Rome Chaos, Jodar Hype & Boycott Buzzkill

Plus: Is Sinner a Nadal-level favorite in Paris?

May 12, 2026

Context-free soundbite: “I’m either going to be the guy who shot Bambi or I’m like, everyone loves me.”

This week on Served, Andy and Producer Mike look at the upset-ridden Rome results at the halfway point and peek ahead to Paris. Is Jannik Sinner as much a favorite to win Roland Garros this year as Rafael Nadal was in any given year? Yeah, Andy went there.

You’ll want to hear Andy’s and JW’s takes on the fields before you fill out your French Open bracket next week.

Coming Up This Week on Served

Love All on Wednesday with Carson Branstine
Q&Andy on Thursday
5 Setter on Friday

Enjoy the new episode and this week’s bonus stories.

Watch the Full Episode on YouTube

The latest stories that matter right now

French Open Wild Cards Are Here

Moise Kouame and Gael Monfile (ATP Tour/Getty Images)

Roland Garros released the names of 32 players who received invitations to the main draws and qualifying draws.

No surprise: 2015 champ Stan Wawrinka and retiring French legend Gael Monfils.
Big surprise: Former quarterfinalist Kristina Mladenovic and retiring Belgian David Goffin relegated to the qualifying draws.
Ones to watch: French hypes Moise Kouame and Ksenia Efremova, both 17. In March, Kouame became the youngest person to win a Miami Open match since Rafael Nadal in 2003. Efremova is a Mouratoglou Academy product and reigning Australian Open junior champion.
Sounds familiar: Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard, the sister of No. 53–ranked Giovanni, received a qualifying wild card.
Full French Open wild card list

Key French Open dates

Monday, May 18: Qualifying begins
Thursday, May 21: Draws made and Served Bracket Challenge opens
Sunday, May 24: Main draw begins

Jannik Sinner Plays for History Today

If Jannik Sinner wins today’s round of 16 match against Italian qualifier Andrea Pellegrino, he will tie Novak Djokovic’s record of 31 consecutive Masters 1000 victories.

Sinner moved past Roger Federer (29 matches) with win No. 30 Monday over Alexei Popyrin. Sinner avoided a rematch with the last person to beat him, Jakub Mensik (Doha in February), when Mensik lost to Popyrin in the second round. Sinner would face either Andrey Rublev or Nikoloz Basilashvili in the quarterfinal for the outright record.

Sinner is in a position to reap the benefits of Carlos Alcaraz’s absence from the clay season caused by a wrist injury. Sinner also has these records in his sights:

Career Golden Masters 1000 if he wins Rome
First Italian man to win Rome in 50 years, after Adriano Panatta in 1976
Join Rafael Nadal as the only men to sweep the clay Masters 1000 tournaments in a single season by winning Rome
Career Grand Slam if he wins the French Open
The first-ever Grand Masters 1000—sweeping all Masters in the calendar year—which is sounding less outlandish every week

Iga Swiatek’s Coach Injures Himself in Practice

Francisco Roig (Getty Images/Robert Prange)

When they arrived in Rome, Iga Swiatek and her coach, Francisco Roig, practiced on the beautiful pop-up court in the Piazza del Popolo. The city-center court has treated fans who can’t make it to the tournament to hitting sessions by Swiatek, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas, among others.

It’s a playful setting, and that day, Swiatek and Roig wrapped it up with a game of mini-tennis, complete with a $120 wager.

It cost Roig a lot more. He tore his Achilles tendon.

Roig went to Poland for surgery and returned to Rome in time to see Swiatek get through a stern test from Caty McNally in her opening round, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.

However, now he has to coach the No. 4 seed from the sideline.

“It’s not easy right now in the practices because he can’t be next to me. But we’ll make it work,” Swiatek said.

So far, so good. The three-time Italian Open champ is into the quarterfinal against Jessica Pegula tomorrow.

Perfect Delivery: Joust Chillin’

Served’s social team (digitally) spotted Taylor Fritz, who is sitting out of Rome, hitting the Renaissance Pleasure Faire near Los Angeles swathed in a lace-up white shirt. Social Sophie asked on Instagram if he partook in the traditional cuisine. Fritz, ever a good sport, played along in the replies.

Meanwhile, Fritz’s fellow Americans met up for a gelato run in an actual Renaissance city just as the Italian Open got underway last week.

Sir Taylor is the top seed in next week’s Geneva Open and is expected to play the French Open.

19

Consecutive games Jessica Pegula won in Rome, including a double bagel

Pegula opened a bakery in the early rounds of Rome, beating Zeynep Sonmez 6-4, 6-0, then Rebeka Masarova 6-0, 6-0, the first double bagel in her 735 Tour-level matches at that point. The WTA compiled a video of all 12 of Pegula’s game points.

🎤 Jessica Pegula
“At one point, [Makarova] smiled at me at the net and said, ‘That was cruel.’ It made me chuckle when I processed it. But if you ask any player on the circuit, they would all accept a victory like that.”

They would also do anything to avoid a double bagel defeat, as Andy said when he talked about Daniil Medvedev’s shocking 0-and-0 loss to Matteo Berrettini last month in Monte Carlo.

Quick Hits

Naomi Osaka is releasing a short film today with scenes from the Met Gala and the WTA Tour. (via Jessica Schiffer/Hard Court)
The quarterfinals of the NCAA Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Championships will be on ESPN+ Friday and Saturday. With most top seeds still alive, the duals are all heavy-hitters.
The International Tennis Federation will not immediately follow the International Olympic Committee’s lead and allow players from Belarus to compete under the country’s flag, per the AP. This could change in October.
Venus and Serena walked into a roast... ⬇️

PADEL: The D.C. Matrix will join in the Pro Padel League this summer, relocating to the capital from Arkansas. Also, it’s pronounced paddle.
TABLE TENNIS: China won both the men’s and women’s titles at the 100th World Team Table Tennis Championships in London. It was the 12th consecutive title for the men and seventh for the women. Relive the historic event through The Guardian’s photo essay.
PICKLEBALL: The Professional Pickleball Association season wrapped up Sunday with the PPA Finals. Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio went undefeated in men’s doubles in 2026. Find all the winners here. Next for the stars: a summer of team-based Major League Pickleball, starting May 22.
SQUASH: The sport is buzzing about the arrival of 19-year-old Lauren Baltayan, a French junior champ who scored her first pro win at the prestigious Giza tournament last week in Egypt. She took out world No. 28 Lucy Turmel. Get to know the Pocket Rocket.