Bill Simons and Vinay Venkatesh
Paris
MIRRA, MIRRA ON THE WALL, WHAT’S THE FAIREST SURFACE OF THEM ALL: Russian teen Mirra Andreeva said, “I don’t have a favorite surface, because when I play on hard I miss clay, but when I play on clay I miss hard.”
SO OBNOXIOUS: At the end of the press conference for the articulate 16-year-old Andreeva, a voice in the press room commented, “It’s so obnoxious. She’s so Godamned articulate.”
HEIDI RE-LIVED – NBC DOES IT AGAIN: In 1968 NBC famously cut from the ending of a thrilling Jets-Raiders game to show the children’s movie Heidi. Today, after Frances Tiafoe scored a first-set win over last year’s semifinalist Alexander Zverev, NBC cut to coverage of the Birmingham-Philadelphia USFL game.
ONE FLEW OVER THE COCO’S NEST: It is one of tennis’ most delightful, yet also problematic, traditions. Fans adore teen darlings with tons of talent and nothing to worry about. It’s Holly Golightly in sneakers with a forehand.
Decades ago, a baby-faced teen warrior named Tracy Austin swept through the US Open field wearing the pinafore dress her mom had made. The young Monica Seles came on court tossing flowers to the crowd. Her veteran foe Zina Garrison was not pleased. Young Jennifer Capriati was so good that one Florida tournament was nicknamed the “The Virginia Slims of Capriati.” At the end of her career, Steffi Graf wept at every tournament she played. But as a teen wonder, she said her life was perfect.
Of course, some bound-for-glory young wonders flame out quickly and disappear, but to her great credit, Floridian Coco Gauff, who first emerged at 15 at Wimbledon, has remained at the top of the game. Coco, who the pundits said was bound to be the next Serena, told Inside Tennis that the key to her early success has been having good, caring people around her and playing tennis for herself, not others.
This year the phenom everyone has been watching is 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, a thin, uber-talented 5’ 7” Russian with a bright personality.
In Madrid she reached the fourth round, had dinner with the smitten Andy Murray and launched a serious charm offensive. Here in Paris, she sprinted through qualifying and the first two rounds of the main draw without dropping a set.
In the third round of her first-ever Slam, she met the oh-so-old 19-year-old Gauff (their combined ages are less than Djokovic’s).
Amazingly, in their first set, Andreeva seemed more poised than Coco. The Russian’s precise groundies hit the corners and she played with an easy confidence. She broke Coco three times and came from behind to win the tiebreak 7-5.
Gauff understood full well that she’d lost the set, but she sensed that she was a better player and actually had the upper hand. Sure, she’d dropped the opening set – she’d gifted her foe some easy points at crunch time. But then Coco quickly used her lethal backhand, speed and savvy to gain the upper hand.
Plus, Andreeva soon revealed her age. She started to think that she actually might win the match. The nothing-to-lose freedom that empowered her in the first set vanished. She sprayed the court with errors. She swiped at the air and worse yet, bashed a ball that landed in the third row of the stands. She was lucky she wasn’t defaulted.
Gauff won 12 of the next 14 games to gain a 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1 win and will next face Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
FRITZ FALLS BUT GAINS APPLAUSE: Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo wears his hat backwards but is moving forward to the fourth round. The 24-year-old, who is ranked No. 23, returned beautifully against Taylor Fritz and came from behind to win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, against the No. 8 player in the world. Fritz equaled his best-ever French Open result and will now head off to the more favorable green pastures of grass courts in the hope that he’ll be able to exceed his 2022 quarterfinal run at Wimbledon. BTW: two days ago, Fritz left Court Suzanne Lenglen amidst a shameful torrent of boos from the crowd. His only sin: beating a French player. As he left today, he was showered with applause.
ALL THINGS ANDRE: It goes without saying Andre Agassi is the most prominent tennis player named Andre ever to play the game. And in fact, Agassi fell to Ecuadorian Andres Gomez in the 1990 French final. Speaking of all things Andre, there have been plenty of players with similar names, such as the French Open finalist from Ukraine Andrei Medvedev and Russian Igor Andreev. Here in Paris there’s been a noticeable outbreak of Andres on court, including the Canadian Bianca Andreescu, Russian Andrey Rublev and the teen sensation Mirra Andreeva.
And our list doesn’t even include former No. 2 Andrea Jaeger, the retired German Andrea Petkovic and Mirra’s older sister, Erica Andreeva.
FRENCH TRADITIONS DIE HARD: For decades, American travelers have been fully aware of France’s curious traditions. In the 1960s and 70s, the iconic, although clunky, Citroen DS car dominated the boulevards of Paris. And, back then, stylish Gauloise cigarettes were all the rage – it was considered patriotic to smoke them. Now, classic old Citroens are rarely seen and Gauloise cigarettes have all but vanished.
And speaking of traditions, Roland Garros’s vast media restaurant has long provided flavorful French food. But, despite many a protest, it has always shut down at 4 PM – never mind that many journalists work past midnight. Now, by some miracle, they are open until 10 PM. Another tradition has bitten the dust.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS: The good news is that Rafa Nadal’s hip surgery went well today. The bad news is that it looks as if the beloved Spaniard will miss Wimbledon and the US Open. Reportedly he needs five months to recover.
I’LL HAVE A BAGEL, BUT HOLD THE CREAM CHEESE: Coco Gauff thought it was crazy that statisticians actually had a stat that she’d scored more bagel-set wins as a teenager than anyone else.
After Iga Swiatek beat China’s Xinyu Wang 6-0, 6-0, a writer told her, “Everyone on social media is going crazy saying the Iga Bagel Factory is open!” He then asked the Pole, “What does it take to win the match 6-0, 6-0?” With much compassion, she replied, “I don’t want to really talk about that, because…I want to kind of be respectful to my opponents.”
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR: At last, for the first time this year, there will be a nighttime women’s match featured at Roland Garros. Sloane Stephens will face Aryna Sabalenka Sunday night at 8:15 PM Paris time, but the word in the lockerroom is that the women players don’t really want to go on that late at night. They feel it’s disruptive to their schedules. BTW: a lot of French fans who were expecting a men’s match featuring Alcaraz or Djokovic learned of the women’s match and asked for refunds.
GOOD GUYS FINISH LAST: Two vastly popular veterans, 29-year-old Grigor Dimitrov and Tunisian Ons Jabeur, advanced to the fourth round.
AMERICA WATCH: Frances Tiafoe, the last of the American men in the draw, fell in four sets to Alexander Zverev. Bernarda Pera, Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens are the only American women remaining, following third-round losses on Saturday by SoCal natives Taylor Fritz (Rancho Santa Fe), Marcos Giron (Thousand Oaks) and Kayla Day (Santa Barbara).
GO FIGURE: Novak Djokovic is the only man left in the men’s draw who has won the French Open…Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who won Wimbledon and Indian Wells and was considered one of the top three contenders, pulled out due to a fever.
SAY IT ISN’T SO: The Roland Garros website referred to Coco Gauff as Coconut Gaff.
CUCKOO OVER COCO: Radio Roland Garros had a contest on the best movie titles that could relate to tennis. Our favorite was a play on the classic Jack Nicholson film: “One Flew Over the Coco’s Nest.”
JUST WONDERING: Today a teenager in the third round of the French Open lost on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Then again, what were you doing when you were 16?
LEST WE FORGET: Friday Alejandro Davidovich Fokina lost to Novak Djokovic. But let’s not forget that the Spaniard founded a home for stray cats and dogs.
