French Open 2021: Joe Salisbury out of men's doubles but advances in mixed
Britain’s Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram lose in the French Open men’s doubles in straights sets to Hugo Nys and Tim Puetz.
Britain’s Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram lose in the French Open men’s doubles in straights sets to Hugo Nys and Tim Puetz.
Sixth-seeded German Alexander Zverev moved into the Roland Garros fourth round on Friday with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Laslo Djere of Serbia under a closed roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The 24-year-old saved three set points at 4-5 in the second set and subsequently won nine of the next 11 games to improve to a 21-8 match record on the season, which includes two titles at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC (d. Tsitsipas) and the Mutua Madrid Open (d. Berrettini).
“I was down 3-5, 40-0 on his serve and you don’t always come back from that score,” said Zverev. “He played a fantastic match, he is playing great on this surface so I knew I had to play much, much better than the first two rounds and I did that today.
“I am happy that the further we go in the tournament the better I start hopefully playing. This is the main goal of my tennis career, to win Grand Slams and I feel in the past year-and-a-half I am on a very good [path] again and I hope I can continue.”
Zverev, who will next face former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori of Japan, struck 31 winners and converted seven of 10 break points for victory in two hours and eight minutes.
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Zverev reeled off the first four games against the Serbian, hitting with great depth and precision from the baseline as Djere struggled to cope. However, after claiming the opener, Zverev suffered a dip at the start of the second set with Djere breaking to love to move 2-0 ahead as the 24-year-old started to play more tentatively. At 5-4 though, Djere failed to convert a 40/0 lead as Zverev saved three set points.
From there on, it was one way traffic with Zverev winning nine of the next 11 games. Djere, who looked depleted of energy after his mammoth five set victory over Miomir Kecmanovic in the second round, is now 13-13 for the season, with his best result a final appearance at the Sardegna Open (l. to Sonego) in April.
Aryna Sabalenka becomes the sixth top-10 women’s seed to exit the French Open’s first week, losing to an inspired Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Being separated from family during times of crisis is excruciating. Steve Johnson learned that the hard way this year in Australia.
The American’s wife, Kendall, gave birth to their first child, Emma, on 31 December 2020. Johnson was “50-50” on travelling to Australia to begin with. But just more than a week into his two-week quarantine, he received a phone call with bad news.
“Emma had a routine pediatric checkup and they sent her right to the hospital, because her oxygen levels were extremely low. She was in the ICU for five or six days,” Johnson told ATPTour.com. “That’s hard. We’re new parents obviously, it’s our first. There are COVID protocols at the hospital. Just my wife was in the room with her. She couldn’t have the support of family because she couldn’t leave Emma’s side. All this stuff just snowballed given the circumstances.”
Johnson, who was set to play an ATP 250 at Melbourne Park and then the Australian Open, immediately decided he would not play those events. The 31-year-old was going to fly home as soon as Australian restrictions would allow.
“I didn’t want to be in Australia. As soon as I got that phone call, I was mentally on a plane back to Los Angeles,” Johnson said. “It just took time, unfortunately. I got back and was able to support my wife as much as possible. I wasn’t able to go to the hospital to see Emma, but Kendall was able to come out.”
Emma received a few different treatments. About a month later, she had surgery.
“So far, everything looks like it’s trending in the right direction. It’s definitely taken a weight off my shoulders [while I am] here knowing everything is healthy and looking like what normal should be,” Johnson said. “It’s definitely taken a lot of stress off… That’s why I think I was definitely struggling at the beginning when I came back, because my heart and my mind were at different places than the tennis court.”
The four-time ATP Tour titlist played five tournaments at all levels this year before Roland Garros, and he only won one set in those matches. But he has claimed back-to-back five-setters in Paris to reach the third round for the fourth time.
Although things are doing better with his daughter, Roland Garros triggers emotions for Johnson that date back to 2017. On 11 May that year, Johnson’s father, Steve Johnson Sr., suddenly passed away. “Stevie” wrote a first-person My Point essay for ATPTour.com detailing the struggles he faced on and off the court as he tried to cope with that devastating loss.
In the second round at Roland Garros that year, Johnson beat Borna Coric in a four-setter that lasted three hours and 53 minutes. As he walked off the court, the American stopped for an interview with Tennis Channel’s Jon Wertheim, during which he couldn’t hold back his emotions. Johnson has asked the ATP and French Tennis Federation to avoid that court because of the raw memories from that match.
But in the years since, Johnson has increasingly found it easier to deal with his loss. A lot of that improvement has come from opening up about mental health.
“The key I think for everybody is the stigma that surrounds it. Normalising it is the most important thing. You see the other athletes do it and that creates the conversation and people’s awareness,” Johnson said. “It’s something that not everybody goes through, but a lot of people go through at all times of life, whether it’s good or bad. There’s no rhyme or reason to why things happen. I’m definitely always open about it and I think that’s not going to change any time soon.”
Johnson began speaking to a professional, which helped. He has also talked with fellow athletes including Mardy Fish, who has battled through mental health issues himself.
“I was a stubborn individual at the beginning… If you’re stubborn, you think you can do things on your own,” Johnson said. “But there are just some things that are out of your control that you just need somebody who knows what they’re doing and who has dealt with it or seen other sides of things that can help put things into perspective. Sometimes when you’re so close to the issue, it’s hard to see.”
Not only has grieving gotten easier for Johnson, but he is getting to enjoy life as a father himself. Emma is now five months old.
“It’s great. It consumes most of my day as crazy as that sounds. It’s been life-changing, really,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t be happier to have a family with Kendall and our daughter Emma and everybody. We FaceTime as much as we can. It’s definitely a blessing to have everything I have.”
When home, Johnson takes care of his training earlier in the day so he can come home and spend time with Emma. From playing with toys to simply holding her in his arms, the Californian loves it all.
“You do have to be very selfish as an athlete when it comes to your training, whatever it takes for you to be at the peak of your performance. But once I am done with that for the day, I’m all hands on deck with Kendall and Emma. That’s the best part,” Johnson said. “Even the bad days out there, you come home and see her smile and laugh. It pretty much just erases anything that happened that day.”
It has been tough for Johnson to be on the road, especially because he is away from his family. But the American has also found bubble life difficult, as he greatly enjoys spending time with his friends on Tour, going for dinner with them and so on. Johnson is also a gritty competitor who feeds off the crowd. Although he battled from two sets down against Frances Tiafoe in the first round, fans had to leave in the middle of his second-round match on Wednesday evening against Thiago Monteiro due to curfew.
“The first day when I played a five-setter it was the best atmosphere I’ve played in for months, or a year, probably,” Johnson said. “It was pretty full [against Monteiro] and then it was empty. It was just his two people and I had my coach and a couple of USTA people who meandered in. It stinks, because there was a lot of good tennis played after the curfew.”
Despite the crazy year Johnson has had, he now has an opportunity to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the second time when he plays 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta on Friday (ATP Head2Head tied 2-2).
“I felt confident going into that first-round match and the first couple sets didn’t go my way, but I just dug deep and just gave myself a chance. That’s what I pride myself on, just give myself any opportunity I can,” Johnson said. “I was able to turn it around and you never know what’s on the back end of these matches if you can just squeak it out. I’m just trying my best to do that one day at a time.”
Win or lose, Johnson is able to keep his head high, as he knows his family is back home waiting.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing in my life that’s more important than my family, so that’s been quite the blessing.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev are among the top seeds back in action on Friday at Roland Garros, but they’ve got their work cut out for them as they both face towering Americans for a spot in the fourth round. Sixth seed Alexander Zverev, 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta and 15th seed Casper Ruud also feature on a busy Day 6 in Paris.
Fifth seed Tsitsipas claimed a confident victory over Pedro Martinez to bring his clay-court win streak to six matches in a row. The Greek player has been on song on red clay, lifting a trophy in Lyon and claiming his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters before arriving in Paris.
Last year’s semi-finalist has a tall order ahead as he eyes a spot in the second week of Roland Garros for the third year in a row. He faces 6’10” American John Isner, the 31st seed, in the night session on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Isner dominated the early match-ups of their ATP Head2Head, but Tsitsipas has won their past three matches to gain the 3-2 edge.
“I’m sure he can serve well right now. Also, I’m sure he’s a guy who likes to play on clay,” Tsitsipas said. “Conditions are obviously the way they are. I am just going to have to do my thing. Just have to find my way around it.”
Isner famously took Nadal to five sets in the opening round at Roland Garros in 2011. In more recent matches, he’s also earned confidence-boosting wins over Andrey Rublev and Roberto Bautista Agut on the clay courts of Madrid.
“It’s the mentality. I haven’t played a lot this year, but I’m not worried about the fact that I haven’t played a lot,” Isner said after his second-round victory over Filip Krajinovic. “At this stage of my career, I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone. I just want to go out and play free and try to play loose, and be happy with the result either way. That’s what I have done very, very well this year.”
[TENNIS POINT]Tsitsipas claimed a win over Isner earlier this year in Acapulco by finding ways to neutralise the American’s powerful serve, and it will be a strategy he’ll hope to repeat as they contest their first meeting on clay. He’ll also have to back up his one-handed backhand, especially against Isner’s high-bouncing, dangerous second serves. The winner of Tsitsipas and Isner will face either 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta or Steve Johnson, who will face off on Court Simonne-Mathieu, in the fourth round.
Second seed Medvedev will take on another of the ‘twin towers’ in Paris as he faces 32nd seed Reilly Opelka on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. The 6’11” American scored wins over Lorenzo Musetti and Aslan Karatsev on his way to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 appearance in Rome. Although he tried to brush it off as a fluke, he’s already backed it up by advancing past the first round of Roland Garros for the first time in three appearances.
“My brain’s kind of thinking in a different way now, especially when I’m constructing points from serving. I’m so much more calm because I have so much more confidence, so much more trust in my forehand,” Opelka said. “I know there’s still room for improvement, which is exciting for me. I think about it all the time. I’m thinking about how I can get better.”
Opelka’s opponent has similarly learned to embrace clay-court tennis. Medvedev reached the third round in Paris for the first time after recording wins over Alexander Bublik and Tommy Paul, and he’ll be looking to extend his 2-1 ATP Head2Head lead over Opeka in their first clay-court meeting. The winner will take on either American Marcos Giron or 22nd seed Cristian Garin in the fourth round.
Sixth seed Alexander Zverev is also in action on Friday, and he will take on Serbia’s Laslo Djere in the second match on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Zverev claimed a comfortable victory in their only previous meeting on his way to the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC trophy in March.
The winner of Zverev and Djere will face one of two unseeded and looming opponents, either Kei Nishikori or Henri Laaksonen, who will contest their first meeting on Lenglen. Both Nishikori and Laaksonen took out seeds in the previous round, with Nishikori fighting past 23rd seed Karen Khachanov in his second consecutive five-set match while the Finnish-born Swiss player stunned 11th seed Bautista Agut to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
Read More: Hold The Salmon! Laaksonen Is Catch Of The Day At Roland Garros
Fabio Fognini, the 27th seed and 15th-seeded Casper Ruud are also in action, and they could meet in the fourth round should they both advance on Friday. The Italian, who reached the quarter-finals here in 2011, will face Federico Delbonis, while Ruud takes on Alejandro Davidovich Fokina as he seeks to advance to the second week in Paris for the first time.
Australian Open finalists Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury lead the way in doubles, taking on Hugo Nys and Tim Puetz on Court 11. Ram and Salisbury, the third seeds, reached the final at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome (l. Mektic/Pavic) before arriving in Paris. Also in action, sixth-seeded Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut will face Jonathan Erlich and Lloyd Harris.
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Thursday also marks the start of mixed doubles, headlined by a mouthwatering clash between Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig taking on third seeds Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof. Chan and Dodig have lifted two Roland Garros mixed doubles titles in 2018 and 2019, in addition to winning together at Wimbledon in 2019. Their opponents are seeking their first major title in mixed doubles, with Koolhof making his Roland Garros debut in this discipline partnered with WTA doubles specialist Schuurs.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal will play Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the French Open third round after easing past France’s Richard Gasquet.
Rafael Nadal had never played a night session en route to his record 13 Roland Garros titles, but he didn’t miss a beat in his first venture under the lights on Thursday night. The Spaniard celebrated his 35th birthday on Court Philippe-Chatrier with a hard-fought victory over Richard Gasquet 6-0, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the third round.
Nadal improved to 17-0 in his ATP Head2Head against Gasquet, one of the most one-sided match-ups in Open Era history. The last time Gasquet took a set off the Spaniard was back in 2008 at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto – since then, Nadal has recorded 31 sets in a row against the Frenchman.
Most Dominant Tour-Level Head2Head Records (Open Era)
| Player | Opponent | Head2Head |
| Bjorn Borg | Vitas Gerulaitis | 17-0 |
| Novak Djokovic | Gael Monfils | 17-0 |
| Roger Federer | David Ferrer | 17-0 |
| Roger Federer | Mikhail Youzhny | 17-0 |
| Ivan Lendl | Tim Mayotte | 17-0 |
| Rafael Nadal | Richard Gasquet | 17-0 |
“I respect [him because] I know how good Richard is,” Nadal said. “I know he’s coming back after a tough period of time. I think he played smart, playing aggressive. I just went on court with highest respect, with the highest focus possible, and that’s what I try to do every day against everyone.”
Gasquet was the last French man standing out of the 18 who began in the main draw in Paris, and one of only three who reached the second round alongside 14th seed Gael Monfils and wild card Enzo Couacaud. His defeat to Nadal marks the first time in the Open Era that no French man has gone on to contest the third round at Roland Garros.
Four-time defending champion Nadal was nearly untouchable in a masterclass opening set, which saw him win 100 per cent of his first serve points (8/8). Gasquet, who was standing well behind the baseline for his returns, was out-rallied by Nadal as the Spaniard bossed the points with his heavy topspin forehand.
“I think I played a great first set, one of the best of the clay court season, in my opinion. No mistakes, high intensity, winners, playing long,” Nadal said. “In the second, still good… Then, of course, Richard is a great player. He had some good serves in the next game, and then [it] was tough.”
Power or touch?
Pick your poison ?♂️#RolandGarros | @RafaelNadal pic.twitter.com/oWpgiE17BK
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2021
Gasquet adjusted his tactics and raised his level to challenge Nadal in the second set. The Frenchman recovered from an early break and a 1-4 deficit, finding his range as the match went on. He stepped into the court and stood closer to the baseline, applying the pressure on Nadal to earn his first break of the match at 3-5.
Nadal, who held set point on Gasquet’s serve at 5-2, stayed calm and continued to find forehand winners, homing in on the Frenchman’s one-handed backhand. He finally broke through late in the set, converting his second set point to claim the set at 7-5.
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The third seed reestablished his dominance in the third set, and again didn’t face a break point as he took control with his forehand. He reeled off the last four games of the match to close out the victory after two hours and 16 minutes.
In the third round, Nadal will next face Cameron Norrie after the Brit recovered from a set down to take down Lloyd Harris 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. Nadal owns a 2-0 lead in their ATP Head2Head, with both wins coming this season including a straight sets win en route to the Barcelona trophy.
“Every week he’s making good results, winning against very good players,” Nadal said of Norrie. “I know it is going to be a tough one. I need to be ready to play my best. I know he has a style of game that is not easy to play against. I need to play well.”
Roger Federer had to battle through a tough four-setter on Thursday against former World No. 3 Marin Cilic. Normally, needing to squeeze through a second-round match would not be great news for the 20-time Grand Slam champion. But the 39-year-old was pleased after his victory.
“I feel like I surprised myself a little bit,” Federer told Tennis Channel. “I didn’t expect myself to play that well or to have the energy left at the end like this and being able to keep on serving so consistently at the end was great.”
In the first round, Federer needed just one hour and 33 minutes to defeat qualifier Denis Istomin. But against Cilic, who gave the Swiss less time and space, the eighth seed needed to claw through a third-set tie-break to avoid falling behind two sets to one.
“This is what I need right now. Actually, I think I felt really good on the court,” Federer said. “For me it will be interesting to see how I will feel tomorrow, because clearly it will feel very different from Istomin, [having] two days off to Cilic, [having] one day off. That will be a good test for me.
“Overall I’m very happy how I’m feeling and also confident that tomorrow I’ll feel fine somehow.”
This is Federer’s third tournament since the 2020 Australian Open because of two right knee surgeries he had last year. But fans are excited to have the 103-time tour-level titlist back and to watch him dance across the court again. Even Federer noticed a video on social media focusing solely on his movement.
Dancing on clouds ?☁️and floating above the sand ? https://t.co/8GKEPYSzzM
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) June 2, 2021
“We rarely see those shots of a tennis player because usually it’s always the whole body and they talk about what they do with the hand. Yes, you talk about movement, but not in detail like this. That’s why also I thought it would be nice to retweet,” Federer said. “I even mentioned it to my kids. When I tell them in tennis about footwork, I tell them, ‘Look how much I move my feet for one shot or for one point.’
“I think maybe it’s really interesting for junior kids as well to see what goes into it. And even though it looks all relaxed at the top, there’s a lot of work going on at the bottom.”
Before Roland Garros, Federer declared that he would not win this tournament. After winning two matches, he said, “I still do believe there’s no way I’m going to go really, really super deep here or go past the Novak section.” Federer is focusing on his next match against German lefty Dominik Koepfer.
“The first round I didn’t surprise myself per se, but now in the second round, I did,” Federer said. “Now can I keep it up and how will the body react? We’ll see. The mind is getting stronger, I can feel it. I have more clarity, I have more confidence growing in me.”
Former world number one Andy Murray will not play in the Nottingham grass-court event next week, instead focusing on being fit for Queen’s and Wimbledon.
Carlos Alcaraz is 18, but he’s not playing like it at Roland Garros.
The #NextGenATP Spaniard upset 28th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday to become the youngest man to reach the third round at this tournament since 17-year-old Andrei Medvedev in 1992. Alcaraz is also the youngest man to advance this far at Grand Slam since 17-year-old Rafael Nadal at the 2004 Australian Open.
The Murcia-native is not the only teen who has made his mark this week, though. Lorenzo Musetti and Jannik Sinner, both 19-year-old Italians, also advanced to the third round on Thursday. The last time three teens reached the Round of 32 on the terre battue was in 2001, when Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Tommy Robredo did it.
What makes this even more impressive for Alcaraz is that this is his main draw debut on the Parisian clay. Eight months ago, he lost in the first round of qualifying here.
After a tough four-set battle in the first round against fellow Spanish qualifier Bernabe Zapata Miralles, Alcaraz came out firing against Basilashvili. The Georgian is one of the biggest hitters on the ATP Tour, and he has enjoyed success on clay, having lifted the ATP 500 trophy in Hamburg twice (2018 and 2019).
But his teen opponent had no problem going shot-for-shot with the 29-year-old. Alcaraz was comfortable in rallies, forcing Basilashvili into mistakes. And any time the five-time ATP Tour titlist played a bit safer, the Spaniard stepped into the court and ripped the ball. He finished with 27 winners to Basilashvili’s 16.
Alcaraz let slip a break advantage at 4-3 in the third set, but he regained that edge immediately and pointed to his head as a sign of his mental strength. The #NextGenATP star consistently showed positive emotions throughout the match with fist pumps and roars of “Vamos!”, none more visible than after clinching his victory after one hour and 56 minutes.
The World No. 97, who first cracked the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings last week, will next play another big-hitter in German Jan-Lennard Struff, who eliminated Argentine Facundo Bagnis 7-5, 7-6(1), 6-4 after two hours and 18 minutes.
Struff is a similar player to Basilashvili, and he carried plenty of confidence after beating seventh seed Andrey Rublev in the first round. The 31-year-old is trying to make the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the second time (also 2019 Roland Garros).