Mondays with Bob Greene
STARS
French Open (first week)
Katerina Siniakova beat top-seeded Naomi Osaka 6-4 6-2
Petra Martic beat second-seeded Karolina Pliskova 6-3 6-3
Viktoria Kuzmova beat fourth-seeded Kiki Bertens 3-1 retired
Anastasia Potapova beat fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-2
Stan Wawrinka beat sixth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (6) 5-7 6-4 3-6 8-6
Garbiñe Muguruza beat ninth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-3
Sofia Kenin beat 10th-seeded Serena Williams 6-2 7-5
SAYINGS
“That I’m a fighter and that I just beat Serena Williams. So, of course they’re going to remember that. I’ll remember that.” – Sofia Kenin, when asked what she wants the crowd to remember from her victory over Serena Williams.
“I just saw a player that was playing unbelievable.” – Serena Williams, talking about her conqueror, fellow American Sophia Kenin.
“It’s amazing, I can’t believe it, I am so happy now. I played my best tennis and I hope it continues.” – Katerina Siniakova, following her upset of top-ranked Naomi Osaka
“It’s weird, but I think me losing is probably the best thing that could have happened.” – Naomi Osaka, admitting she has been thinking of a calendar-year Grand Slam during her loss to Katerina Siniakova.
“It’s for these kind of emotions that I live for after coming back from injury.” – Stan Wawrinka, following his marathon win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“I was so close, so close.” – Stefanos Tsitsipas, after losing a five-set fourth-round marathon to Stan Wawrinka.
“Definitely wasn’t the best match I’ve ever played.” – Caroline Wozniacki, after losing 0-6 6-3 6-3 to 68th-ranked Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in the first round of the French Open.
“I feel like I’m thinking too much about the number next to my name right now, instead of feeling free and having fun like I normally do in Grand Slams. Everything that I’m experiencing right now is very new.” – Naomi Osaka, who won her first-round match after being two points away from elimination.
“I’m not going to miss the travelling, the time zone changes.” – Lucie Safarova, announcing she is retiring from tennis.
“Different, for sure. I have touched the number one place two times (at) the end of the year. I have the Grand Slam. So, everything, it comes now, it’s a bonus. And I see tennis different. I see my life different.” – Simona Halep.
“Everybody keeps on saying I had a tough year. I mean, I’m still number five in the world. … So, it’s not that bad, to be honest. Somebody having a tough year is probably outside of the top 50 or something like that.” – Alexander Zverev, putting his “slump” into perspective after winning his first-round match.
“I go to the hotel.” – Bernard Tomic, when asked “What’s your plans now?” following his 6-1 6-4 6-1 firs-round loss to American Taylor Fritz.
“I’m winning still, so why not?” – Ivo Karlovic, when asked why he keeps playing tennis at the age of 40.
“With Serena, you have to play not 100 percent, you have to play 150. Always,” – Vitalia Diatchenko, after losing her first-round match to Serena Williams.
“It is a lot to carry, but so is being Serena Williams.” – Serena Williams, when asked about her jacket emblazoned with the French words for “champion,” “queen,” “goddess” and “mother.”
“With baking, there is a recipe. I have generally found that the problem is rarely the baker, it’s mostly the recipe. If the recipe is wrong, then the cake is probably going to be wrong. It’s not always your fault.” – Johanna Konta, after winning her first Roland Garros match after four first-round defeats.
“Right now I have nothing to say because they’ll give me (a) fine.” – Fabio Fognini, when asked to further explain his recent criticism of the Italian Open.
SINIAKOVA SHOCKER
Naomi Osaka was thinking about winning her third straight Grand Slam tournament. Instead, Katerina Siniakova won the third-round match, snapping the top-ranked Osaka’s Grand Slam tournament winning match streak at 16. “I think I was overthinking this calendar slam,” Osaka said after her 6-4 6-2 defeat. “For me this is something that I have wanted to do forever, but I think I have to think it like: If it was this easy, everyone would have done it.” Siniakova hung on as Osaka self-destructed, committing a shocking 38 unforced errors compared to just 13 for her Czech opponent. The winner used her dropshot, forehand and serve to oust Osaka. “It was brave, but I believe in my dropshot,” Siniakova said of the shot that won her a number of crucial points. “I think it’s really good. It was one shot I could use against her.” While Siniakova is ranked just 42nd in the world in singles, she is ranked number one in doubles, and last year teamed with Barbora Krejcikova to win both the French Open and Wimbledon doubles.
SERENA STOPPER
Sofia Kenin reached the fourth round by shocking heavily-favored Serena Williams in straight sets on the red clay of Roland Garros. It was just the third time the 20-year-old American had beaten a Top 10 player. Williams, who is seeking a record-tying 24th Grand Slam tournament title, had 30 winners, but committed 34 unforced errors. Kenin had 23 winners and just 17 unforced errors. “She just played literally unbelievable,” Williams said of Kenin. “In that first set, in particular, she hit pretty much inches from the line, and I haven’t played anyone like that in a long time.” Ranked 35th in the world, Kenin rolled through the opening set 6-2, then broke Williams to go up 6-5. When Williams sailed a backhand long, Kenin had a spot in the fourth round. “Just playing against Serena, you’ve really got to fight for every point,” the winner said. “She’s such a tough player.”
STAN’S THE MAN
Stan Wawrinka handed Stefanos Tsitsipas the “worst feeling in tennis,” winning their fourth-round marathon 7-6 (6) 5-7 6-4 3-6 8-6. The battle was the longest match of this year’s tournament, taking five hours and nine minutes. “Worst thing in tennis. It’s the worst feeling ever. Especially when you lose,” the 20-year-old Tsitsipas said. “You don’t want to be in my place. I feel exhausted. I don’t know. Never experienced something like this in my life. I feel very disappointed at the end. (It’s been a) long time since I cried after a match, so emotionally (it) wasn’t easy to handle.” Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam tournament champion, including the 2015 French Open, saved 22 of 27 break points, including all eight in the fifth set. The 34-year-old from Switzerland ended it with a backhand from yards behind the baseline that landed on the sideline. Wawrinka’s subtle victory ceremony had to wait for the umpire to come down out of his chair and verify that the ball had indeed touched the line “It’s incredible, lots of emotions,” Wawrinka said after the third longest match in the last 20 years at Roland Garros. It’s the first time Wawrinka has reached a Grand Slam tournament quarterfinal since losing to Rafael Nadal in the 2017 Roland Garros final. Last year, following injury struggled, Wawrinka lost in the first round and dropped out of the world’s top 250.
STEADY DOES IT
Petra Martic did the dictating, send second-seeded Karolina Pliskova to the sidelines in another Roland Garros upset. Continuing her successful clay-court play this season, Martic pulled off a career-best victory by eliminating Pliskova 6-3 6-3. “The key was to focus on my game and try to dictate instead of letting her dictate, which is her biggest strength,” Martic said. “I had to kind of try to take it away from her, and at times it was difficult, especially when she broke me … I’m just happy that I managed in the end to hold my nerves and to finish it off.” Pliskova agreed with Martic, crediting the Croatian’s steadiness as a key to her first win over a player ranked in the top 3 in the world. “My serve wasn’t really working,” Pliskova said. “I didn’t think she did much wrong today, so I think she played clever. She was patient. I just did too many mistakes.”
SICK BAY
One of the French Open favorites, Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, retired during her second-round match because of illness. Seeded fourth, the 27-year-old Bertens was trailing Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 3-1 40-15 when she called for a doctor. Complaining of “shaking and having no energy,” Bertens decided she couldn’t continue. “I felt fine yesterday in practice, but this morning I woke up at 3 o’clock. I was vomiting and had diarrhea all day,” Bertens said. “I was a little bit better before the match, but it started again when I was warming up. There was no energy left.”
An injury to her right shoulder caused Bianca Andreescu to withdraw from the French Open before her second-round match against American Sofia Kenin. The 18-year Canadian won Indian Wells this season before she sustained a similar injury in March.
American Frances Tiafoe, who lost his first-round match to Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 6-2 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-0, said he felt “very depleted” for the fifth set. It showed. “You work so hard, and obviously it’s a Grand Slam, so you want to do your best and you have this random illness that you have no idea why it’s occurring,” Tiafoe said. “It’s tough to lose like that.” He said he felt fine before the match, but threw up in the locker room after the third set and again after the match ended.
SAYONARA
Lucie Safarova picked the site of her best Grand Slam tournament finish to announce her retirement. The Czech was runner-up at the French Open in 2015. At 32 years old, Safarova played her last Paris match in doubles with Dominika Cibulkova, losing in the first round to Sofia Kenin and Andrea Petkovic 6-4 6-0. Safarova was ranked fifth in the world in singles in 2015 and won the Roland Garros doubles title in 2015 and 2017. She won three other Grand Slam doubles titles with Bethanie Mattek-Sands. “Even after so many years, I still enjoy (it) when I’m on the court,” Safarova said. “I’m sure I will miss the competition a little bit. But, honestly, I’ve been through great results on great courts, played in front of great crowds, and it’s been great. It’s been enough, and I’m really looking forward to starting a new chapter.”
STRANGE FIGURES
When 40-year-old Ivo Karlovic beat 37-year-old Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the first round, he became the oldest player to win a Grand Slam tournament singles match since Ken Rosewall did it at age 44 at the 1978 Australian Open. The big-serving Karlovic boomed 35 aces in the 7-6 (4) 7-5 6-7 (7) 7-5 victory in the matchup that set a record for combined age between Roland Garros opponents in the Open era. Karlovic lost in the second round to Australia’s Jordan Thompson 6-3 6-4 6-7 (2) 6-3. The 6-foot-11 (211m) Croatian became the first man in his fifth decade to compete in singles at a Grand Slam tournament since Jimmy Connors at the 1992 US Open.
In her five appearances at Roland Garros, Jelena Ostapenka of Latvia has won a total of seven matches. But all seven victories came in 2017, when she captured the women’s singles title. This year, Ostapenko lost in the first round to another former Grand Slam tournament champion Victoria Azarenka, 6-4 7-6.
SURGERY WORKS
Nicole Gibbs says she is cancer free following surgery to remove the tumor on the roof of her mouth. However, the 26-year-old American will be sidelined for longer than previously thought. “Good news: Surgery successfully removed the cancer,” Gibbs wrote on social media, adding the cancer turned out to be different from that originally diagnosed but is still expected to be eradicated by the procedure. She will be on a feeding tube for the “foreseeable future,” which means she won’t be able to qualify for Wimbledon later this month. A dentist had discovered the growth, and a biopsy later revealed it was a rare form of cancer, necessitating the surgery.
SURFING
Paris: https://www.rolandgarros.com/fr-fr/
Surbiton: https://www.lta.org.uk/surbitontrophy
Prostejov: http://www.czech-open.cz/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
MEN
Roland Garros (French Open), Paris, France, clay (second week)
$154,075 Surbiton Trophy, Surbiton, Great Britain, grass
$103,090 Moneta Czech Open, Prostejov, Czech Republic, clay
WOMEN
Roland Garros (French Open), Paris, France, clay (second week)
$125,000 Croatia Bol Open, Bol, Croatia, clay
$100,000 Surbiton Trophy, Surbiton, Great Britain, grass
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN
$842,633 Mercedes Cup, Stuttgart, Germany, grass
$794,316 Libéma Open, s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, grass
$153,620 Nottingham Challenger, Nottingham, Great Britain, grass
WOMEN
$250,000 Libéma Open, s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, grass
$250,000 Nature Valley Open, Nottingham, Great Britain, grass