sailed through the match winning 18 of the next 21 games to safely reach the second round.
“Before coming to Paris I practiced this week with top players and I felt really well moving, hitting the balls,” Alcaraz said on court following his win. “My forearm is getting better and better.”
“I feel like I didn’t stop playing tennis so I think it’s a really good point for me. I think I don’t need too many matches to play my best.”
The match between Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray also attracted a lot of interest and was give the prime evening slot on Chatrier.
The two elderly statesmen of the sport who returned to the game following serious surgery, provided an energetic match but it was Wawrinka, the elder at 39, who dominated his younger 37-year-old rival with his power, especially on serve.
Wawrinka effectively blew Murray away 6-4 6-4 6-2 and never looked in trouble as Murray, despite all his fighting qualities, struggled to find an answer.
The pair, who hold three grand slam titles apiec, will always be remembered as the two who made the biggest impact against the Big Three by being a thorn in their sides to become the only players to pick up grand slam titles during their dominant years.
The loss is expected to be Murray’s last appearance at the French Open which has never been his favourite grand slam, though he does like the event and its atmosphere.
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
“Physically tennis is not easy for me nowadays and clay has always been a surface I’ve had back issues on,” Murray admitted following his defeat but thi year will play the doubles partnering Dan Evans.
“But I felt pretty good going into the match tonight, considering, and it wasn’t much of a factor out there this evening to be honest.”
While the Scot has intimated that this will be the last summer he plays on the tour, Wawrinka has no intention of retiring and could well be facing Cameron Norrie in the next round if the British No1 gets past Russia’s Pavel Kotov on Monday.
Wawrinka, who won the French Open in 2015 and now holds a 7-1 win-loss record on clay against Murray, was full of admiration of his rival.
“My first words to him were respect to a great champion. As a tennis fan, I enjoyed watching Andy [play] tennis against the best players of all-time,” Wawrinka said. “We had battles with those players for nearly 20 years. We are not all that young anymore, and we’re trying to make the best of what we have left.
“As years go by, you have to be disciplined, you have to make sacrifices, but the reason why we do that is to be here in front of the public, with the great support that we get, because it’s creating a lot of emotions for everyone.
“I get a lot of emotions out of this as well, and it also gives me the courage to continue. I’m the oldest in the draw, but I’m still very young in my head. I just want to carry on playing: It’s as simple as that.”
That they had a very close relationship was very evident by the big and long embrace they had at the net after the match.
The loss was a double blow for British hopes as Jack Draper was eliminated earlier in the day by Jesper de Jong of The Netherlands, a qualifier, who recovered from a strong fightback by the British No.2 to win 7-5 6-4 6-7(3) 3-6 6-3 after a four-hour, 12-minute battle.
“The loss hurts a lot” Draper said. “I’ve played a long match there. Felt physically great but I know I can play much better than I did today, and that hurts.”
He blames his serve which he has been trying to improve over the past few months in his attempts to become a more attacking player.
In other action sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev saw sent off Taro Danile of Japan 6-2 6-7(3) 6-, 7-5 and the French veteran, Richard Gasquet thrilled the Lenglen capacity crowd by squeezing past Croatia’s 7-6(5) 7-6(2) 6-4.
Elsewhere, No. 10 seed, Bulgaria’s overcame Aleksnader Kovacevic of the US 6-4 6-, 6-4 and the eighth-seeded Pole, Hubert Hurkacz put away Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-3.
Corentin Moutet of France scored the upset of the day ousting Rome finalist and No. 16 seed Nicolas Jarry from Chile, 6-2 6-1 3-6 6-0 while Sebastian Korda (27) shrugged off some leg niggles to topple Frenchman Harold Mayot 6-2 7-6(74) 6-4. And Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego upset No.17 seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-4 2-6 6-4,6-3.
Finally Japan’s Kei Kishikori made a welcome comeback with 7-5 7-6(3) 3-6 1-6 75 victory over Canadian Gabriel Diallo.
