Quick Served: Roland Garros Day 1
A major upset, bathroom humor and a new Novak record.
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.
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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.”
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!
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All the love and energy to Marta and Team Ukraine. The sports entertainment bubble is a nice diversion and pastime for us all, but the real world is still out there, happening live 🧸
In case of paywall, link to Stan Wawrinka interview:
https://www.thetimes.com/sport/tennis/article/stan-wawrinka-retirement-last-french-open-l9bsdq8tv