The French Open is not the only sports event in Europe drawing attention from tennis players: The Champions League final would decide the continent’s best soccer club, and one of the two teams involved last night was Paris Saint-Germain, whose stadium is a couple of blocks from Roland-Garros.
Count Novak Djokovic among those rooting for PSG against Italy’s Inter, and he hoped to be able to tune in on TV to watch the big clash that was to be held in Munich, Germany. So Djokovic made that preference known to the people in charge of arranging the program at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament he has won three times — a common practice, especially among the sport’s elite.
They often ask to be scheduled at a certain time. Or to avoid a certain time.
Photo: Reuters
“I will definitely watch it if I’m not playing [in the] night session. Yeah, that will be nice,” Djokovic said with a big smile. “FYI, Roland-Garros schedule.”
Hint, hint. Except his plea went unheeded: When yesterday’s order of play was released on Friday, 24-time major champion Djokovic’s third-round match against Filip Misolic was the one picked for under the lights at Court Philippe-Chatrier due to begin at 8:15pm last night, 45 minutes before Inter play PSG.
Others who begged off from competing at that hour got their wish. Although one, Arthur Fils, the 14th-seeded Frenchman who grew up near Paris and is a big PSG fan, wound up pulling out of the tournament because of a back injury after being placed in an afternoon match against No. 17 Andrey Rublev.
“We have many requests from players” every day, tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said. “There’s no fixed rule. We try to accommodate everyone as much as possible. That includes requests from players, broadcasters and spectators. ... It’s a real puzzle, I won’t lie.”
Coco Gauff said she does not often ask for a certain time slot, but when she does, it is usually related to competing in singles and doubles on the same day (she won the French Open doubles last year, but is not playing doubles this time).
The 2023 US Open champion, who is currently No. 2 in singles, has noticed that events tend to listen more to elite players than others.
“If you’re ranked a little bit higher, they’ll hear more of your input, for sure,” Gauff said. “To be honest, I think it’s rightfully deserved. I feel like if you do well on tour, win so many tournaments, you should have a little bit more priority when it comes to that.”
Except even the very best of the best do not always have success with these sorts of things.
Madison Keys, who was the US Open runner-up in 2017 and won the Australian Open in January, knows what it is like to be ignored.
“Sometimes the request goes [in], they write it down, and they say, ‘OK,’” but then they do not do anything about it, Keys said.
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
Alex Michelsen on Thursday rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 upset victory over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the men’s singles, converting his seventh match point to reach the fourth round of the Canadian Open. Michelsen reached the last 16 of a Masters 1000 for the first time with his second win over a top-10 player in eight attempts. The 20-year-old American survived nearly 50 unforced errors and converted just two of nine break chances, but it was enough to vanquish Italy’s Musetti, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist ranked 10th in the world. “It feels really good,” the 26th-ranked Michelsen said. “I’ve put