ROLAND-GARROS
19 May - 8 June 2025
Throughout the season, Courtside Conversations: The Roland-Garros Tennis Podcast has been serving up some exciting and insightful chats between Gigi Salmon and her marquee guests. Following Alex Corretja, Marion Bartoli, Amélie Mauresmo, Mark Woodforde and Mats Wilander, Rolex Paris Masters tournament director Cédric Pioline takes his turn in the hotseat to talk about the 2024 US Open and what is at stake in the always eagerly awaited final Masters 1000 event of the season.
"Courtside Conversations" – Ep 6: US Open debrief
In the sixth episode of your favourite tennis podcast, Gigi Salmon and Cédric Pioline look back at the USA's Grand Slam event and ahead to the final tournaments of the year.
©FFTA two-time Grand Slam finalist (at the 1993 US Open and Wimbledon in 1997) and former world No. 5, Cédric Pioline has stayed in tennis since retiring. A TV pundit and on-court interviewer at Roland-Garros, he was also the head of men’s elite tennis at the French Tennis Federation (FFT) between 2007 and 2009 and was the vice-captain of France’s Davis cup team between 2016 and 2018, having won the competition twice as a player, in 1996 and 2001. The tournament director of the Rolex Paris Masters for the last two years, he has been keeping a close eye on the tennis scene all season long.
So what did he make of the last Grand Slam of the year, when Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner stormed to the women’s and men’s singles titles respectively? Having already lifted Australian Open titles at the start of the year, the pair dashed the hopes of US fans in the finals at Flushing Meadows, though the home players did the Stars and Stripes proud during the course of an exciting tournament. Now comes an enticing end to the season, with the WTA and ATP Tour finals topping the bill. The final spots at the prestigious men’s event will be claimed, as ever, at the Rolex Paris Masters, which the tournament director himself previews.
Make yourself comfortable and click on the player below to listen to Gigi and Cédric talk tennis:
Courtside Conversations will be back in late November for the seventh and final episode of the year, when the British journalist will provide a comprehensive round-up of the 2024 season with her latest guest.