The current and former world No.1s, Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka, collide on Wednesday – and it is only the second round
If, for whatever reason, you want to spook Naomi Osaka, talk to her about her draw. She never looks past her next opponent. Too much stress.
Too much pressure. But when she arrived in Paris and everyone kept asking her about her draw, she began to wonder. Only then did she realise that she was in the top half.
“So I was, like, jokingly, Well, it's not like I'm playing Iga,” she said after her first round match. “Then everyone got quiet. So I was like, Oh.”
Yes, she was indeed playing Iga Swiatek the defending champion and world No.1. Oh. It will be their third meeting (they have a win apiece) but their first on clay. Not that the surface is particularly relevant in this case: Osaka is only five months into her comeback from maternity leave and while she is gathering momentum, she still has a long way to go to get back to her best. No matter, she is relishing the chance to take on the best in the business.
“I watched her a lot when I was pregnant,” Osaka said. “And honestly, I think it's an honour to play her at Roland-Garros, because she's won three times here. It's a very big honour and challenge for me.”
©Cédric Lecocq / FFTIt is a challenge for anyone facing Swiatek on any court at the moment. She has not lost a match since April 20 (the Stuttgart semi-finals) and is on a 15-match winning streak. But now facing Osaka, a former world No.1 and the winner of four Grand Slam titles, she is taking nothing for granted. She is also something of a fan of the Japanese.
“I’m really impressed [with her comeback],” Swiatek said. “I think, she's a great person, and her game style is pretty fun to watch as well.
“I haven't actually played against Naomi obviously on clay, so we'll see how that's going to go. We need to prepare tactically, for sure. But the matches that we played on hard court were always really intense and tough. So I'm just glad that she came back and happy that she's playing well.”
©Corinne Dubreuil / FFTAnd just in case anyone imagined that Osaka, now ranked No.134, was not backing herself against such a tough opponent, they would be sadly mistaken. That is not the way champions (even former champions) think.
“I wouldn't say I have low expectations of myself,” she said thoughtfully. “I'm a person that kind of thinks that I can win every match that I play. That's kind of gotten me this far.”
Watch this space.
Court Philippe-Chatrier, first match: Caroline Garcia vs Sofia Kenin
In team sports, having home advantage is…well, an advantage. But in tennis, all the attention is focused on one, lone individual and the pressure can be unbearable. So when Caroline Garcia takes on the 2020 Roland-Garros finalist today, she knows it will be tense. “Obviously it means pressure on my shoulders,” she said. “I know that my level of game can enable me to beat any player, but can I do it over two weeks? I don't know.”
Kenin knows that she can keep a run going over two weeks – she won the Australian Open in 2020. She has never reached that level again but the American is nothing if not a fighter. After a miserable run of first round losses this year, she finally won back-to-back matches in Rome – just in time to be ready for Roland-Garros.
Court Suzanne-Lenglen, first match: Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Daniel Altmaier
Keep this to yourself, but Stefanos Tsitsipas has a great chance here this year. With all the attention focused on the fitness and form (or lack of it) of the regular contenders, the Greek is flying under the radar. He won his third Monte Carlo at the start of the clay court season – beating Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner along the way – and followed that up with the final in Barcelona and the quarter-final in Rome.
He has hit form with perfect timing. After a tight first set, he started to play with freedom and confidence in the first round here, too. Altmaier, on the other hand, won only his fourth match on the red stuff this year on Sunday. If Tsitsipas starts to pick up momentum, keep your eyes on him: the 2021 finalist here could be on another roll.
Court Suzanne-Lenglen, third match, Andrey Rublev vs Pedro Martinez
If only Rublev had a Plan B. The extremely likeable world No.6 is a great player to watch: he absolutely clatters the ball when he gets the chance and, more often than not, that is enough to beat his rival. But when he starts missing his targets, he has nothing to fall back on and, as Albert Einstein said, the definition of insanity it doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Yet when those thundering shots do go in, Rublev can be untouchable. He won the title in Madrid at the start of the month, beating Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals. It was, he thought, the most special of his 16 career trophies. But at the Grand Slams, he is yet to go beyond the quarter-final stage: 10 times he has reached the last eight and lost.
Court Suzanne-Lenglen, fourth match: Coco Gauff vs Tamara Zidansek
It does not seem possible that Gauff is still only 20. The reigning US Open champion and 2022 Roland-Garros finalist seems to have been hitting the headlines for years. She was only 14 when she first stepped into the spotlight here by winning the junior title; four years later, she was in the senior final. She was in floods of tears when she lost to Iga Swiatek that day but now that she has her first major title under her belt, her aim is simple: to win as many Grand slams as possible, just like her idol Serena Williams.
Firmly established as the world No.3, she raced through her opening match in 52 minutes and should be far too strong for Zidansek, a qualifier, today.
ROLAND-GARROS
19 May - 8 June 2025
