Context-free soundbite: “Andre is not in the attention business.”

Still nursing a Roland Garros hangover? Andy, JW and Producer Mike have your hair of the dog. Served’s recap dives deep on the tournament’s big themes, JW’s scoop on stuff we didn’t see on TV and Andy’s thoughts on Serena’s return.

Also, can we interest you in an exclusive Rafael Nadal interview? Details and a sneak peek at the end of the episode.

📝 Back to our regular programming this week.

• Love All on Wednesday

• Q&Andy on Thursday

• 5 Setter on Friday

Bracket Challenge Recap

Nearly 5,000 Chuckers entered this year’s contest. Congratulations to our winners! Check your email for prize information.

Bonus Points Hitters

Five points separated No. 1 and No. 2 in the overall contest. The following bonus points were the smartest plays.

• ATP seed differential: João Fonseca [28], 25 points for beating Novak Djokovic [3] and 13 points for beating Casper Ruud [15], on top of the 70 regular points from those rounds

• WTA seed differential: Marta Kostyuk [15], 12 points for beating Iga Swiatek [3] and 8 points for beating Elina Svitolina [7], on top of the 100 regular points from those rounds

• WTA unseeded upsets: Sierra Solana, 20 points for beating struggling Jasmine Paolini [13] in Round 2, and Diana Snigur, 10 points for beating injured Clara Tauson [21] in Round 1

Wimbledon Bracket Challenge Starts in 17 Days!

The next Bracket Challenge opens on Friday, June 26. You can create or test your login at any time. Reach out as soon as possible if you can’t log in.

Go to the Served Bracket Challenge

Quick Hits

• Polish Airlines (LOT) changed Maja Chwalinska’s homecoming flight number to LOTMAJA.

• Alex Eala and Yunchaokete Bu won the WTA 125 and ATP Challenger grass tournaments in Birmingham, U.K., last week.

• Good to see Zeynep Sonmez on court in ’s-Hertogenbosch this week after the accident with the signage boxes at Roland Garros. ICYMI, she needed stitches.

• Jannik Sinner went to a hospital in Milan for tests on the issue he struggled with in Paris. Italy’s Ansa news agency was on the scene.

• Serena Williams and Victoria Mboko play their first-round doubles match in London today (Tuesday, June 9), not before 7:30 p.m. local time/12:30 p.m. ET in the U.S.

• Roger Federer will play an exhibition at the US Open on August 25. Andre Agassi, John McEnroe and some podcast host will join him. (ESPN)

• “Courtsidecore” is a summer fashion trend. Polo era loading. (@HardCourt)

• Relive Roland Garros, red zone–style. Here are all 20 championship points.

Tournaments in Progress

ATP 250 Boss Open

• Stuttgart, Germany

• Grass

• Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Alexander Bublik

ATP 250 Libema Open

• ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

• Grass

• Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex de Minaur, Daniil Medvedev

WTA 500 HSBC Championships (Queen’s Club)

• London, U.K.

• Grass

• Elena Rybakina, Amanda Anisimova, Victoria Mboko

WTA 250 Libema Open

• ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

• Grass

• Elise Mertens, Anastasia Potapova, Emma Navarro

📺 ATP and WTA broadcasters

Catch up on Q&Andy and Love All

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Don’t Miss a Second of Served

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Chat with Chuckers on Reddit.

The Served team collectively spent 680,000 hours watching Roland Garros and the digital coverage over the last three weeks. That’s an unscientific number, but it feels about right. Here are the moments we’ll remember most.

Flower Power (Producer Ella)

Flavio Cobolli stopping mid-match in the final to eat a flower.

Magic Maya (Newsletter Megan)

Maja Chwalinska’s run. If she didn’t steal the show from Mirra Andreeva in the end, she shared it with such natural charm. I loved her moment at the TNT desk with Agassi. She was star-struck, and when he gushed about her game, she said playfully, “Andre! Stop!” She handled the competition, the attention and the occasion amazingly well.

Senta a Púa! (Social Emmy)

The 19-year-old star João Fonseca coming back from two sets down to take the victory over the one and only Novak Djokovic in the third round. The Brazilian crowd cheering on Fonseca created a truly dopamine-inducing atmosphere. South American players are definitely the ones to watch in the upcoming years.

Doing It for the Kids (Social Sophie)

After Matteo Arnaldi’s semifinal withdrawal, Flavio Cobolli practicing on Philippe Chatrier and finding himself with an open spot on court. So he did the logical thing: pulled a fan out of the stands for a few rallies, turning a canceled match into one of the most wholesome moments of the tournament.

Viva l’Italia (Marissa)

The other Italian players stepping up in the wake of Jannik Sinner’s early exit. As encouraging as it was to see Matteo Berrettini back in form, it was equally exciting to see the younger Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi make deep runs. If the USWNT has Triple Espresso, what can we call this trio?

Down But Not Out (Newsletter Megan Again)

Felix Auger-Aliassime tripping into the shot of the tournament.

Context-free soundbite: “I didn’t think we’d end this with Chumbawamba.”

In the offseason, Alexander Zverev called Andy to discuss his quest to win a Slam. Andy shares where Zverev’s head was at seven months ago, and how he got from that point to achieving his dream today.

If you hate the end of a Slam as much as we do, hang on until Tuesday. We’ll be back with our recap show, then return to our regular programming.

In the meantime, check out the men’s final recap episode, our bonus coverage below and our final poll of Roland Garros.

Women’s Doubles Recap

Katerina Siniakova/Taylor Townsend def. Anna Danilina/Aleksandra Krunic 6-2, 7-5

The No. 1 seeds captured their first Roland Garros title together and their third Slam as a team by overpowering the No. 2 seeds. After winning the Sunshine Double and Madrid, Siniakova and Townsend have solidified their spot atop the mountain and are putting together a historic season. This is Siniakova’s 11th women’s doubles major with three different partners. It’s Townsend’s third major.

All of the No. 1 seeds triumphed in the six doubles events, including wheelchair divisions.

Perfect Delivery: Buzz Worthy

Alexander Zverev caught himself repeating answers in his post-match press conference and made a confession.

🎤 Alexander Zverev

“To be honest, I’m a little bit drunk already.”

No one asked the follow-up question: On what? Champagne? Beer? Ace Royals? We’ll have to wait for his June photo dump to find out.

Zverev offered up another revelation. He credited his fourth-set cramps for his win. Brought on by stress, not fatigue, he said the cramps distracted him and allowed him to play freely in the fifth set, which he called his best level of the match.

Bracket Challenge Update

Here are the final winners of the Served Roland Garros Bracket Challenge:

• Overall: Jackthesnack21

• ATP: Am99

• WTA: Niamhfelicity and Fruit_vendor (tie)

The Roland Garros results are part of the Served Calendar Slam contest, which covers all four Slams this year. Those leaders are:

• Overall: Mattdahlin99

• ATP: Mattdahlin99

• WTA: Teddybear

With Zverev’s win, Techy Sean beat Andy in the ATP draw by 45 points. We’ll discuss the Served team’s full results in Tuesday’s recap show.

See the Full Leaderboard

30 years

Time since a German man has won a major (Boris Becker, 1996 Australian Open)

Alexander Zverev ended a long dry spell for men’s tennis champions in Germany. While Steffi Graf and Angelique Kerber brought home championships after Becker’s last major, the men, namely Tommy Haas, fell a little short. Zverev is also the first German man to win Roland Garros in the Open Era.

Watch Andy’s reaction to the drought.

Tiebreak Trivia

Day 14 answer: There are 26 singles majors in the picture below: 20 for Roger Federer, five for Martina Hingis and one for Gabriela Sabatini.

Quick Hits

• Tatjana Maria qualified for Queen’s Club after the tournament denied her—the defending champion—a wild card. It didn’t go over well. She won last year as a 37-year-old qualifier. If there were ever a sentimental favorite for a title... (The Telegraph)

• Roland Garros photographers chose their favorite photos. Picking your favorite will seem impossible.

• Our Slam tradition for decades: reading JW’s 50 Parting Thoughts for Sports Illustrated.

• Serena Williams plays at Queen’s Club on Tuesday. Here’s her first press conference.

• The end of the fortnight has us like ⬇️

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

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Don’t Miss a Second of Served

Connect with us on socials.

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Submit a question for Q&Andy.

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Chat with Chuckers on Reddit.

Context-free soundbite: “I would have gotten that [trivia question] if I weren’t hungover.”

Fresh off watching the women’s final, Andy and Producer Mike discuss Mirra Andreeva’s dominant coming-of-age performance at Roland Garros and why she feels like a future world No. 1. Also, what’s next for Maja Chwalinska and a men’s final preview.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Tokito Oda Halfway to a Grand Slam

The most dominant tennis player in the world is world No. 1 wheelchair player Tokito Oda. He’s now halfway to a Grand Slam this year.

Oda won his fourth consecutive Roland Garros title today over No. 2 Alfie Hewett 6-3, 6-3. It’s his fifth consecutive Slam, including the Australian Open this year. At 20, he would be the youngest to ever win the Grand Slam if he can defend his titles at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Oda has nine majors overall. He thinks he has a few more in him—at least 11 at Roland Garros alone.

🎤 Tokito Oda

“I want to work hard aiming to pass Nadal.”

Read Roland Garros’s full recap.

Niels Vink Completes the Quad Quad

Niels Vink won the men’s quad wheelchair title today, making it four majors in a row for the Dutchman. Whenever a player holds four majors at once but not in the calendar year, we give it a nickname, like the Serena Slam or the Djoko Slam. We’re calling this one the Quad Quad.

Men’s Doubles Champs Repeat

Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos [1] def. Harri Heliovaara/Henry Patten [2] 6-4, 6-2

The No. 1–ranked team in the world proved why by defending their Roland Garros title from 2025, the first team to repeat in six years. Dispatching the No. 2–ranked team in the world 4 and 2 is impressive in men’s doubles, given the dominance of the serve. That’s where Granollers and Zeballos took control of the match, serving 83% to their opponents’ 23%. They also hit 23 winners to only six errors.

So far, all of the No. 1 seeds in the doubles events, including mixed and wheelchair divisions, have won the title. Tomorrow, Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend will try to make it six-for-six when they take on the No. 2 seeds, Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic. Both teams are going for their first Roland Garros title together.

Perfect Delivery: Fast Forward

Mirra Andreeva proved just as smooth with the mic as she was with a racket today. Not only did she cap off her first Slam speech with a sparkling rendition of her “I’d like to thank myself” routine, but she also had the perfect touch with the driest part of the ceremony—rattling off the names of people in her box that no one recognizes.

🎤 Mirra Andreeva

“I’m not going to thank every one of you because I think that’s too much.”

Maja Chwalinska nailed her runner-up speech with grace, charm and humor. Pretty impressive for a player who has never been given the mic in front of 15,000 people before. This was Chwalinska’s first Tour-level final at any level!

🎤 Maja Chwalinska

“Congrats to Mirra. You’re such an incredible player. You’re so young and talented, it’s so annoying.”

“I wish you could see a better match today, but Mirra was just too good for me, so I guess it’s her fault. I tried my best. I’m sorry.”

Bracket Challenge Update

We have winners!

Congratulations to our overall winner, Jackthesnack21, who overtook the top spot today with Andreeva’s win, which he predicted.

Also, well done to Niamhfelicity, the winner of the WTA Bracket Challenge, who also predicted Andreeva as the women’s champion. Niamhfelicity predicted six quarterfinalists and two semifinalists, which was key to the win.

Stay tuned for the Served team’s final results. Will Techy Sean overtake Andy in the ATP Bracket if Alexander Zverev wins? Would that be the upset of the whole tournament?

See the Full Leaderboard

19 years, 40 days

Mirra Andreeva’s age, becoming the third-youngest Slam winner this century

Andreeva is also the youngest Roland Garros champion since Monica Seles 34 years ago—to the day. (h/t Randy Walker)

Who were the two younger teenage champions in the 2000s? See if you can guess better than Andy did, and check out the Stat of the Day clip in the episode for the answer.

Jump to Stat of the Day

Tiebreak Trivia

How many major singles titles are in this picture?

💡 The answer will be in Day 15’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 13 answer: Rafael Nadal won 90 matches in straight sets at Roland Garros, 80% of his 112 total victories.

Quick Hits

• ICYMI: Aryna Sabalenka wore garnet-and-diamond jewelry at Roland Garros to represent the clay. She took Coco Chanel’s famous advice and left one strand of the three-piece necklace in her bag. Wimbledon has reportedly approved her jewelry. (Heavy.com)

• JW’s women’s final recap in Sports Illustrated.

• Best job at Roland Garros? Dog concierge. (The Athletic)

• Serena Williams will play doubles in Berlin, beginning June 15. Partner TBD.

• Luis Guto Miguel won the boys’ title, becoming the first Brazilian to do so. (Tennis.com)

• Alisa Oktiabreva won the girls’ title, her first junior tournament in three years.

• Mirra, Mirra on the wall ⬇️

🍿 Day 15 Matches

• Men’s final: Alexander Zverev [2] vs. Flavio Cobolli [10]

• Women’s doubles final: Katerina Siniakova/Taylor Townsend [1] vs. Anna Danilina/Aleksandra Krunic [2]

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Watch today's Quick Served on YouTube

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

Subscribe to Served's YouTube Channel

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Don’t Miss a Second of Served

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Andy and Producer Mike discuss Alexander Zverev’s dominant semifinal win over Jakub Menšík, Matteo Arnaldi’s heartbreaking withdrawal due to illness, what it means for Flavio Cobolli and a quick look at the women’s final.

Also, what Andy thinks about Andre Agassi’s raw take on Jannik Sinner’s loss.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Men’s Semis Recap

Alexander Zverev [3] def. Jakub Menšík [26] 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2

Patrick McEnroe described Zverev’s win perfectly as “efficient, professional and relentless.” Zverev showed no signs of feeling pressure, and after blinking in the third set, he opened the fourth with a break and never looked back.

• 15 forehand winners for Zverev, 4 for Menšík

• Zverev served 75%

• Zverev had a large edge in shorter points, winning 64-to-47 points of 1–4 shots

• Zverev had reached the final without facing a Top 25 opponent

🎤 Alexander Zverev on what he feels when walking out for a match

“Pure emptiness. We are athletes. Very few of us have anything in our heads. Sometimes it’s easier to be stupid than to think too much.”

Flavio Cobolli [10] def. Matteo Arnaldi by walkover

Arnaldi withdrew from the second semifinal before it began, citing a viral illness. The last player to advance to a major final by walkover was Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon in 2022, after Rafael Nadal withdrew with an injury.

Cobolli will play Zverev in Sunday’s final. They split their two meetings on clay this year before Roland Garros, with Cobolli winning in Munich and Zverev in Madrid. Both matches were straight sets.

🎤 Matteo Arnaldi

“I woke up at 1 a.m. and started vomiting. I couldn’t sleep at all. At 6, 7 a.m., I vomited again. We called the doctor to the room, he gave me some stuff. I was hoping it was something from dinner, but throughout the day, I couldn’t eat [without getting sick]. It’s tough. For how the tournament was, how many hours I spent on court, I was feeling actually pretty good. [But] every time I get up, I feel dizzy. Having to withdraw from my first semifinal is not something I would wish on anybody.”

🎤 Flavio Cobolli

“I almost cried. I was completely sad for him. But I’m really happy for the result I’ve had this week.”

Cobolli practiced on Philippe Chatrier in the afternoon and made one fan’s year.

Dream Doubles Finals on Tap

The men’s and women’s doubles finals both feature No. 1 versus No. 2. For the previews, we turned to Hanlon Walsh of Tennis Tribe, which covers ATP and WTA doubles.

Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos [1] vs. Harri Heliovaara/Henry Patten [2] — Saturday

This has been one of the most dominant Slam runs we’ve seen from the top men’s doubles teams in quite some time. In a post–Bryan brothers era that’s still looking for its next defining rivalry and household names, it’s refreshing to see the top two seeds show us why they’re the two best teams in men’s doubles right now.

Granollers and Zeballos have quietly become the gold standard for consistency, loyalty and longevity. They’ve been together for nearly a decade, weathered the ups and downs of the doubles tour and are still contending for the sport’s biggest doubles titles at age 40 and 41, respectively.

• It’s the first time the top two seeds have squared off in the Roland Garros final since 2012, when Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor beat the Bryan brothers.

• Both teams advanced to the finals without dropping a set.

• Heliovaara and Patten haven’t had to play a tiebreak yet or been pushed beyond a 6-4 set. With men’s doubles being incredibly serve-dominant with razor-thin margins, this is an incredibly impressive feat.

• Granollers and Zeballos started their partnership 0–3 in Slam finals before reversing their fortunes last year, winning Roland Garros and the US Open. A title in Paris would be their third of the last five men’s doubles majors.

Katerina Siniakova/Taylor Townsend [1] vs Aleksandra Krunic/Anna Danilina [2] — Sunday

Siniakova and Townsend are putting together the kind of season that could end up on the short list of all-time great doubles campaigns if they keep it up. They won the Sunshine Double and then Madrid. At the Australian Open, they lost in the quarterfinal to Krunic and Danilina, who finished as runners-up.

It’s hard to think of a team this dominant since, well, Siniakova’s partnership with Barbora Krejcikova, and before that, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s 41-match win streak in 2015–2016. The wild part is that Siniakova’s place among the doubles greats is still growing. A title in Paris would be her 11th women’s doubles major, putting her within striking distance of Hingis’s 13 Slams and the Williams sisters’ 14.

• Townsend is 28–2 in 2026 with 4 titles: three Masters 1000s with Siniakova and the ATX Open with Storm Hunter. She’s competing for her first Roland Garros title.

• Danilina and Krunic were finalists here last year and are 0–2 in major finals together, also making the AO final earlier this year. Danilina herself is 0–3 in major finals.

• Both teams are Top 2 in 2026 WTA Finals race.

No. 1 Seed Sweep in Play

If both No. 1 seeds win, they would make it 6-for-6 for No. 1 seeds in the doubles championships at Roland Garros this year.

• Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori won the mixed doubles

• Alfie Hewett/Gordon Reid won the men’s wheelchair doubles, their seventh consecutive title here

• Yui Kamiji/Zhu Zhenzhen won the women’s wheelchair doubles

• Niels Vink/Guy Sasson won the quad wheelchair doubles, a mixed-gender event

Perfect Delivery: Blame Game

Andre Agassi joined the TNT Sports desk for the semifinals and needed just three hours to come up with a zinger. Here he is after the Zverev–Menšík match, for which Menšík brought in a mental coach.

🎤 Andre Agassi

“If I was Menšík and I flew my mental coach in first class, he’s going back coach. Or make him walk back.”

Agassi noted that every time Menšík had Zverev under pressure, he let him off the hook. In the first set, Zverev served at 3-4, 15-40, and Menšík laid off his forehand, Agassi said. After Menšík won the third set, he dropped serve right away in the fourth.

Agassi didn’t understand why Menšík did something drastically different with the mental coach at the end of a tournament. The only person you fly in for support at that point, he said, is your mom.

Bracket Challenge Update

Congratulations to Am99, the winner of our ATP Bracket Challenge! There are still 100 points left for the final, but no one within 100 points of Am99 picked Cobolli or Zverev to win the title and therefore cannot overtake the No. 1 position.

The women’s draw and overall winner are still up for grabs and will come down to the winner of the women’s final.

Also: Will Techy Sean beat Andy in the men’s draw by picking Zverev to win it all? Stay tuned!

See the Full Leaderboard

17 hours, 42 minutes

Matteo Arnaldi’s time on court through four rounds, an all-time record for a major quarterfinalist

Arnaldi’s first four matches lasted nearly two hours longer than any other major quarterfinalist’s in history. He spent another two hours on court during his quarterfinal against Matteo Berrettini, who retired with a hip injury.

Arnaldi’s longest match of the tournament was his fourth-round win over Frances Tiafoe at 5 hours, 36 minutes. Arnaldi came back from two sets to one and 4-1 down in the fourth set to win 7-6, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. He also had a 4 hour, 58 minute fourth-round win over Raphael Collignon, 7-6 in the fifth.

For comparison, Arnaldi spent more time on court in his four matches than either finalist has through six.

• Sascha Zverev: 14 hours, 43 minutes

• Flavio Cobolli: 15 hours, 23 minutes

Still, Arnaldi didn’t play the longest match of the tournament. That was Juan Manuel Cerundolo and Martin Landaluce’s third-round match, which lasted 5 hours, 58 minutes.

Tiebreak Trivia

Rafael Nadal won 112 matches at Roland Garros. How many did he win in straight sets?

💡 The answer will be in Day 14’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 12 answer: Agnieszka Radwanska was the first Polish woman to reach a major final in the Open Era (2012 Wimbledon, lost to Serena Williams).

Quick Hits

• Venus Williams has picked Maja Chwalinska to win the women’s title. In her own words.

• Guga and Gabriela. One for the OG fans.

• Andre Agassi took issue with TNT’s Adam Lefkoe calling John McEnroe the greatest American tennis player. Guess who he defended?

• Sara Errani played her 20th Roland Garros this year. She took home more than the mixed doubles trophy.

• The Onion always does tennis well. This time it’s Serena’s comeback.

• Still surreal ⬇️

🍿 Day 14 Matches

• Women’s final: Mirra Andreeva [8] vs. Maja Chwalinska

• Men’s doubles final: Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos [1] vs. Harri Heliovaara/Henry Patten [2]

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Watch Today's Quick Served on YouTube

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

Subscribe to Served's YouTube Channel

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Don’t Miss a Second of Served

Connect with us on socials.

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Chat with Chuckers on Reddit.

Context-free soundbite: “Soap opera actress syndrome is going to be hot.”

Coming to you from the U.S. premiere of Netflix’s Rafa documentary, Andy breaks down Maja Chwalinska’s game and what impressed him the most in her semifinal today, plus why Mirra Andreeva’s game is more windproof than most.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Chwalinska’s Wimbledon Question

Maja Chwalinska’s ranking will jump to No. 14 if she wins Roland Garros and to No. 21 if she doesn’t. Either way, she will be high enough for a seeding at Wimbledon in three weeks.

If she gets in.

The entry list has already been made, and at the time of the cutoff, the 24-year-old wasn’t ranked high enough to make the main draw. She is on the entry list for the qualifying rounds instead.

Chwalinska will need a wild card to get into the main draw. The tournament usually announces wild cards in mid-June.

Wimbledon’s eight women’s wild cards are usually given to British players. A certain 23-time major champion is potentially on the short list for one. But Serena isn’t the only relevant name in Chwalinska’s wild-card watch. The other one is Lois Boisson.

Boisson, from France, made a Cinderella run to the Roland Garros semifinal last year. Ranked No. 361, she entered on a wild card and beat Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva before losing the semifinal to Coco Gauff. She was ranked No. 66 by Wimbledon—and somewhat controversially, she did not receive a wild card. She lost in the first round of qualifying.

Chwalinska is in a similar situation. Of course, playing the qualies worked out pretty well for her in Roland Garros.

There’s more to it when it comes to the politics of wild cards. Andy explains the other nuances in today’s episode.

Jump to Andy's wild card explanation

Bracket Challenge Update

We’re getting close to a winner in the WTA bracket. If Andreeva wins, Niamhfelicity and Fruit_Vendor will tie for first. If Chwalinska wins, Sharapova26 will be the standalone winner.

Chwalinska would have been worth 80 bonus points for an unseeded upset—but only if you had picked her to reach the final in your original bracket. Which no one did.

2

Number of qualifiers to reach a major final in the Open Era

Maja Chwalinska has equaled Emma Raducanu’s feat of blazing to the US Open final as a qualifier, something many, including Andy, thought we would never see again.

Jump to the Stat of the Day

Tiebreak Trivia

Maja Chwalinska is the third Polish woman to reach a major final in the Open Era. Besides Iga Swiatek, who is the other?

💡 The answer will be in Day 13’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 10 answer: Carlos Alcaraz, Karen Khachanov and Frances Tiafoe were the first-time semifinalists at the 2022 US Open, the last time a trio has accomplished it at the same major. This year at Roland Garros, Flavio Cobolli, Jakub Menšík and Matteo Arnaldi have all made their first major semifinal.

Quick Hits

• The first championship speech of the tournament was adorable. Sara

  Errani and Andrea Vavassori defended their mixed doubles title, and we stan their partnership.

• Carolina Garcia didn’t want a ceremony last year when she played her final Roland Garros match. They threw her one today. Merci, Caroline.

• Maja Chwalinska is currently unsponsored. Is that likely to change soon? (h/t Hard Court)

• Flavio Cobolli has been using Rafael Nadal’s lucky shower. ⬇️

🍿 Day 13 Matches

• Men’s semifinal: Alexander Zverev [3] vs. Jakub Menšík

• Men’s semifinal: Flavio Cobolli [10] vs. Matteo Arnaldi

• Women’s doubles semifinal: Katerina Siniakova/Taylor Townsend [1] vs Gabriela Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani [4]

• Women’s doubles semifinal: Anna Danilina/Aleksandra Krunic [2] vs. Shuko Aoyama/Liang En-shuo

• Men’s doubles semifinal: Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos [1] vs. Simone Bolelli/Andrea Vavassori [5]

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

Subscribe to Served's YouTube Channel

Subscribe to Love All's YouTube Channel

Don’t Miss a Second of Served

Connect with us on socials.

Check out the Served Merch Shop.

Subscribe to our YouTube page.

Submit a question for Q&Andy.

Join our Substack community.

Chat with Chuckers on Reddit.

Context-free soundbite: “It’s like a Stockton–Malone pick and roll.”

Another day of chaos at Roland Garros gives Andy and Producer Mike a lot to process, starting with Aryna Sabalenka’s collapse. Plus: what Diana Shnaider did right to beat her, how Maja Chwalinska’s life is going to change and why Flavio Cobolli is winning with his “little pop forehand.”

There’s also a substantial and serious discussion about Producer Mike’s looming backflip. We need your input.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

No. 1 and Done

Jannik Sinner [1] and Aryna Sabalenka [1] met the same astonishing fate at Roland Garros. Both were a game away from moving on in routine fashion and continuing their tournaments as the heavy favorite when the wheels completely came off.

Today, Sabalenka served for the match against Diana Shnaider [25] at a set and 5-4 (after also leading 4-1) and didn’t win another game. In her press conference, she said she couldn’t remember the last time she lost 10 games in a row.

Sabalenka chalked it up to a recurring emotional problem she still needs to solve.

“So tired of losing matches not in the best way, just because I was over emotional.”

Asked whether the open draw made it tougher to accept the loss, she found some dark humor.

“I don’t like easy wins, you know? For me, it’s about suffer, overcome and get it done. But also, how can you say it like that? Marta’s in great shape, Mirra is playing great tennis. Maja is also playing great. Maybe I had the least chance!”

Andy takes the measure of her performance and breaks down the games of Shnaider and Maja Chwalinska to explain how they set up the most unlikely major semifinal in years.

Berrettini Retires With Hip Injury

The Matteo Bowl—Arnaldi versus Berrettini for a spot in the Roland Garros semifinal—ended sadly when Berrettini retired with a hip injury.

Berrettini’s run has been one of the great stories of the tournament. The 30-year-old Italian has had too many injuries to count in his career and hasn’t played Roland Garros in five years. After a medical timeout, he decided to stop and hope he hadn’t done serious damage.

Matteo Berrettini

“It was really hard because I thought it wasn’t the right thing, but mostly because I’ve done it many times and I’m tired of retiring, you know? I didn’t want the tournament to end like this.

I have to take the good stuff that I did in this tournament, because a few weeks ago, a few days ago, it would have been crazy to think about me in the quarterfinals. So I’ll try to go back home with a smile on my face. Of course, I’m disappointed, I’m sad, but I’m also proud of how I fought through this tournament.

We have to give Matteo the respect. In order to beat him tonight, I had to be at 100%.”

Berrettini will hope to be ready for grass, his best surface. He told Served last year in Cincinnati that coming back from injury is his “superpower” and he knows how to manage the timing.

Italians Make History

Arnaldi, ranked No. 104, will play Flavio Cobolli [10] for a spot in the men’s final. It’s the first time two Italian men will face off in a major semifinal. In the video above, Berrettini explains where the spark came from to inspire the generation of Italian players that has taken this tournament by storm.

• Arnaldi set the record for the most time spent on court to make the quarterfinal of a major—17 hours, 42 minutes through four rounds.

Bracket Challenge Update

This isn’t over! Currently, the top two brackets have Sabalenka or Gauff winning. A bracket with Andreeva or Kostyuk winning could come from behind and steal the top spot.

Today’s bonus points, if you originally had these players making the semis:

• Flavio Cobolli, 6 points for seed differential

• Diana Shnaider, 24 points for seed differential

Perfect Delivery: Short Answer

It wasn’t what Diane Shnaider [25] said in her on-court interview after beating Aryna Sabalenka, but how she said it: into a microphone that looked to be set up for her opponent, who is 5 inches taller than her. Props for adjusting, just like she did to win the match—and become just the fourth player to drop a bagel on a world No. 1 in the deciding set at a major. Mic drop.

$875,000

Maja Chwalinksa’s prize money for reaching the semifinals

The 24-year-old from Poland has doubled her career prize money by reaching the semifinals. Ranked No. 114, she has never been beyond the second round of a major before or been ranked inside the top 100.

Chwalinksa has been in Paris since the qualifying rounds started more than two weeks ago. She needed help paying her hotel bill before her prize money makes it to her bank account. Oshee, a Polish sports drink, came to the rescue.

How to Blow $875,000 in Paris

Chwalinska can afford a lot more than her hotel bill now. Here’s what her check could buy in the City of Light.

• 16 nights at the Hôtel de Crillon’s famous Les Grand Appartements suite, complete with a champagne trolley and hidden dressing rooms

• 11 Dior couture dresses

• 67 Chanel “Maxi Classic” handbags

• 90 Louis Vuitton monogrammed rolling trunks

• 875 magnums of Dom Pérignon

Jump to the Stat of the Day

Tiebreak Trivia

Jakub Menšík, Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi have reached their first major semifinal this year at Roland Garros. The last Slam to feature three rookie male semifinalists was the 2022 US Open. Who were they?

💡 The answer will be in Day 12’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 10 answer: Andre Agassi played in both of the youngest men’s quarterfinals at Roland Garros, in 1988 (vs. Guillermo Perez Roldan, combined age 36) and 1990 (vs. Michael Chang, combined age 38). Menšík and João Fonseca were the fifth-youngest pairing at 39 years old.

Quick Hits

• Quad wheelchair player Niels Vink is going for his fourth major in a row, aka the Quad Quad.

• Wimbledon is getting ahead of any prize-money protests. The latest from The Guardian.

• Fans think they spotted Jannik Sinner on his Vespa in Monte Carlo this week. The helmet is a dead giveaway.

• At this point, Jakub Menšík should always carry pickle juice.

• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: “No one feels like the favorite.”

• Felix Auger-Aliassime tripped and still hit the shot of the tournament.

• Moise Kouame sighting! ⬇️

🍿 Day 11 Matches

• Women’s semifinal: Mirra Andreeva [8] vs. Marta Kostyuk [15]

• Women’s semifinal: Diana Shnaider [25] vs. Maja Chwalinska

• Men’s doubles semifinal: Harri Heliovaara/Henry Patten [2] vs. Pierre-Hughes Herbert/Quentin Halys

• Mixed doubles final: Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori [1] vs. Gabriela Dabrowski/Evan King

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

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Context-free soundbite: “Because we [only] tune in when he’s getting stretchered off the court, I’m an asshole.”

We’re guilty of denying Jakub Menšík his full due by focusing on the hype and excitement around João Fonseca and Rafael Jodar lately. Bygones, Jakub? Andy makes up for it with today’s review of the 20-year-old’s statement win over Fonseca. Plus: women’s recaps and picks for tomorrow.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Mirra and Marta, the Rematch

Mirra Andreeva [8] and Marta Kostyuk [15] booked a rematch of their Madrid final a month ago. Kostyuk won it 6-3, 7-5. She also won a smaller title the week before, and she is on a run of 17 straight clay-court wins with no losses.

After Madrid, she came on Served and talked about the good vibes she had when she arrived in Paris.

Kostyuk found another gear in the third set of her win over Elina Svitolina [7] in the quarterfinal today. She won 13 of the last 14 points, and nine were winners. If she can produce the same level of offense versus Andreeva, the match should be on her racket.

But Kostyuk had a letdown in the middle of the match, allowing Svitolina to get back into the match in the second set. Andreeva might not let her get away with a lapse like that. She has been clinical in her five wins and dismantled Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-3 in just 56 minutes.

With both playing for their first major final, nerves will be a factor. Andreeva has been in a major semifinal before (here in 2024) and is 17–3 on the Paris clay. Kostyuk will play her first major semi, but she is four years older and wiser than Andreeva and has the Madrid win in her favor.

Kostyuk, Andreeva and Svitolina have been the best players throughout the clay season. Kostyuk’s quarterfinal match was an important test to pass. But Andreeva really wants that semifinal jewelry.

🎤 Mirra Andreeva

“I feel like [the pins are] a very nice addition to the tournament, because that’s what kind of keeps me motivated, because I want to get more pins.”

Bracket Challenge Update

Andy’s men’s draw is keeping him in the lead at Served, but his hopes for a top finish disappeared with Iga Swiatek, his pick to win the women’s title. The women’s draw will likely determine the winner because there was no consensus on the champion, so some will score with the semifinalists and winners and others won’t. In the men’s contest, the majority of Chuckers have similar brackets for the remaining rounds. Those who picked Zverev to win the title (ahem, Techy Sean) could still see a significant bump.

Big bonus points are out of play unless you had Berrettini, Arnaldi or Chwalinska making the quarters or semis.

Today’s bonus points:

• Marta Kostyuk, 8 points for seed differential

Perfect Delivery: Dirty Words

Felix Auger-Aliassime is running out of patience with the conventional wisdom that he is out of his element at Roland Garros. A reporter asked him about it in his last press conference.

🎤 Felix Auger-Aliassime

“Maybe if I win the tournament, I will make it clear to everyone: I don’t mind the clay. I just don’t mind it.”

The first-time quarterfinalist followed up with a story that he hopes will put the misguided theory to rest.

“When I was 18, my coaches thought I should go and play in South America, because I was better on clay. So I went to Rio, Buenos Aires and São Paulo. In the summer, I skipped the grass to play on clay. I don’t mind the clay, and I didn’t get Toni [Nadal, his former coach] to play better on clay [but] just to learn from somebody who has been at the highest level in tennis.”

Sold. ClayFA it is.

16

Number of Mirra Andreev's wins at Roland Garros, the most ever for a teenager this century

Andreeva passed Coco Gauff for the most Ws on the Paris clay with her win today over Sorana Cirstea, matching her run to the semifinals in 2024.

Listen to Andy’s take on Andreeva’s prodigious talent.

Watch: Stat of the Day on YouTube

Tiebreak Trivia

Jakub Menšík and João Fonseca were the fifth-youngest quarterfinal pairing in Roland Garros history. Which American former champ was part of the two youngest pairings?

💡 The answer will be in Day 11’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 9 answer: Martina Navratilova holds the record for the oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in the Open Era. She was 47 when she won her first-round match at Wimbledon in 2004.

Quick Hits

• JW interviewed Sascha Bajin, Serena Williams’s ex-coach, about her comeback for Sports Illustrated. Keywords: “bored” and “sore.”

• It’s time for Andre Agassi and Venus Williams to join the TNT coverage. Venus appeared at the studio desk yesterday and will stick around. Agassi is due for the men’s semis and finals, like last year, serving as an analyst and studio guest. Follow TNT Sports PR on social media for alerts. Here’s Venus today o Serena’s form.

• Not that it made a difference, but Jakub Menšík was kicked off his practice court early today.

• Dirty martini, please ⬇️

🍿 Day 10 Matches

• Aryna Sabalenka [1] vs. Diana Shnaider [25]

• Felix Auger-Aliassime [4] vs. Flavio Cobolli [10]

• Anna Kalinskaya [22] vs. Maja Chwalinska

• Matteo Berrettini vs. Matteo Arnaldi

• Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos [1] vs. Hugo Nys/Edouard Roger-Vasselin [10]

• Aleksandra Krunic/Anna Danilinia [2] vs. Ellen Perez vs. Demi Schuurs [7]

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

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Don’t Miss a Second of Served

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Andy has never reviewed a match as fresh as Matteo Arnaldi’s comeback against Frances Tiafoe past midnight in Paris today. We stopped recording when it went to a fifth set and came back with the raw reaction. Also: Matteo Berrettini’s brawl, Aryna Sabalenka’s perfect performance and picks for the tomorrow’s matches.

We’ll address Serena Williams’s comeback announcement in next week’s episodes. She will take the court again in less than 10 days. Suffice it to say:

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Magic Maja

As expected, there is a Polish woman in the quarterfinals dropping bagels and breadsticks on all of her opponents. But her name isn’t Iga Swiatek. It’s Maja Chwalinska.

The men’s draw may be chaotic, but the biggest underdog left is still this 24-year-old friend of Swiatek’s, ranked No. 114. She has come from qualifying to make the quarterfinals, winning 14 sets and dropping just one.

And it’s how she is winning them—two bagels and a breadstick, only four sets closer than 6-3. All with a funhouse of spins and carves, high forehands and off-pace madness, the most she can do with her 5'5" frame.

This is how much of a Cinderella story Chwalinska is: After her third-round win, she was worried about affording her mounting hotel bill.

“Well, I hope there are like, free places out there... Or I have enough money, you know? Because I know I earned a lot here, but it’s not coming right away, you know guys? Let’s see, pray for me.”

Oshee, a Polish sports drink brand that sponsors Swiatek, is now covering her and her mother’s bill.

In the first round, Chwalinska beat Zheng Qinwen, who, at the moment, isn’t the same player who won the Olympic gold medal in Paris. Then she backed it up with a quality 6-4, 6-0 win over Elise Mertens, the 23rd seed. Then the resurgent Maria Sakkari, who was leading the tournament in aces at the time, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Today, Chwalinska fended off Diane Parry and her French crowd and cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win. In the quarterfinal, she will play Anna Kalinskaya [22] for the first time. Kalinskaya had a much tougher match today, beating Anastasia Potapova [28] 10-7 in the match tiebreak.

The semifinal is well within reach for Chwalinska. She is proving one of Andy’s mantras: Winning begets winning. She was 14–5 on clay coming into Roland Garros, including a small title in April.

“The goal was to be top 100, but now I want more.”

One name is coming to mind: Emma Raducanu. We always thought we’d never see another qualifier make a clean run to a major title after Raducanu did it at the 2021 US Open. But Chwalinska is six sets away. Weirder things have happened.

The Best of the Rest Recap

Sabalenka Serves Past Osaka

The 7-5, 6-3 battle was worthy of the night session. Osaka led the tournament in aces after the third round with 21, and Sabalenka had just three aces in her first three matches. Today, Sabalenka upped it to 12 and held Osaka to a pair. She was as good as the runaway favorite to win the title should be. She will play Diana Shnaider [25], who didn’t make a single error in the third set against Madison Keys [19].

Three Italian Men Avenge Sinner’s Honor

Jannik Sinner was supposed to be in the top half’s final four. Instead, it’s Flavio Cobolli [10], Matteo Arnaldi and Matteo Berrettini representing the boot. Arnaldi produced the match of the day. He was on the doorstep of defeat, trailing two breaks in the fourth set, 2-5, and Frances Tiafoe [19] was one game away from the quarterfinal. But Arnaldi just wouldn’t miss. He won a roller-coaster fifth set at 1:08 a.m., after five hours and 26 minutes.

🎤 Matteo Arnaldi

“I don’t know how I’m standing here, to be honest. I played so much this tournament. First match, four hours. Second, three and a half. Third, five hours. Today, five and a half. But we live to play these matches. I always dreamed to play a match here at Roland Garros at night, these battles, against someone like Frances. At one point, it wasn’t tennis. It was something else.”

Cobolli dropped his first set of the tournament in a four-set win over Zachary Svajda. And he almost blew the fourth set after holding a 5-1 lead and serving for the match twice. Afterward, he said the prospect of going five made him almost “shit my pants.” What’s nuts is that he’s not even the first person in the tournament to say that.

@tntsports"I cannot wait... it's not a joke" 🚽 A desperate Arthur Gea pleaded with the umpire for a toilet break during his first round match at Roland-Garros. #tennis #RolandGarros #FrenchOpen

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Bracket Challenge Update

Zachary Svajda was all of our brackets today when he ran into the umpire’s chair.

Today’s bonus points:

• Diana Shnaider, 6 points for seed differential

• Matteo Arnaldi, 40 points for unseeded upset

7

Number of female qualifier quarterfinalists at Roland Garros this century

As incredible as Maja Chwalinska’s run is, it’s precedented. It happened twice in 2020 when Nadia Podoroska and Martina Trevisan had breakout performances. Podoroska made the semis, too, losing to Iga Swiatek.

The qualifier-to-quarterfinalist story isn’t as common at other Slams, but a few players have pulled it off. Here are the most recent.

• Dayana Yastremska, 2024 Australian Open (semis)

• Lulu Sun, 2024 Wimbledon

• Arlan Karatsev, 2021 Australian Open (semis, and it was his debut Slam)

• Emma Raducanu, 2021 US Open (title, the only qualifier to lift a Slam trophy)

• Botic van de Zandschulp, 2021 US Open

Tiebreak Trivia

At 44, Serena would not be the oldest woman to win a main-draw WTA match, should her comeback prove successful in singles. Who holds the record?

💡 The answer will be in Day 10’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 8 answer: Novak Djokovic and Garbiñe Muguruza won the titles in 2016, the last time Roland Garros crowned two new champions in the same year.

Quick Hits

• Best celeb sighting today: top NBA draft prospect AJ Dybantsa at his buddy Frances Tiafoe’s match.

• Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo addressed the controversial line call in the Casper Ruud–João Fonseca match Sunday. Mark her words.

• Adolfo Daniel Vallejo was fined $65,000 for his comments about female umpires after his second-round loss. That was half of his prize money.

• In case you weren’t on Earth today ⬇️

🍿 Day 10 Matches

Alexander Zverev [2] vs. Rafael Jodar [27]

Elina Svitolina [7] vs. Marta Kostyuk [15]

Mirra Andreeva [8] vs. Sorana Cirstea [18]

Jakub Mensik [26] vs. Joao Fonseca [28]

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

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Context-free soundbite: “Don’t Google this, but Google trampoline injuries.”

Backflip watch: We are three Marta Kostyuk wins away from Producer Mike losing the bet he made when Kostyuk appeared on Served recently and having to attempt a back handspring. Andy is genuinely concerned. Physicality is the theme today after the men shattered the all-time record for four-hour-plus matches. Andy and Techy Sean dig into the day’s results—and Producer Mike’s scheme to avoid paralysis.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Who Made the Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals are set for the bottom half of the men’s and women’s draws. Here’s how they came together today.

Marta Kostyuk [15] def. Iga Swiatek [3] 7-5, 6-1
Elina Svitolina [7] def. Belinda Bencic [11] 4-6, 6-4, 6-0

Kostyuk beat the four-time Roland Garros champion (on Swiatek’s birthday) for the first time ever, riding her undefeated clay record (15–0) to her first Slam quarterfinal. The Madrid winner was feeling it so much that she started dancing in the middle of the match.

Svitolina won the mom battle on France’s Mother’s Day to set up an all-Ukrainian quarterfinal with Kostyuk, and the Rome champion versus the Madrid champion.

Swiatek said stress got to her again, a problem she has dealt with for the past year. She was asked what it means for her Wimbledon title defense.

🎤 Iga Swiatek

“I haven’t thought about grass at all. I don’t know how it’s going to be. I’m not a wizard.”

Mirra Andreeva [8] def. Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-2
Sorana Cirstea [18] def. Wang Xiyu 6-3, 7-6

Andreeva made the quarterfinals for the third straight year (she made the semis in 2024) and now leads the WTA in match wins (33 this year). Sorana “Don’t Retire” Cirstea last made the Roland Garros quarterfinal 17 years ago. They have only played once, and it was last month in Linz. Andreeva won in three sets.

🎤 Sorana Cirstea

“I always thought there is no expiration date on ambition and dreams. Society puts us in certain groups because of the age, but I think in life you are free to do whatever you want, and I want to play. Thank you everyone and for the support.”

João Fonseca [28] def. Casper Ruud [15] 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2
Jakub Mensik [26] def. Andrey Rublev [11] 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3

Andy thought Fonseca’s four-set win felt more like six sets, and while his legs looked to be going in the fourth set, he found another gear to grit it out. He’ll play Mensik, who needed a wheelchair to get off the court four days ago and won another five-setter anyway. He is into his first Slam quarterfinal.

Sascha Zverev [2] def. Jesper de Jong 7-6, 6-4, 6-1
Rafael Jodar [27] def. Pablo Carreño Busta 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

With Ruud’s exit, Zverev has a 30–9 record (77% winning percentage) against the field. He got past the lucky loser Jesper de Jong by reverting back to his pre-SinCaraz conservative style of play, which Andy speculates might be good enough to win the tournament. De Jong, like Iga, lost on his birthday.

Jodar is 19 years old and has now won 19 matches on clay in 2026, making the quarterfinals of all five clay tournaments he has played this year. He has never faced Zverev. The question is, how are his legs after a long clay season and two five-set matches?

Bad Call?

A controversial call turned the Fonseca–Ruud match in the second set. Ruud held set point at 8–7 in the tiebreak. He stopped play because he thought Fonseca’s shot had landed long. The umpire checked the mark and called it in. But in the TNT Sports booth, Hawk-Eye showed it out. Fonseca won the set two points later and took a two-sets-to-love lead.

If Roland Garros used electronic line calling like the other Slams, Ruud would have leveled the match at one set all.

Jim Courier and Mary Joe Fernandez were aghast on the TNT broadcast.

🎤 Jim Courier

“This is a real shame, and I hope that it’s a reckoning for the French federation.”

🎤 Mary Joe Fernandez

“It’s just wrong. Why get a line call wrong when you can get it right? It was so critical, in my opinion. If Ruud wins that point, wins that set and carries the momentum, then he probably wins the match. I think Fonseca was starting to slow down.”

Ladies in Waiting

Tomorrow evening, Aryna Sabalenka [1] and Naomi Osaka [16] will play their quarterfinal in the Roland Garros night session. It’s just the fifth prime-time women’s match since the night session was introduced in 2021, and the first since 2023, ending a string of 33 men’s night matches.

Cooler nighttime conditions typically produce a slower pace and longer rallies. We’re all in for a few hours of these sluggers going toe to toe. Will Sabalenka feel the nerves of expectation now that Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff are out? Will Osaka find the form that put her a point away from beating Swiatek here two years ago?

Sabalenka and Osaka are the only two Slam champs left in the tournament, and both have won four majors. Sabalenka leads the head-to-head 2–1 and got her in Madrid this year, but Osaka took a set.

Bracket Challenge Update

Bad news for Andy’s bracket—his pick to win the women’s title, Iga Swiatek, lost today, dooming his chances for a respectable finish and upping the likelihood that thousands of Chuckers will beat him.

Jannik Sinner’s upset has yet to wreak havoc on the Bracket Challenge. The top five of the ATP Leaderboard has not changed since he lost. You’re sitting pretty if you picked a winner from the bottom half who is still in the tournament (like Sascha Zverev) and you are no more than 200 points back from first place.

Today’s bonus points:

• Marta Kostyuk, 12 points for seed differential

• Jakub Mensik, 15 points for seed differential

• João Fonseca, 13 points for seed differential

Perfect Delivery: Sizzle Reel

Jim Courier was in fine form calling the Fonseca-Ruud match today for TNT Sports. He managed to find fresh ways to marvel at Fonseca’s ballistic forehands, a full 25% of which clocked in at 100 miles per hour or above. Our favorite line was for Ruud’s volley that wrong-footed Fonseca in the third set.

🎤 Jim Courier

“That was as crispy as the bacon my sons like to order. Holy cow, was that sharp.”

Andy was texting with Courier during the match. Click below for the report.

Jump to Andy's question to Courier

20

Four-hour-plus matches through three full rounds, a new record

The tournament has shattered the previous record for matches over four hours in a Slam. The mark was 17, and that was for the whole tournament. This year’s Roland Garros is on pace to more than double that, despite faster conditions during the hot and dry first week

To Andy, the stat tells the story of where men’s tennis is going: longer rallies, longer matches and fewer retirements as technology and recovery methods both improve. It all adds up to a sport that is becoming more physical every year.

We’re also on record watch for a related stat: the number of five-setters in a single Slam. The record is 34, tied at the 2021 US Open. This Roland Garros stands at 30 five-setters with 11 more men’s matches to go.

Will we get there? Join our Substack live chat every day to chew on these topics with the Served staff and other Chuckers.

Tiebreak Trivia

Roland Garros will crown new men’s and women’s champions for the first time since 2016. Who won the titles that year?

💡 The answer will be in Day 9’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 7 answer: Zachary Svajda had only three wins on the ATP Tour this year coming into Roland Garros.

Quick Hits

• For the first time this century, three men under the age of 21 have made the quarterfinals at a Slam. (OptaAce)

• Taylor Townsend and her new coach are TikTok official.

• The best smile in tennis ⬇️

🍿 Day 9 Matches

• Aryna Sabalenka [1] vs. Naomi Osaka [16]

• Madison Keys [19] vs. Diana Shnaider [25]

• Frances Tiafoe [19] vs. Matteo Arnaldi

• Flavio Cobolli [10] vs. Zachary Svajda

• Matteo Berrettini vs. Juan Manuel Cerundolo

• Quentin Halys/Pierre-Hughes Herbert vs. Hugo Gaston/Titouan Droguet

• Elise Mertens/Zhang Shuai [3] vs. Guo Hanyu/Kristina Mladenovic [13]

• Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori [1] vs. Anna Danilina/JJ Tracy [7]

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

Subscribe to Served's YouTube Channel

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Don’t Miss a Second of Served

Connect with us on socials.

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Context-free soundbite: “God knows the depth of our desire and desperation is on the men’s side.”

The redraw couldn’t come soon enough after the implosions of the last couple of days. Andy and JW dove into it while the men in the top half were still locked in a wild number of five-setters today. They are focused on the two former Roland Garros finalists in the bottom half, Sascha Zverev and Casper Ruud. Which one do they take to capture the title?

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Men’s Recap

The first week finished with a new Open Era record. Eight of the 16 third-round matches went five sets for the first time. Today, there were six, a marathon of marathons. All four in the top quarter went the distance, and three finished in match tiebreaks.

Highlights

• The men’s top half got even more wide-open with Francisco Cerundolo’s loss, which featured a meltdown, his coach leaving the box mid-match and Cerundolo telling his mother and trainer, “I’m never going to win again” and “life hates me.” Cerundolo would have been Sascha Zverev’s toughest opponent in the final with a 3-3 record against him on clay.

• On the bright side, the elder Cerundolo lost to someone who deserved some happiness: world No. 85 Zachary Svajda. Svajda’ coach–father passed away in October from cancer, and today is his birthday.

• Juan Manuel Cerundolo, the Jannik Sinner slayer, won the longest men’s match of the year over Martin Landaluce, who led 3-0 in the fifth set. Match time: 5:58. Time to stop calling him “the bad Cerundolo” and switch to “JuanMa.”

• Matteo Berrettini outlasted Francisco Comesana in five hours, 13 minutes. Now he has the best record against Zverev on clay (2-2) of the remaining field.

🎤 Matteo Berrettini

“I doubted myself too much in the last months and years. I thought I couldn’t come back, I couldn’t feel good on court again. I proved to myself one more time that I can still do this. I can still fight and enjoy my time on court.”

• Matteo Arnaldi played four hours, 58 minutes, and it wasn’t even one of the top two longest matches of the day. He beat Raphael Collignon, who had beaten Ben Shelton [5].

• Frances Tiafoe [19] came back from the brink, down two sets and a break at 4-3, to beat Jaime Faria in five sets. The trash talk flew on both sides, and Tiafoe had the last word in more ways than one.

🎤 Frances Tiafoe to Jaime Faria during the match

“Why don’t you quit trying to act like you’re tough? You’re not hard, bro. Just play.”

• Flavio Cobolli [10], who’s really flying under the radar, made straight-set work of Learner Tien [18], and now he can’t hide. Is he Andy’s pick for the final?

• Felix Auger-Aliassime [4] took out Brandon Nakashima in four sets, and without a Frenchman left in the draw, he looks (and sounds) like the crowd favorite.

• Alejandro Tabilo knocked out the new teen sensation Moise Kouame in five sets, but Kouame left us with one final act of showmanship.

Women’s Recap

The men’s preponderance of upsets and comebacks has overshadowed the women’s draw, which is more balanced between top contenders and Cinderella stories.

• Defending champion Coco Gauff [4] and former semifinalist Amanda Anisimova [6] are out, opening up the draw for Aryna Sabalenka [1]. She is the only Top 10 seed left in the top half.

• Sabalenka next plays Naomi Osaka [16], who beat Iva Jovic [17] today in the best match of the women’s draw so far. For the first time in her career, Osaka is into the second week of a slam that’s not on hard court. Reminder: She held match point here against Iga Swiatek [3] in 2024.

• Madison Keys [19], who beat Victoria Mboko [9], and Anastasia Potapova [28], who beat Gauff, are emerging as Sabalenka’s biggest competition.

• The men’s top half isn’t the only draw wide open. In the women’s top half, one of these players will make the semis: Potapova. Diane Parry, Maja Chwalinska or Anna Kalinskaya.

• Diane Parry is the last French player left in either draw after beating Anisimova. That her last name sounds like “Paris” in French could be an omen.

• Maja Chwalinska has dropped only one set from qualifying to the Round of 16. She took out a resurgent Maria Sakkari today and plays Parry next. One of those Cinderellas will make her first Slam quarterfinal.

• The bottom half of the women’s draw might be the most interesting part of the tournament left. Iga Swiatek [3], Elina Svitolina [7], Mirra Andreeva [8], Marta Kostyuk [15] and Sorana Cirstea [18] are going to war, and any of them could win the title. Cirstea is the last person to beat Sabalenka.

Bracket Challenge Update

Today’s bonus points:

• Anastasia Potapova, 24 points for seed differential bonus

• Madison Keys, 10 points for seed differential bonus

• Diane Parry, 30 points for unseeded upset bonus

• Zachary Svajda, 30 points for unseeded upset bonus

Fill Out Your Bracket Challenge Redraw

Perfect Delivery: Tough Love

Madison Keys is entertained by the chaos in the men’s draw, but (semi-seriously) not impressed with the performances today, blaming the number of five-setters on the field’s anxiety over the opportunity a wide-open draw presents. Something she knows about.

🎤 Madison Keys

“We’ve seen a lot of men’s tennis today. We’re seeing the men deal with it for the first time in a long time, where it feels completely wide open. They should really get their heads around it.”

The women have more experience with open draws in Slams, she said, while the men are used to dominant champions taking the pressure of expectation off of them.

“I think we’ve seen in the men’s scores today that they are all really nervous about who’s going to be in the final and not on the match today. It will come down to who can handle the moment and figure out how to play their best tennis with way more mounting pressure,” she said.

5 hours, 58 minutes

Time of Juan Manuel Cerundolo’s win today over Martin Landaluce, the longest men’s match of the year

On a day filled with five-hour matches, it took a historically long one to top the list. Not only is Cerundolo’s win the longest match of 2026, it’s the third-longest match in Roland Garros history and the fourth-longest Slam match of all time.

Afterward, Cerundolo felt as tired as you’d imagine.

🎤 Juan Manuel Cerundolo in his Spanish press conference

“I’m super happy, but wiped out. By the end I didn’t even feel like thinking anymore.”

Tiebreak Trivia

One man left in the draw had only a single ATP win this year coming into Roland Garros. Who is it?

💡 The answer will be in Day 8’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 6 answer: Maria Sakkari had the most aces (14) through the first two rounds. Aryna Sabalenka had just two. That’s clay for you.

Quick Hits

• One fan had the guts to wear an Arsenal jersey to Roland Garros today. The camera found him.

• New this year, Roland Garros is making like the Olympics and giving pins to winners for each round and event. They love them and put them on their lanyards. Good PR recovery from the boycott.

• The prospect of João Fonseca winning Roland Garros is making Brazilians blow off the World Cup. Their new anthem is “Forget the Hexa.”

• Daniel Vallejo has been fined for saying women shouldn’t umpire raucous men’s matches. He walked back the comment on social media, but has since deleted the post. This gem is still up, though: McCartney Kessler beating him in the 1-Point Slam in Melbourne.

• How did Andy not make this list, either? ⬇️

🍿 Day 8 Matches

• Iga Swiatek [3] vs. Marta Kostyuk [15]

• Elina Svitolina [7] vs. Belinda Bencic [11]

• Andrey Rublev [11] vs. Jakub Mensik [26]

• Casper Ruud [15] vs. João Fonseca [28]

• Rafael Jodar [27] vs. Pablo Carreño Busta

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

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Context-free soundbite: “I’m the lucky loser of my own bracket.”

We know what the story is today. Andy tells Producer Mike and Techy Sean what the story isn’t, given that Novak Djokovic played great in his improbable loss to João Fonseca. Andy takes us through the magnitude of the situation and the nuances of it all so we can make some emotional and mental space for the remaining nine days.

The result leaves no Slam winner in the men’s draw. There will be a first-time major champion on the men’s side. No major has ever been this wide-open before the second week.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Second Opinion

Tennis doesn’t have a consolation draw, but it is generous with second chances. You get another serve if you miss one. You don’t lose when your opponent goes up by one game. You can lose in qualifying and still win the tournament. In the Bracket Challenge, we have a redraw!

Today, second chances were the coin of the realm. João Fonseca is just the most prominent example, fairly so. But also:

• Casper Ruud [13] came back from two sets and two match points down to beat Tommy Paul [24] and keep his golden opportunity for a first Slam alive.

• Sorana Cirstea [18], on the brink of retirement [?], is having the best season of her life and won 6-0, 6-0 today over Solana Sierra. At 36, Cirstea is looking like a legitimate contender for the title—she’s the last person to beat Aryna Sabalenka, in Rome.

• Jesper de Jong lost a week ago in the qualifying draw yet is somehow into the second week, as a lucky loser and world No. 106. From Arthur Fils’s original slot in draw, he beat Karen Khachanov [15] in five sets today.

• Jakub Mensik (26) was down and out in his previous round with violent cramps, writhing in agony after the match and unable to walk off the court alone. Wuld he even most for Round 3? He did, and he overcame a bagel first set to beat Alex de Minaur [8] in four.

Bracket Challenge Redraw

Tomorrow is the redraw. Your bracket will be open to make new picks for the Round of 16 on. The points won’t count toward the standings, but you’ll know and we’ll know.

Bonus points today:

• De Jong, 30 points for the unseeded player upset

• Jil Teichmann, 30 points for the unseeded player upset (def. Karolina Muchova [10])

• Fonseca, 25 points for the seed differential upset

• Mensik, 18 points for the seed differential upset

Raducanu Redux?

Meanwhile, over in the women’s draw…Two players have a chance of pulling off the Raducanu, which means going a perfect 20–0 in sets and winning the title. Qualifiers Wang Xiyu and Maja Chwalinska have yet to drop a set, Wang through six matches and Chwalinska through five. Chwalinska, ranked No. 118 in the world, has dropped four bagels on opponents so far.

Perfect Delivery: Sky High

João Fonseca was down break point serving at 6-5 in the fifth set versus the hardest man to put away in tennis history. Fonseca stepped up and fired an ace. Deuce. Then another. Match point. Then another. He nailed the press conference, too.

🎤 João Fonseca

“I felt like John Isner.”

Perhaps even taller than Isner at that moment, having beaten the GOAT and his idol for the first time.

Fonseca didn’t believe he could win after falling behind two sets. But he stuck to the plan he had shared with the media two days before. “I just played. I just enjoyed being on court. What a pleasure it was,” he said.

289–2

Novak Djokovic’s record in Slams after winning the first two sets

What happened today had only happened in .5% of Djokovic’s Slam matches before, but it was par for the course for the Big 3. Roger Federer was 287–3 and Rafael Nadal was 262–3 in the same category.

The stat says more about João Fonseca, the first man to beat Djokovic from two sets down since Jurgen Melzer in the Roland Garros quarterfinal in 2010.

Fonseca is also the first teenager—ever—to beat Djokovic at a Slam.

Tiebreak Trivia

Which woman has the most aces through two rounds? She has made the semis before.

💡 The answer will be in Day 7’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 5 answer: Elise Mertens is going for the career Slam in doubles at Roland Garros.

Quick Hits

• The US Open will add a 16-team qualifying round to the mixed-doubles competition. Cost: $0. (h/t @TennisPublisher)

• A woman hand-letters the result onto the tournament draw every day. It’s hard to stop watching. (h/t @BastienFachan)

• Zeynep Sonmez tripped on a court sign during her doubles match, fell, cut her leg and needed stitches. It nearly happened to Katie Boulter earlier in the week. They ripped into the tournament on social media.

• You’re reading this right ⬇️

🍿 Day 7 Matches

• Aryna Sabalenka [1] vs. Daria Kasatkina

• Amanda Anisimova [6] vs. Diana Parry

• Victoria Mboko [9] vs. Madison Keys [19]

• Flavio Cobolli [10] vs. Learner Tien [18]

• Naomi Osaka [16] vs. Iva Jovic [17]

• Moise Kouame vs. Alejandro Tabilo

• Martin Landaluce vs. Juan Miguel Cerundolo

• Matteo Berrettini vs. Francisco Comesana

• Elise Mertens/Zhang Shuai [3] vs. Tamara Korpatsch/Nicole Fossa Huergo

• Neal Skupski/Christian Harrison [7] vs. Pierre-Hughes Herbert/Quentin Halys

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

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Don’t Miss a Second of Served

Connect with us on socials.

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Context-free soundbite: “Imagine choosing the words, ‘I’m going to bless you with two tickets to my next match.’”

Good news: Your brackets are OK. Everyone had Jannik Sinner in the final. Nearly all brackets crashed. Andy and Producer Mike unpack the carnage wrought on Roland Garros today with Sinner’s epic collapse one game away from an easy victory.

But Sinner is just the day’s headline, not the whole story. Day 5 gave us wall-to-wall adrenaline. Thrilling finishes. Stars born. A racquet stolen!

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack. On Friday, a member of our social team will join us!

Sinner Sent Packing

Jannik Sinner requested the first match of the day, and it looked like a good call for a couple of hours. He led Juan Manuel Cerundolo two sets and 5–1. Then the men’s draw came apart at the seams.

Sinner visibly cramped and couldn’t recover, despite a questionable medical timeout. Jim Courier called the umpire’s decision to allow the off-court evaluation “absolutely baloney.” Here’s a rundown of the controversy.

Sinner blamed a general unwell and rundown feeling, not the heat, partly a result of playing 30 matches since early March.

The Draw Effect

The top half of the draw is now wide open. A first-time Slam finalist will emerge. The rest of the top half played today.

Seeds still alive:

• Felix Auger-Aliassime [4]

• Flavio Cobolli [10]

• Learner Tien [18]

• Frances Tiafoe [19]

• Francisco Cerundolo [25]

• Brandon Nakashima [31]

Seeds who lost today:

• Ben Shelton [5]

• Luciano Darderi [14]

• Arthur Rinderknech [22]

Other hyped contenders:

• Martin Landaluce, a rookie Spaniard who came back from two sets down to beat Vit Kopriva

• Moise Kouame, a 17-year-old Frenchman who won a five-set thriller

• Matteo Berrettini, who took out Rinderknech in straight sets—and whose double bagel of Daniil Medvedev in Madrid is looking less like a fluke

The Bracket Challenge Effect

More than 90% of Chuckers have Sinner making the final or winning. Relax. According to Bracket Barron, it’s plausible to win the overall bracket without picking the winner.

At the very least, you can still beat Andy. That’s what matters!

If Sinner was your projected winner, you are out 330 points. But most players had him going at least a few more rounds, so you’re not falling a full 330 points behind. Bonus points can make up some of the difference, too. If you have an unseeded player beating a seed in tomorrow or Round 3 or 4, you can make up a lot of ground.

The Sizzlers

Six other five-setters hit like waves of adrenaline throughout the day, while a couple tense women’s matches spiced up an otherwise-to-form day in their draw.

Frances Tiafoe def. Hubert Hurkacz 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4

Tiafoe won the longest match of his life at four hours and 40 minutes, getting past Hurkacz’s 43 aces with a thrilling down-to-the-wire finish when Tiafoe broke at love to seize the match, the best demonstration of his offseason reset that he discussed on Served in December. He edged out Hurkacz 181 to 180 in total points. No one engages the fans as much as Foe. The celebration was epic.

While Foe won the match, he lost his racquet in the crowd afterward.

Here’s Foe talking about his reset with Andy.

Moise Kouame def. Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6

Today was the 17-year-old Frenchman’s star-is-born moment. Specifically, it came when Kouame ripped a down-the-line backhand pass at 4-5 deuce in the fifth set. Kouame, ranked No. 318, backed up his first-round upset of Marin Cilic with a mature staredown of the world No. 71 Vallejo with a serve-and-volley on match point in the tiebreak.

Learner Tien def. Facundo Diaz Acosta 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3

Tien’s lefty serve, which helped him win the Geneva title last week, got picked apart for a couple of sets until Diaz Acosta was up a double break in the fourth set and holding two match points. Tien was “down and out,” but fought back and turned the match around. Acosta handed him a break at 3-3 40-love by making five errors in a row. Tien is now 4-0 in five-setters and one of the frontrunners to emerge from the top half in Sinner’s absence.

🎤 Learner Tien

“My confidence on clay has skyrocketed.”

Brandon Nakashima [31] def. Luca Van Assche 6-7, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3

The match lasted four and a half hours, and for long stretches it looked like the crowd was going to will the Frenchman through. Van Assche is a Roland Garros junior champion who has never gone past the second round here as a pro, and this felt like the year. It wasn’t. Nakashima next faces Felix Auger-Aliassime in Sinner’s quarter.

Viktoria Mboko [9] d. Katerina Siniakova 5-7 6-4 6-2

Mboko made 29 errors to hand Siniakova the first set, then settled in and powered past the Czech veteran. The Canadian gets Madison Keys next.

Camila Osorio def. Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-7, 7-5

The second-longest women’s match of the year took three hours and 30 minutes. Putintseva saved four match points in the second set with clean winners, but Osorio’s 56 winners to Putintseva’s 32 were too much in the end.

Bracket Busters

Matteo Berrettini def. Arthur Rinderknech [22] 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

Maybe that double bagel Berrettini dropped on Daniil Medvedev in Madrid was not a fluke. Currently ranked No. 105, Berrettini will return to the Top 100. How high depends on how he does the rest of the tournament. His next opponent is Francisco Cerundolo [25].

Raphael Collignon def. Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-5, 6-4

Shelton hit 33 winners and 10 aces but never earned a break point against the 24-year-old Belgian. It was Shelton’s first loss to a player outside the top 30 at a Slam since the 2023 US Open. The crowd’s serenade afterward lasted about as long as the match and brought Collignon to tears.

@rolandgarrosTears of joy for Collignon 🇧🇪🙌 #RolandGarros #Tennistiktok #Collignon #tennis

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Maja Chwalinski backed up her first-round upset of Zheng Qinwen by taking out Elise Mertens [23] 6-3, 6-0. Those are upset bonus points in the Bracket Challenge!

Perfect Delivery: Face Time

We all know Matteo Berrettini is attractive. He knows it. He owns it. We’re happy for him. We didn’t think he would rest on his devastating good looks in his on-court interview after his win in the night session.

The host, Alex Corretja, opened by acknowledging that Berrettini had beaten a French player, but surely the crowd still appreciated his effort. He paused. Berrettini, standing in front of a microphone, smiled. And smiled. Then it dawned on him.

🎤 Matteo Berrettini

“I have to talk?”

To be fair, Corretja’s comment was not in the form of a question.

Don’t call the outrage police. It’s a Served tradition to give Berrettini a hard time about his pretty face.

9

Consecutive Slams Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have won

For the first time since 2023, a man not named Sinner or Alcaraz will win a Grand Slam. The run puts them, as a pair, in the league of the Big 3 for dominance. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic pulled off a hat trick of long runs in the last 20 years: an 11-Slam streak and two nine-Slam stretches.

The first two times, the other member of the Big 3 broke the run. The last time, Dominic Thiem stopped them, at the 2020 US Open.

Tiebreak Trivia

One player can still complete a career Slam at Roland Garros this year. It’s in doubles, and the player is out of the singles draw. Who is it? (H/T to Hanlon Walsh/The Tennis Tribe)

💡 The answer will be in Day 6’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 4 answer: Thierry Champion was on the losing end of the 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 drubbing from Sergi Bruguera at Roland Garros in 1993. He was commended for finishing the match and not retiring.

Quick Hits

• Maison Ladurée, a Parisian patisserie famous for its macarons, offers a Suzanne Lenglen gift box assortment online during Roland Garros. Evidently, a tennis ball has a flavor.

• Rafael Nadal’s Netflix documentary, Rafa, comes out tomorrow. Iga Swiatek had the wrong date for the premiere.

• 60% of the time, this joke will work every time ⬇️

🍿 Day 5 Matches

• Iga Swiatek [3] vs. Magda Linette

• Novak Djokovic [3] vs. João Fonseca

• Elina Svitolina [7] vs. Tamara Korpatsch

• Mirra Andreeva [8] vs. Marie Bouzkova

• Karolina Muchova [10] vs. Jil Teichmann

• Casper Ruud [15] vs. Tommy Paul [24]

• Rafael Jodar [27] vs. Alex Michelsen

• Sorana Cirstea [18] vs. Solana Sierra

• Katerina Siniakova/Taylor Townsend [1] vs. Emiliana Arango/Iva Jovic

• Lloyd Glasspool/Julian Cash [3] vs. Adam Pavlasek/Patrik Rikl

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

Subscribe to Served's YouTube Channel

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Don’t Miss a Second of Served

Connect with us on socials.

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Context-free soundbite: “So I’m better than Nadal on clay.”

There was so much drama today that Andy, JW and Producer Mike needed 40 minutes to deliver the “quick” recap. Major upsets, gruesome injuries and one very public player–coach breakup came so fast and furiously that it was hard to keep up.

And there was some absolutely sensational tennis, too. Get caught up on Round Two action with Quick Served and bonus coverage below. Stay for JW’s scoop on Serena’s comeback at the end.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack. On Thursday, Blair Henley from Love All will join us!

Bracket Savers

Several favorites and dark horses were on the ropes but pulled through.

Novak Djokovic [3] dropped a set to Valentin Royer 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3. The French crowd did Royer, one of their own, no favors by booing Djokovic at one point. You never poke the bear. Djokovic also produced a frontrunner for shot of the tournament.

@rolandgarrosDjokovic signs the shot of the tournament 🎯🔥 #RolandGarros #Sportstiktok #TennisEdit #Tennis #djokovic

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Djokovic will face João Fonseca [28] for the first time, but by the skin of Fonseca’s teeth. He lost the first two sets to Dino Prizmic—the last guy to beat Djokovic, in Rome, and yet another Next Gen player making a name for himself. The Brazilian came back to win in five, becoming just the third teenager this century to bounce back from a two-set deficit at Roland Garros (the others were Roger Federer and Thanasi Kokkinakis).

Jakub Mensik [26] survived Mariano Navone 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6, but you’d never know it by the scene at the end of the match.

Mensik was so depleted that he couldn’t stand and needed a lot of help to get off the court. His next opponent is Alex de Minaur [8], who advanced in a walkover today when Alexander Blockx had to withdraw, and fans are wondering if he’ll get another walkover to the Round of 16 if Mensik can’t recover.

Karen Khachanov [13] played the worst match point of his life, shanking an overhead into the stands. But he shook it off and beat Marco Trungelliti 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6. Trungelliti gave the apology of the tournament, though.

Rafael Jodar, the teenage sensation of the clay season, was tested but survived James Duckworth 6-1, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5. No doubt many Chuckers, like Andy and Blair, have Jodar going deep.

Bracket Busters

Yuliia Starodubtseva shocked Elena Rybakina [2] 3-6, 6-1, 7-6. The surface doesn’t help Rybakina’s flat strokes—she made 71 unforced errors. Drama factor: Rybakina’s coach left the player's box during the match, though she explained in her press conference that he was ill and she knew he might have to cut out. Starodubtseva, who played at Old Dominion University and was coaching at the Westchester Country Club in New York just a few years ago, said her motivation is a ring—her boyfriend agreed to propose if she cracks the Top 50 (she’s No. 55 now). The tennis world is loving her story.

She will face Wang Xiyu, who also busted a lot of brackets by advancing past Hailey Baptiste [28]. Drama factor: The match ended in a terrible injury when Baptiste twisted her knee and left the court in a wheelchair. That she was playing the best tennis of her career makes the heartbreaking accident sting even more. The Athletic has the story, and the scenes below aren’t too gruesome to watch.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina [21] lost to Thiago Augustin Tirante 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, 6-3. Drama factor: His coach, 2005 finalist Mariano Puerta, ditched him mid-tournament and returned to Miami. Both parties aired the dirty laundry. See Perfect Delivery below for more.

Valentin Vacherot [16] has withdrawn from the tournament, giving Alejandro Tabilo [31] the walkover to Round Three. In yesterday’s poll, 25% of you called Vacherot the favorite to make the semifinal in the section that Daniil Medvedev [6] busted with his loss. Learner Tien [18] led the results.

Who Cruised

Iga Swiatek [3] rolled past Czech hype Sara Bejlek 6-2, 6-3—and avoided a rematch with her kryptonite, Jelena Ostapenko [29], who has never lost to Swiatek in six meetings. Swiatek’s fellow Pole, Magda Linette, took out Ostapenko 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Twist: Linette beat Swiatek in Miami, the loss that prompted her to switch coaches, and they will play each other in Round 3.

Elina Svitolina [7], Sorana Cirstea [18] and Belinda Bencic [11] all dropped a bagel on their opponents in routine wins.

Alexander Zverev [2], Casper Ruud [15], Tommy Paul [24] moved on without dropping a set.

Perfect Delivery: Out the Puerta

The oddest story of the day was Alejandro Davidovich Fokina announcing in a press conference that his coach, Mariano Puerta, known to history as Rafael Nadal’s first victim in a Roland Garros final, left him high and dry in Paris. Just hopped a plane. Puerta shot back on social media.

🎤 Mariano Puerta

“There aren’t any coaches, trainers, or physios on the circuit with half the balls that I have. Back to Miami.”

Davidovich Fokina said he is baffled by what happened, that they hadn’t fought and Puerta has blocked both him and his wife from calling. There are lots of details missing from this story.

Andy and JW weighed in on the telenovela.

Jump to Perfect Delivery

21

Consecutive years Novak Djokovic has made the third round of Roland Garros

And this is his worst major!

Jump to the full discussion

Tiebreak Trivia

On this day 33 years ago, two-time Roland Garros champ Sergi Bruguera dropped the elusive triple bagel on a French opponent. Who was it? Hint: His surname is ironic in this context. (H/T ose on X)

💡 The answer will be in Day 5’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 3 answer: Althea Gibson played professional golf after her tennis career ended. She competed in 171 LPGA events between 1963 and 1977 but did not win a title.

Quick Hits

• Rajeev Ram and Ben Kittay advanced in men’s doubles because the tournament simply couldn’t find an opponent for them. Reportedly, there was a mass exodus from the draw. (H/T @TennisPublisher)

• Alexander Blockx may sue Roland Garros over his injury during practice. From one court to another.

• Iga Swiatek is starting to be mentioned in the same breath as Chris Evert at Roland Garros. Here’s one stat she just tied.

• Ukrainian player Oleksandra Oliynykova won today and continued her outspoken press conferences regarding the war. It’s worth your attention. Ben Rothenberg at Bounces has a deeper dive not behind a paywall.

• Fun read on the Slams’ in-house hair salons from L’Equipe. Who doesn’t love a Marat Safin story?

• Djokovic is back in the dance-off lead ⬇️

🍿 Day 5 Matches

• Jannik Sinner [1] vs. Juan Manuel Cerundolo

• Aryna Sabalenka [1] vs. Elsa Jacquemot

• Ben Shelton [6] vs. Raphael Collignon

• Naomi Osaka [16] vs. Donna Vekic

• Iva Jovic [17] vs. Emma Navarro

• Frances Tiafoe [19] vs. Hubert Hurkacz

• Arthur Rinderknech [22] vs. Matteo Berrettini

• Moise Kouame vs. Adolfo Daniel Vallejo

• Sara Errani/Andrea Vavassori [1] vs. Ellen Perez/Francisco Cabral

• Harri Heliovaara/Henry Patten [1] vs Nuno Borges/Zhang Zhizhen

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

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Context-free soundbite: “I was more annoyed [by Monfils] than I should have been.”

Andy has the Meddy blues after the No. 6 seed’s five-set loss and he works through the shock in today’s recap with Producer Mike. He also circles back to Gael Monfils’s goodbye and what he meant to tennis.

For the record, everyone at Served HQ besides Kim had Daniil Medvedev in the semis. See you at the redraw.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Bracket Busters

The Aussies came for our brackets today. A day after Thanasi Kokkinakis upset Terence Atmane, Adam Walton, ranked No. 97, who was 1-2 at Roland Garros coming into the tournament, took out Daniil Medvedev [6] 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. Walton came back from a break down in the fifth set, and Medvedev played a careless final game with a double-fault and a wild swinging-volley error on match point. Afterward, Walton said he likes the heat in Paris. Cut to Medvedev complaining to his box mid-match and his wife responding, “It’s hot for everybody. Everybody is suffering. You need to behave!”

Then No. 83 Kimberly Birrell, another Aussie, took out Jessica Pegula [5] 1-6, 6-3 6-3. It was her first win ever at Roland Garros. Afterward, she still didn’t have a sense of how she turned the match around, other than maintaining a good attitude.

🎤 Kimberly Birrell

“I’ve been working on playing each point on its merit and deleting the point before, whether I’d won or lost the point.”

French sensation Moise Kouame, who lives about 15 minutes from Roland Garros, pulled off a historic upset of Marin Cilic 7-6, 6-2, 6-1. At 17, Kouame is the youngest person to beat a former Slam champion at the French and the first at any Slam since 2009. He’s just a few months younger than Michael Chang was when the American beat Ivan Lendl in the quarterfinals in 1989. We made the mistake of mentioning that to Andy in this episode.

Maria Sakkari got her first win at Roland Garros since 2022 when she took out Linda Noskova [12] 7-5, 7-6.

Who Cruised

Coco Gauff [4] opened her title defense on a chaotic morning that started with a fender bender (no one was hurt). She said it distracted her from her nerves, letting her played freely to beat Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-0.

Jannik Sinner [1] also won easily, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4, over Clement Tabur. He passed Andre Agassi on the list of Slam match wins as world No. 1 with 39.

Madison Keys [13] had one of those days when everything worked—her words—and beat recent Love All guest Hanne Vandewinkel 6-3, 6-0.

Iva Jovic [17] beat her good friend Alexandra Eala 6-4, 6-2 just a few days after they hit the town to celebrate Eala’s birthday.

Learner Tien [18] served a double-bagel sandwich to Christian Garin, winning 6-0, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 and making a case for the favorite in Medvedev’s quarter.

4 hours, 30 minutes

Length of Martin Landaluce’s five-set win today, the longest match of Round 1

Spanish teenager Martin Landaluce won his debut match at Roland Garros, and he made it memorable, beating qualifier Juan Carlos Prado Angelo 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4. It was the first five-set match of his career.

Landaluce, a product of the Rafael Nadal Academy, is often mentioned in the same breath as Rafael Jodar. Both are from Madrid, made the Next Gen Finals last year and had breakout wins this spring. Landaluce’s occurred at the Miami Open when he upset Sebastian Korda after Korda had taken out Carlos Alcaraz. Landaluce won six matches from qualifying to the quarterfinals in Miami.

🎤 Martin Landaluce on the heat learning curve

“You have to do a thousand things. Hydrate well, take plenty of gels and all the salts you can. Besides that, try to lower your heart rate during breaks and between points, so that the fatigue and lack of oxygen in your head due to excessive breathing don’t accumulate. Try to stay as calm as possible and know that, as the match will have its ups and downs, you have to put on a brave face and keep drawing energy.”

Tiebreak Trivia

On Day 3, Roland Garros honored the 70th anniversary of Althea Gibson’s historic title in 1956, the first Slam ever won by a Black player. What other professional sport did Gibson play?

💡 The answer will be in Day 4’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 2 answer: Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are the other players (with Stan Wawrinka) to beat the Big 4 at the Slams.

Quick Hits

• The backcourt tarp strikes again. Alexander Blockx caught his foot on one of the rolled-up rain coverings during practice and had to withdraw from the tournament with an ankle injury. We’ve known about the tarp trap for a decade.

• The only thing cooler than Coco Gauff? Her racquets.

• Naomi Osaka’s outfit was the talk of the town again. Here’s the best photo and secret detail and a heavy commentary from Courtney Nguyen.

• Aryna Sabalenka won Round 1 of her annual Roland Garros dance-off with Novak Djokovic ⬇️

🍿 Day 4 Matches

• Alex Zverev [2] vs. Tomas Machac

• Iga Swiatek [3] vs. Sara Bejlek

• Novak Djokovic [3] vs. Valentin Royer

• Belinda Bencic [11] vs. Caty McNally

• Casper Ruud [15] vs. Hamad Medjedovic

• Marta Kostyuk [15] vs. Katie Volynets

• Sorana Cirstea [18] vs. Eva Lys

• Hayley Baptiste [28] vs. Wang Xiyu

• Joao Fonseca [28] vs. Dino Prizmic

• Alex Michelsen vs. Nishesh Basavareddy

• Robert Cash/JJ Tracy [15] vs. Moise Kouame/Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

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Don’t Miss a Second of Served

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Context-free soundbite: “I was more annoyed [by Monfils] than I should have been.”

Andy has the Meddy blues after the No. 6 seed’s five-set loss and he works through the shock in today’s recap with Producer Mike. He also circles back to Gael Monfils’s goodbye and what he meant to tennis.

For the record, everyone at Served HQ besides Kim had Daniil Medvedev in the semis. See you at the redraw.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Bracket Busters

The Aussies came for our brackets today. A day after Thanasi Kokkinakis upset Terence Atmane, Adam Walton, ranked No. 97, who was 1-2 at Roland Garros coming into the tournament, took out Daniil Medvedev [6] 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. Walton came back from a break down in the fifth set, and Medvedev played a careless final game with a double-fault and a wild swinging-volley error on match point. Afterward, Walton said he likes the heat in Paris. Cut to Medvedev complaining to his box mid-match and his wife responding, “It’s hot for everybody. Everybody is suffering. You need to behave!”

Then No. 83 Kimberly Birrell, another Aussie, took out Jessica Pegula [5] 1-6, 6-3 6-3. It was her first win ever at Roland Garros. Afterward, she still didn’t have a sense of how she turned the match around, other than maintaining a good attitude.

🎤 Kimberly Birrell

“I’ve been working on playing each point on its merit and deleting the point before, whether I’d won or lost the point.”

French sensation Moise Kouame, who lives about 15 minutes from Roland Garros, pulled off a historic upset of Marin Cilic 7-6, 6-2, 6-1. At 17, Kouame is the youngest person to beat a former Slam champion at the French and the first at any Slam since 2009. He’s just a few months younger than Michael Chang was when the American beat Ivan Lendl in the quarterfinals in 1989. We made the mistake of mentioning that to Andy in this episode.

Maria Sakkari got her first win at Roland Garros since 2022 when she took out Linda Noskova [12] 7-5, 7-6.

Who Cruised

Coco Gauff [4] opened her title defense on a chaotic morning that started with a fender bender (no one was hurt). She said it distracted her from her nerves, letting her played freely to beat Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-0.

Jannik Sinner [1] also won easily, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4, over Clement Tabur. He passed Andre Agassi on the list of Slam match wins as world No. 1 with 39.

Madison Keys [13] had one of those days when everything worked—her words—and beat recent Love All guest Hanne Vandewinkel 6-3, 6-0.

Iva Jovic [17] beat her good friend Alexandra Eala 6-4, 6-2 just a few days after they hit the town to celebrate Eala’s birthday.

Learner Tien [18] served a double-bagel sandwich to Christian Garin, winning 6-0, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 and making a case for the favorite in Medvedev’s quarter.

4 hours, 30 minutes

Length of Martin Landaluce’s five-set win today, the longest match of Round 1

Spanish teenager Martin Landaluce won his debut match at Roland Garros, and he made it memorable, beating qualifier Juan Carlos Prado Angelo 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4. It was the first five-set match of his career.

Landaluce, a product of the Rafael Nadal Academy, is often mentioned in the same breath as Rafael Jodar. Both are from Madrid, made the Next Gen Finals last year and had breakout wins this spring. Landaluce’s occurred at the Miami Open when he upset Sebastian Korda after Korda had taken out Carlos Alcaraz. Landaluce won six matches from qualifying to the quarterfinals in Miami.

🎤 Martin Landaluce on the heat learning curve

“You have to do a thousand things. Hydrate well, take plenty of gels and all the salts you can. Besides that, try to lower your heart rate during breaks and between points, so that the fatigue and lack of oxygen in your head due to excessive breathing don’t accumulate. Try to stay as calm as possible and know that, as the match will have its ups and downs, you have to put on a brave face and keep drawing energy.”

Tiebreak Trivia

On Day 3, Roland Garros honored the 70th anniversary of Althea Gibson’s historic title in 1956, the first Slam ever won by a Black player. What other professional sport did Gibson play?

💡 The answer will be in Day 4’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 2 answer: Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are the other players (with Stan Wawrinka) to beat the Big 4 at the Slams.

Quick Hits

• The backcourt tarp strikes again. Alexander Blockx caught his foot on one of the rolled-up rain coverings during practice and had to withdraw from the tournament with an ankle injury. We’ve known about the tarp trap for a decade.

• The only thing cooler than Coco Gauff? Her racquets.

• Naomi Osaka’s outfit was the talk of the town again. Here’s the best photo and secret detail and a heavy commentary from Courtney Nguyen.

• Aryna Sabalenka won Round 1 of her annual Roland Garros dance-off with Novak Djokovic ⬇️

🍿 Day 4 Matches

• Alex Zverev [2] vs. Tomas Machac

• Iga Swiatek [3] vs. Sara Bejlek

• Novak Djokovic [3] vs. Valentin Royer

• Belinda Bencic [11] vs. Caty McNally

• Casper Ruud [15] vs. Hamad Medjedovic

• Marta Kostyuk [15] vs. Katie Volynets

• Sorana Cirstea [18] vs. Eva Lys

• Hayley Baptiste [28] vs. Wang Xiyu

• Joao Fonseca [28] vs. Dino Prizmic

• Alex Michelsen vs. Nishesh Basavareddy

• Robert Cash/JJ Tracy [15] vs. Moise Kouame/Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

Subscribe to Served's YouTube Channel

Subscribe to Love All's YouTube Channel

Don’t Miss a Second of Served

Connect with us on socials.

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Chat with Chuckers on Reddit.

Context-free soundbite: “At the changeover, Torben Ulrich walked over to his opponent’s chair and gave him a backrub.”

JW calls in from blistering-hot Paris with the day’s results and an updated analysis on the prize-money issue that sparked Friday’s media boycott by top players. Andy will talk more about Gael Monfils tomorrow. The Frenchman and Stan Wawrinka both bowed out and said au revoir to Roland Garros for the final time.

Other than bittersweetness, the toughest opponent today was the heat. Casper Ruud said he “couldn’t see straight” at one point in his five-set win.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Bracket Busters

Based on how many Chuckers said Gael Monfils would beat Hugo Gaston in our poll yesterday (90%), La Monf’s five-set loss counts as a major upset in the Bracket Challenge. Gaston, 14 years Monfils’s junior and ranked 100 spots higher, was fast, sharp and smart, exploiting the 39-year-old’s sluggish movement.

Similarly, many of you thought Stan Wawrinka caught a break when his first-round opponent, Arthur Fils, pulled out of the tournament and was replaced by lucky loser Jesper de Jong. But the Dutchman outhit the 41-year-old former champ in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.

Qualifier Maja Chwalinska baffled injury-plagued Qinwen Zheng into a 6-4, 6-0 win with a loopy game, on the same court where Zheng won the Olympic gold medal two summers ago. She will drop out of the Top 100. Chwalinska is now 8-0 in sets since qualifying began last week.

Pablo Carreño Busta turned back the clock and took out Miami finalist Jiri Lehecka [12] 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, busting open the Taylor Fritz section of the draw even more.

Other upsets

• Susan Bandecchi def. Cristina Bucsa [28] 6-4 2-6, 6-4

• Camila Osorio def. Ekaterina Alexandrova [14] 6-2, 6-4

• Alycia Parks def. Leylah Fernandez [24] 6-4, 6-4

Who Cruised

No one had an easier day than Rafael Jodar, who won his first-ever match at Roland Garros 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 over Aleksandar Kovacevic in 94 minutes. It was the fewest games allowed in a debut match here since Novak Djokovic gave up three games to Robby Ginepri in 2005. The 19-year-old Jodar has now won 16 of his last 19 matches, all on clay.

Iga Swiatek [3] took exactly an hour to beat young Aussie Emerson Jones 6-1, 6-2. Elena Rybakina [2], Amanda Anisimova [6], Karolina Muchova [10], Elise Mertens [23], Anastasia Potapova [28] and Jelena Ostapenko [29] also got through in straight sets.

Ben Sheldon [5], Alex de Minaur [8], Flavio Cobolli [10], Ugo Humbert [32] and Alex Michelsen won without dropping a set.

1973

Year that a Dutch player became the oldest man to win a match at Roland Garros

The player was 44 years old, and Stan Wawrinka would have been the first man over 41 since then to win a match at Roland Garros if he had come through today.

But the age isn’t the best detail of the story. It’s the mystery man’s identity (and a detail about a mid-match backrub that JW dug up).

Tiebreak Trivia

Stan Wawrinka was one of three men to beat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray at a Slam during their careers. Who are the other two, both retired?

💡 The answer will be in Day 3’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 1 answer: the Australian Open is the only Slam where Novak Djokovic has lost in the first round (2005 and 2006), and the opponent who went on to win the title and coach a current Top 20 player is Marat Safin.

Quick Hits

• Here’s the best seat in Paris that’s not at Roland Garros. View of the Eiffel Tower–check.

• Althea Gibson will be honored tomorrow for the 70th anniversary of her 1956 title, the first Slam ever won by a Black player. She is also front-and-center in the on-site museum’s new exhibit on women’s tennis.

• Daniel Merida’s serve hit the tape, then the net post, then bounced in. What’s the call?

• Thanasi Kokkinakis won the longest match of the day, a four-hour-18-minute battle over Terence Atmane. Kokkinakis came back from 2-5 in the fifth set to win–with a little help from Atmane, who whiffed an overhead and netted another in the homestretch.

• Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who won the US Open mixed doubles title last year, are the top seeds in the Roland Garros mixed. Here’s the full draw.

• Remember the name: Akasha Urhobo, a 19-year-old American who lost a close one today to Katie Boulter. The Athletic reports on her crush-and-rush style.

• Novak put the DJ in Djokovic. The song’s fun!

• Roger calls Wawrinka “Stanley” 🥹 ⬇️

🍿 Day 3 Matches

• Coco Gauff [4] vs. Taylor Townsend

• Felix Auger-Aliassime [4] vs. Daniel Altmaier

• Naomi Osaka [16] vs. Laura Siegemund

• Iva Jovic [17] vs. Alex Eala

• Marin Cilic vs. Moise Kouame [WC]

• Martin Landaluce vs. Juan Carlos Prado Angelo [WC]

• Emma Navarro vs. Janice Tjen

• Hsieh Su-Wei/Wang Xinyu vs. Daria Kasatkina/Camila Osorio

• Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos [1] vs. Marton Fucsovics/Marcos Giron

Full order of play

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Catch Up on Served’s Roland Garros Coverage

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Connect with us on socials.

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Context-free soundbite: “It wasn’t bullshit. It was shit.”

Welcome to Quick Served Day 1! Andy’s pumped, a Top 10 seed is out and Techy Sean had the best prediction of the day. Andy and Producer Mike run through the results—and one player’s unfortunate emergency.

Make sure to follow Served on our social channels and join us for daily live chats on Substack.

Bracket Busters

The biggest upset of the day put a big crack in the men’s draw when No. 148-ranked wild card Nishesh Basavareddy took out Taylor Fritz [7] 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-1. Fritz is rustier than red clay from rehabbing his knee tendinitis, but he gave Basavareddy credit for playing “incredibly well” and “hitting insane drop shots off crazy shots to hit [them] from.”

Jump to Andy's thoughts on the match

No. 28 seed Hayley Baptiste was the favorite on paper over Barbora Krejcikova, but many Chuckers took Krejcikova, the 2021 champion, in their brackets. She led a set and 5-2 in the second-set tiebreak before Baptiste pulled out the win 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 and set up a potential second-round popcorn match with Elena Rybakina [2].

Yet another Italian is on the heat map. Qualifier Federico Cina, ranked No. 238, became the second-youngest Italian to win a match at Roland Garros (the youngest is now the tournament favorite). The 19-year-old beat Reilly Opelka 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4.

Other upsets

• Diana Snigur def. Clara Tauson [21] 3-6, 7-5, 6-2

• Nuno Borges def. Tomas Martin Etcheverry [23] 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

82

Slams Novak Djokovic has played in his career, a new record

On Sunday, Djokovic broke the three-way tie for most Slams played between him, Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez. He also tied Richard Gasquet for the most appearances at Roland Garros at 22.

One more milestone: Djokovic added to his history-leading streak of consecutive first-round Slam wins. Standing at 76, the streak looked endangered when he lost the first set to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Day 1. Djokovic saw nine break points come and go before breaking the Frenchman’s massive serve and toughing out a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win.

🎤 Novak Djokovic

“It was a good match to be part of, three hours, just what the doctor ordered, at age 39. Here we go.”

Tiebreak Trivia

Speaking of Djokovic’s streak, his only two first-round losses at Slams came at the same tournament. Which one? (Bonus trivia: One of those two opponents went on to win the title and is currently coaching a Top 20 player. Who is it?)

💡 The answers will be in Day 2’s Quick Served newsletter.

Quick Hits

• The latest episode of Patrick Mouratoglou’s YouTube series includes a sobering revelation: Grigor Dimitrov has never had a drink.

• Maria Timofeeva says she was robbed—off the court. And it wasn’t the first time.

• Marta Kostyuk took the court on Sunday only a few hours after learning that a missile had struck close to her family’s home in Ukraine. In her own words.

• The Times has a great interview with Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champ who is playing his final Roland Garros. One time, he and a few journalists walked into a bar…

• The freak-out of the day went to Pierre-Hughes Herbert for a disputed line call.

• Novak Djokovic renewed his Roland Garros dance-off with the women’s No. 1. Your move, Aryna Sabalanka.

• On Tennis Channel, Chanda Rubin called this Novak Djokovic’s only misstep in his first-round match ⬇️

🍿 Day 2 Matches

• Gael Monfils [WC] vs. Hugo Gaston [WC]

• Iga Swiatek [3] vs. Emerson Jones [WC]

• Elina Svitolina [7] vs. Anna Bondar

• Flavio Cobolli [10] vs. Andrea Pellegrino [Q]

• Andrey Rublev [11] vs. Ignacio Buse

• Frances Tiafoe [19] vs. Elliott Spizzirri

• Leylah Fernandez [24] vs. Alycia Parks

• Rafael Jodar [27] vs. Aleksander Kovacevic

• Anastasia Potapova [28] vs. Maya Joint

• Zeynep Sonmez vs. Daria Kasatkina

Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!

Did You Miss the Roland Garros Previews?

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We have been following the University of Arkansas story closely since the school abruptly cut its men’s and women’s tennis programs without discussions with coaches or alumni. On Thursday, the university reversed its decision after a feverish fundraising effort by former players and other supporters. They came up with $5 million to fund the teams for two years, and the money will buy more than uniforms—it also buys the program time to find a long-term solution and keep college tennis at Arkansas.

Served talked to one of the alums behind the reinstatement effort, Simon Robinson, who played for the Razorbacks in the 1980s. The New Zealander explained how the group convinced the chancellor to reconsider the decision.

Robinson choked up several times discussing the ordeal of the last 20 days and what it meant for the Northern Arkansas tennis community to come together.

“You got to fight like a tennis player. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got to compete. You can’t give up. Our analogy was, Man, we’re down a set and a double break and John Isner is serving and it doesn’t look good. But you know what, you still have a chance. And we made it work,” Robinson said.

It’s an emotional and powerful interview that reveals how important NCAA tennis is to the greater American tennis community—and what other tennis alumni bases might face soon in the new age of college sports.

Context-free soundbite: “No, I did not take off my pants at Roland Garros.”

Allez! The Roland Garros draws are here, Andy and JW have made their picks and the Served Bracket Challenge is open for business! Watch the new episode to see how it all shook out at Served HQ.

Starting Sunday, we will drop daily Quick Served episodes and newsletters throughout Roland Garros and host daily live chats on Substack. Come geek out on the matches with the Served team and other Chuckers.

You have until the start of play on Sunday, May 24, to finalize your selections in the Served Bracket Challenge. We compiled tips from previous winners.

Play the Served Bracket Challenge

🍿 Early Popcorn Matches

ATP First Round

• Arthur Fils [12] vs. Stan Wawrinka

• Learner Tien [16] vs. Christian Garin

• Matteo Berrettini vs. Marton Fucsovics

WTA First Round

• Coco Gauff [4] vs. Taylor Townsend

• Iva Jovic [17] vs. Alex Eala

• Leylah Fernandez [24] vs. Alycia Parks

The Boycott TL;DR

Barring an upset of Jannik Sinner, the week-one story is going to be the player media boycott. As part of their fight for more prize money from the four Slams, the stars announced this week that they will do limited media during Roland Garros. Many of the Top 20 ATP and WTA players are on board, including both world No. 1s, Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner. Ben Rothenberg at Bounces has the full list.

Here’s the plan:

• Restrict pre-tournament interviews on Friday’s Media Day to 15 minutes.

• Limit post-match press to the rightholders’ on-court interview and the press conference.

• End press conferences after 15 minutes (though press conferences rarely last longer than 15 minutes anyway).

• Decline other interviews to major rightholders, including TNT, Eurosport and the tournament’s media team.

The 15-minute window is symbolic of the percentage of revenue the Slams currently award in prize mony. The players want at least 22%, which the 1000-level events pay out.

According to Eurosport, the French tennis federation will meet with player representatives on Friday. It issued the following statement:

“We regret this decision by the players, which penalizes all stakeholders in the tournament: the media, broadcasters, the federation teams, and the entire tennis family who enthusiastically follow each edition of Roland-Garros. The FFT maintains an ongoing dialogue with the players and has launched new initiatives to engage directly with them in recent weeks. The FFT is ready for a direct and constructive dialogue on governance issues, in order to give players a greater role in decision-making, contribute to their social protection, and improve the distribution of value."

Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said that prize money will not change this year, according to the Associated Press.

Looking ahead to Wimbledon, Tim Henman, who is on the All England Club board, has been meeting with players to try to avoid a similar demonstration there. The Guardian has the details.

Quick Hits

• Novak Djokovic has added fellow Serbian and retired player Viktor Troicki to his coaching team. They go way back. (Tennis.com)

• ICYMI: Andy caught up with Rafa Nadal to talk about his Netflix documentary (dropping next week) and what he knows about Carlos Alcaraz’s injury. Vamos!

• You can rewatch Gael & Friends, the tournament’s star-studded send-off for Gael Monfils, on the French Open YouTube channel. Here are the highlights.

• You can make like Carlos Alcaraz and wear Roland Garros’s clay. Lacoste used the actual terre battue in the dye for its latest collection. That’s extra.

• Le Royal Monceau Raffles Paris, a luxury hotel, led the glamorous activations and parties this week with plenty of tennis stars on hand. Everyone talked about the tennis-court swimming pool, but we love the mini chocolate Lenglen purses the most.

• Craig Shapiro’s love letter to the French Open nearly made us book a ticket to Paris tout suite. Tac tac tac.

• We are suckers for each Slam’s official web store. Roland Garros’s poster art collection is in the cart.

• The best thing Brad Gilbert ever did on clay. ⬇️

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