Bill Simons
Paris
A COUPLE OF MARATHONS AND A SPRINT: The first two matches on Court Suzanne Lenglen took almost eight hours. Beatriz Haddan Maia, the first Brazilian woman to reach the fourth round of the French Open since 1979, beat Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo in 3:51. Holger Rune took the initiative at the end of his 3:59 match to beat Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(7) in 3:59.
Then Iga Swiatek won in 31 minutes when the injured Lesia Tsurenko withdrew while trailing 5-1 in the first set. Iga is now 9-0 vs. Tsurenko.
A STEP UP IN COMPETITION: Coco Gauff beat the No. 172 player in the world, Mirra Andreeva, in the third round. Today she beat the No. 100 player in the world, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. She’ll next play the No. 1 player in the world, Iga Swiatek, in the quarterfinals, in what will be a rematch of last year’s final that Iga dominated. Coco said she’s been looking forward to facing the Pole again. Gauff said she’d be a coward if she didn’t want to face the best in the world.
THUMBS UP TO DARIA: Russian Daria Kastakina has come out against the war that her country began and has left her homeland. Ukrainian Elina Svitlona expressed her appreciation. But she still doesn’t shake the hands of Russians. So when Elina beat Daria the two exchanged friendly thumbs up gestures. But then the crowd jeered her.
Later Kasatkina tweeted, “Leaving Paris with a very bitter feeling…I always appreciated and thanked the crowd…But yesterday I was booed for just being respectful on my opponents position not to shake my hand…Leaving the court like that was the worst part of yesterday. Be better, love each other. Don’t spread hate. Try to make this world better. I will love RG no matter what, always and forever. See you next year.”
DICEY MATCHUPS: For the third straight time Elina Svitlona will be facing a Russian or Belarusian player. In Tuesday’s quarterfinal the Ukrainian will play Aryna Sabalenka. We know there won’t be any handshakes, but there could be some geopolitical fireworks…The upcoming men’s quarterfinal will be a Scandinavian special with Norwegian Casper Ruud, last year’s finalist, facing Dane Holger Rune. The two met amidst controversy in the quarterfinals last year. Ruud won. And the two just met in the Italian Open. Rune won.
COURAGE IN OUR TIMES: The French do prefer it if you speak their language with a certain precision and a lilting accent. Americans Jim Courier and Serena Williams were courageous when they spoke to the crowds in French. But their skills were ample. In contrast, Novak Djokovic’s French is a work in progress, and his willingness to do post-match interviews in French is a bit of a profile in courage. Many of the fans are appreciative – others not so much.He told the press his efforts were “a matter of respect. When you are in a particular country to try to speak the language of that country allows you also to get closer to the people…It’s kind of a mutual respect. That’s how I see it.”
OF SLEEP AND SLEEPLESSNESS: Many players have been talking about sleep. Ukrainian Elina Svitolina said that her family is used to hearing air raid sirens, which sends them off to bomb shelters, so they are used to sleepless nights. Alexander Zverev confided that before his match the other night he’d slept until noon, took a nap between 2 and 4, and took a second nap before he went on court.
Djokovic said that sleep is the most important part of his recovery, and the key is getting REM sleep between 1 and 4 AM. “It’s probably more important than any other recovery routines you can do. I like to get at least eight-and-a-half hours of sleep a night.”
IF IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR NOLE THEN IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME: Beatriz Haddid Maia’s coach sent her a video in which Djokovic said he battles with nerves. Haddid Maia then quipped, “If Djokovic feels the nerves, who am I? We need to be humble.”
RAFA’S UNHAPPY: Nadal’s doctor, Angel Ruiz-Cotorro, gave mixed messages about Rafa. “He’s not happy…[but] he accepts it quickly and tomorrow he will start forward calmly to start the recovery.”
A COMMENTARY ON WIND: Jim Courier commented, “You don’t have to like playing in the wind. You just have to dislike it less than your opponent.”
A GERMAN NIGHT: Alexander Zverev has played three night matches in row. There has been just one women’s night match.
HAPPY TO BE BACK: Zverev, who was injured badly at last year’s French Open and is now into the fourth round, said “It’s been the hardest year in my life. I’m not playing tennis for fame or money, I’m just loving the competition. To be far from that was tough. I’m so happy to be back. It’ll be a great second week for me.”
A JOURNEY OF THE SEOUL: No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula has never reached the semis of a Slam and today she lost her third-round match to Belgian Elise Mertens. Still, her interesting backstory emerged this week.
When Jessica’s mother Kim was an infant in Seoul, South Korea, she was abandoned by her birth parents on the steps outside of a police station.
She was placed in an orphanage. An in-depth WTA report noted that when she was five, she was adopted by an American couple and raised in New York. Eventually she met and married Terry Pegula and the two went on to be the owners of the Buffalo Bills and Sabres and other teams. Kim promptly broke the glass ceiling. An Asian-American sports executive had never risen that high.
All the while, Kim’s daughter Jessica went on to become the No. 3 player in the world in singles and No. 1 in doubles. Jesse has also gained awareness of her Asian roots. She and her mother went to Seoul for a tournament and visited the orphanage where her mother once lived.
Jessica concedes that she doesn’t know much about her Asian lineage, but her trip allowed her to realize the importance of her heritage. She added, “Asian people love other Asian people,” and Koreans loved her. She doesn’t speak Korean, but, “They were so proud…I started to realize how important it was.”
Pegula added, “Sometimes I forget the impact you have on people, Especially when I see a young Korean girl or family, they come up to me and they love my mom and they love me just because they see themselves being represented on a bigger stage.”
Thanks to her down-to-earth goodness, Jessica has gained great popularity in the locker room and beyond. All of this is despite the well-known fact that her family has some $6.7 billion in the bank – a long way from the front door of a Seoul police station.
