Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

French Open

First Week

Fernando Verdasco beat fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (4) 6-2 6-4

Mihaela Buzarnescu beat fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3 7-5

Maria Sharapova beat sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-2 6-1

Marco Cecchinato beat eighth-seeded David Goffin 7-5 4-6 6-0 6-3

Anett Kontaveit beat eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova 7-6 (6) 7-6 (4)

Marco Cecchinato beat 10^th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta 2-6 7-6 (5) 6-3 6-1

SAYING

“For me, this is the best moment of my life. Maybe it’s a dream, because now I’m very, very happy for this match.” – Marco Cecchinato, after upsetting eighth-seeded David Goffin to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals.

“It was the first time for me on Court Philippe Chatrier not playing against Rafa (Rafael Nadal) so I could enjoy the court.” – Dominic Thiem, following his four-set win over Kei Nishikori.

“I’m young. I might as well stay on court and entertain you guys.” – Alexander Zverev, after beating Karen Khachanov for his third consecutive five-setter and a berth in the quarterfinals.

“He’s got weapons everywhere. Serve, forehand, everything. He loves playing on clay. But I think in the most important moments today, I just managed to play an extra shot in the court and just made him run and just made him uncomfortable.” – Novak Djokovic, after beating Fernando Verdasco in straight sets.

.

“When push came to shove, the real Serena came out. And that’s one of her best assets: When her back is against the wall, the best comes out.’” – Ashleigh Barty, after losing to Serena Williams.

“I know exactly where I want to be. I won three Grand Slams in my career and I know what it takes to do it. My goal is to get to back to the top. Sooner or later I will be.” – Stan Wawrinka, who, after missing the last half of 2017 with a knee injury and suffering a first-round loss at Paris this year, will see his ranking plunge to below 250^th in the world.

“If he can’t come back then I will have to figure out if I want to keep doing it without him. If he can’t play anymore, I’d probably shut it down, too.” – Mike Bryan, who said he might retire if his twin brother Bob’s hip injury keeps him from returning to the game.

“I’m not proud of doing that, to be honest. I don’t like doing that. But at times it happens.” – Novak Djokovic, about smashing his racquet on the court after losing the second set of his match against Roberto Bautista Agut.

“She’s the greatest female athlete of all time, probably, and she keeps on coming back and inspiring everyone.” – Novak Djokovic, talking about Serena Williams.

“I think my most favorite would be the one that I win.” – Naomi Osaka, when asked to name her favorite Grand Slam tournament.

“I’m always living in a fantasy world. I always wanted to be a superhero, and it’s kind of my way of being a superhero. I feel like a superhero when I wear it.” – Serena Williams, on the black catsuit she wore in her first-round match.

“This year’s Roland Garros prize money is all gone to that one ice cream I ate today at Champs-Elysees.” – Stefanos Tsitsipas, stunned by high prices in Paris, earned 79,000 euros (USD 92,270) by reaching the second round.

“You know, all I want is to go out there, compete and win. Doesn’t matter if my shots are not for the picture. It’s fine. I’m happy with fighting, do whatever I can, to eventually win the point. That’s all that matters. Of course, if you play good and beautiful, everybody feels better, but at the end just counts the result.” – Garbiñe Muguruza, on whether she feels the pressure to play her best tennis.

“She’s living her life to the fullest. She’s a very strong, female figure, very inspirational. She’s very charismatic. And all these things will always get some people at the wrong cord just because for whatever reason. Insecurity. They’re afraid of strong females.” – Andrea Petkovic, on negative comments directed towards Serena Williams.

“That’s so embarrassing. I think if they wanted to title it something, they should have titled it ‘the most awkward person in tennis.’” – Naomi Osaka, on how it feels to be called “The Coolest Thing in Tennis” by GQ Magazine.

SURPRISE QUARTERFINALIST

Italy’s Marco Cecchinato had never won a Grand Slam tournament match before this year’s French Open. Not only that, but two years ago he was banned from tennis in a match-fixing scandal. Now, Cecchinato is in the quarterfinals in Paris after upsetting eighth-seeded David Goffin. In 2016, Cecchinato was suspended for 18 months by the Italian tennis federation. He later had the suspension reduced to 12 months before it was scrapped completely and he turned to the Tour. Before beating Goffin, Cecchinato surprised 10^th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta in the third round. While this is his first wins in a major, the 25-year-old won a clay-court title in Budapest, Hungary, earlier this year as a lucky loser. “I started the year playing very well, so now this is the best moment of my life because I feel every match is good,” he said. His quarterfinal opponent will be a former practice partner, Novak Djokovic. “I have known of him for many years,” Djokovic said of Cecchinato. “Even though he’s not a seeded player, he’s still in the quarterfinals. He deserves respect and he’s got nothing to lose in our next match. So I’ll approach it very seriously.”

Ranked 72^nd in the world, Cecchinato is the lowest-ranked man to reach the quarterfinals since Ernests Gulbis, then ranked 80^th, did so in 2008.

SISTERS ELIMINATED

Sisters Venus and Serena Williams won’t be adding to their women’s doubles trophy collection at this year’s Roland Garros. The two were beaten by the third round by the third-seeded team of Andreja Klepac and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-4 6-7 (4) 6-0. It was the first time the sisters have teamed up at a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon in 2016, where they won their 14^th major doubles title.

STAN’S RANKING PLUMMETS

Last year, Stan Wawrinka reached the French Open final. After a first-round loss on the red clay of Paris this year, Wawrinka will have to play qualifying to get into any main draws from here on out. Unless, of course, he gets a wildcard entry from a tournament. A knee injury ended Wawrinka’s 2017 season in June. And losing 1,200 ranking points at Roland Garros this year means Wawrinka’s ranking will drop outside the top 250 in the world. “When you’re out of the tour because of injury, for sure your ranking will drop because you didn’t play,” said Wawrinka, who won Roland Garros in 2015. “The ranking doesn’t lie. If you play, you are at the top. If you don’t play, you’re getting down. For sure, I’m going to require some wildcards. But, again, if I have to play some (lower tier) Challenger (tournaments), I have no problem with that.”

SEES THE END

Mike Bryan is ready to end his career if his twin brother Bob fails to recover from a hip injury. The 40-year-old American twins have dominated men’s doubles, playing in a record 76 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments before the injury forced Bob to miss this year’s Roland Garros. Mike teamed with fellow American Sam Querrey, but they lost in the first round to British brothers Ken and Neal Skupski. “It’s much more fun when we’re doing it together and it’s felt a bit lonely this week,” Mike Bryan said of playing without his brother. “It’s like I’m missing half of myself. We are a package deal and that’s one of the reasons we’ve been playing so long.” Mike said he has not given up on them playing at Wimbledon where they have won the title three times and also the site of their Olympic gold medal in 2012.

SHORT STAY

Victoria Azarenka’s Paris stay was short-lived. The two-time Grand Slam tournament winner fell to Katerina Siniakova 7-5 7-5 in the opening round at Roland Garros. The Belarusian returned to tennis last June following the birth of her son Leo in 2016. But she had to put her career on hold when a judge in California ruled that her son should leave the state until custody was resolved. The former world number one returned to Europe last month to play her first clay-court tournament in two years, the Madrid Open. “Even though I am doing good things in practice, I’m not able to transfer it to the match,” Azarenka said. A tournament in Mallorca and two grass-court exhibition matches in Britain are on her schedule.

SIPPING BEER

Marco Trungelliti didn’t mind the long drive. When he gained entry into the men’s singles main draw at Roland Garros, the Argentine had to drive for 10 hours to return to Paris, accompanied by his 89-year-old grandmother. The long drive was worth it as he beat Australian Bernard Tomic 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4. After losing his second-round match, Trungelliti celebrated with a beer. “My grandmother had a beer when I finished the game,” he said. “Me too, with her. This is over, there are no more lucking losers, nothing more for me. Drinking a beer once in a while is fine, and you do not always have the opportunity to have a beer with your grandmother.”

Trungelliti was luckier than most lucky losers. The next lucky loser was actually Pranjesh Gunneswaran of India. But he was already playing a Challenger tour event in Italy, so Trungelliti, who had returned to his base in Barcelona, Spain, got the call.

SOME ARE LUCKY

They are called lucky losers, losing in the final round of qualifying, but given main draw berths when there are openings. At Roland Garros this year, there were a record eight lucky losers in the men’s singles. Marco Trungelliti, who upset Bernard Tomic in the first round, gained his main draw spot when Nick Kyrgios pulled out of the year’s second Grand Slam tournament with an elbow injury.

Mohamed Safwat met fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov on Court Philippe Chatrier, Roland Garros’ top stadium. Although he lost 6-1 6-4 7-6 (1), Safwat became the first Egyptian to play in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament since 1996.

Estonia’s Jurgen Zopp took advantage of his break, upsetting American Jack Stock 6-7 (4) 6-2 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-3. It was Zopp’s first match win at a Grand Slam since Roland Garros in 2014. And it didn’t end there. Zopp beat fellow lucky loser Ruben Bemmelmans of Belgium in five sets before falling to Maxmillian Marterer in straight sets.

Bemmelmans beat Yuki Bhambri of India to set up his second-round battle with Zopp.

He may have been a lucky loser, but Simone Bolelli of Italy ran out of luck quickly. His first-round opponent was top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who won 6-4 6-3 7-6 (9).

Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine made his reputation in 2013 when he upset Roger Federer at Wimbledon. This time he beat Feliciano Lopez 6-2 6-4 6-2.

Canada’s Peter Polansky lost to Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-3 4-6 6-2 6-2, although he stuck around for two days. The first-round match was halted after sets because of darkness.

Oscar Otte’s first ATP World Tour-level match this season came at Roland Garros, where the German lost to Italy’s Matteo Berrettinni 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-1.

SUSPENDED

Dmytro Badanov was bad enough to get banned for life. The Ukraine player was also fined USD $100,000 by an independent hearing officer after being found guilty of tennis match fixing. The 30-year-old Badanov was found to have fixed the outcome of two matches on the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Futures tour in Tunisia in 2015 and Egypt in 2016. He also was convicted of being involved in betting linked to the matches. Currently unranked, Badanov’s highest ranking was 463^rd in the world in March 2015.

SEPARATED

Boris Becker and his wife Lilly have separated after a 13-year relationship and nine years of marriage. A lawyer, Christian-Oliver Moser, said the couple’s main concern now was the wellbeing of their son Amadeus. The two married in June 2009 in Switzerland. Becker has three other children: Noah, Elias and Anna.

SURFING

Paris:www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/

Prostejov: www.czech-open.cz

Surbiton: www.lta.org.uk/surbitontrophy

Bol: https://bolopen.com/en/

Stuttgart: www.mercedescup.de/de/tickets/

S’-Hertogenbosch: http://libema-open.nl/en/

Caltanissetta: www.challengercaltanissetta.com/

Nottingham: www.lta.org.uk/major-events/nature-valley-open/%20

Manchester:www.lta.org.uk/aegonmanchestertrophy

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

MEN