First-round competition at the French Open will wrap up on Tuesday, when Novak Djokovic, Aryna Sabalenka, and Elena Rybakina will be among those who take the court. Belgian veteran David Goffin and French youngster Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard are also on the schedule.
Here are my previews and picks for two of Tuesday’s best matchups.
David Goffin vs. (WC) Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
Mpetshi Perricard captured his first ATP title last week in Lyon, where he fought off one championship point before beating Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(7) in only his third tour-level tournament. The 20-year-old Frenchman required a wild card for Roland Garros since he was outside the top 100 at the entry deadline, but he climbed from 117th to 66th and therefore won’t be requiring any major wild cards in the near future.
Up first for GMP on Tuesday is Goffin, who lost their only previous meeting 7-5, 6-3 last year on the indoor hard courts of Antwerp. It is Mpetshi Perricard who has home-court advantage this time, but Goffin can never be discounted at RG. The 33-year-old Belgian, who also enjoys plenty of crowd support at this event, was a quarterfinalist in 2016 and has advanced to at least the third round on seven occasions. However, at this point in his career he has been struggling physically of late and finds himself down at 115th in the rankings. This is a good opportunity for Mpetshi Perricard to keep the momentum going.
Pick: Mpetshi Perricard in 4
Flavio Cobolli vs. (Q) Hamad Medjedovic
This battle between two of last season’s NextGen ATP Finals participants figures to be one of the best of the first round. Medjedovic, who won the NextGen title, has not been able to build on that success in 2024 because of a bad illness, but he is starting to get back on track. The 20-year-old Serb advanced to round three in Rome as a qualifier and then qualified for the French Open with straight-set defeats of Lucas Pouille, Filip Krajinovic, and Gregory Blancaneaux.
Cobolli has earned 15 of his 21 ATP-level match wins already in 2024. The 22-year-old Italian is up to No. 53 in the world thanks partly to a third-round effort at the Australian Open and a semifinal showing last week in Geneva, where he fell to eventual champion Casper Ruud 7-6 in the third. With Medjedovic having already been at RG for a whole week while scoring three qualies victories, the world No. 135 may be able to capitalize on a fatigued opponent.
Pick: Medjedovic in 5
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
