Diary day 12: Novak and the Beatles

Chang went on to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires back in 1989. 

On Thursday at Roland-Garros Chang was honoured in a presentation to mark his 30th anniversary of lifting the title and couldn’t help himself by mimicking the underarm serve as he strolled onto court.

The 47-year-old currently coaches Kei Nishikori and the world No.7 approved of Chang’s cheeky gesture on social media.   

Another American tennis legend Chris Evert was honoured on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The seven-time Roland-Garros winner marked the third of her triumphs, which occurred 40 years ago in Paris.

Quotes of the day

“I’m sure some people would debate if Ringo Starr was the less famous. Some people liked him the most. That's what my parents tell me (smiling)…. Dominic is deservedly where he is, one of the top four guys, especially on clay. That's where he's playing his best tennis. He's got that tremendous power in his game, especially with forehand and serve. I think backhand also has improved a lot in the last couple of years. Seems like his relationship with Massu has helped him a lot, also mentally, I think, in big matches. Seems like it has been working really well. If he continues playing this way, not just on clay but in general, I think we will probably be seeing him more often on different surfaces in the final stages of the tournament.

“How far us four, so to say, other than this tournament can create something that we have created with Andy, three of us guys? I don't know. It's a different time for us now than it was five years ago now, obviously. We're a bit older. But we have still been enjoying some of our best tennis in biggest events, talking about Federer, Nadal, and myself. That's great to see. I mean, obviously these two guys, Nadal and Federer, arguably the biggest legends of this sport and best players, successful players ever, so to be in the mix with them and to have myself successful career is quite a great feeling.”

– World No.1 Novak Djokovic retorts claims that Dominic Thiem has replaced Andy Murray as the ‘New Ringo Starr’ in the Beatles (fab four) of men’s tennis.

“Yeah, I was just, like, sleeping in the locker room. I thought I wasn't going to play, so I was just sleeping. And then I left, and I was in traffic a lot, because I wanted to get new shoes. I was trying to find off white Nike shoes.

“Then when I got there - I was driving for, like, a total of two hours. And then I didn't get them, and I was like, 'Wow, that was a bad idea. Why am I exhausting myself right now?' Then I just had dinner and went back to the hotel.”

– Amanda Anisimova reveals traffic troubles on her ‘day off’ during the rain-interrupted Wednesday at Roland-Garros.

“It was an honour to play here as defending champion. I wasn't good enough today, but I will come back stronger. Paris, you will always have my heart.”

– Simona Halep might have surrendered her Roland-Garros title, but had this heartfelt message for the Parisians.

Stats of the day

3 – Women’s semi-finalists Anisimova, Ashleigh Barty, Johanna Konta and Marketa Vondrousova had a combined 3-12 record at Roland-Garros prior to the 2019 tournament.

6 – Barty’s total of backhand winners for the tournament so far. In stark contrast, the soaring Australian has struck 54 forehands winners and a booming 30 aces in five matches. 

28 –  Dominic Thiem (25) is the only active male player to have reached a Grand Slam singles final aged under 28. The Austrian was finalist in Paris last June, losing to Rafael Nadal.

488 – events since the top-four ranked men comprised the whole semi-finals line-up at a tour-level tournament. It was the 2012 Australian Open, which had Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray as the leading quartet.

This year in Paris the top four is Djokovic, Nadal, Federer once again followed by Thiem. 

1990 – Anisimova is the youngest American to reach the Roland-Garros semi-finals since Jennifer Capriati 29 years ago.