The Marta Kostyuk Interview & Jannik Sinner Coronation
Plus: Is Elina Svitolina at her best level ever?
Context-free soundbite: “I’m about to Ric Flair you!”
This week on Served, Andy and JW talk to Marta Kostyuk from Paris about her readiness for the French Open, and Producer Mike makes a bad bet involving backflips. Plus: the unplayable Jannik Sinner stats, lots of love for Elina Svitolina and Reilly Opelka weighing in on our latest poll.
Coming Up This Week on Served
Love All on Wednesday
Q&Andy on Thursday with Arthur Rinderknech
French Open Live Draw Show on Thursday
5 Setter on Friday
The latest stories that matter right now
French Open Watch List
We’re less than a week away from first ball in Paris. There is plenty to watch already as we slide into second Slam of the year.
Qualifying Is Underway
Qualifying runs through Friday, May 22, with 128 men and 128 women chasing 16 spots in each main draw. The fields include some notable names, such as Bianca Andreescu, Karolina Pliskova, Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin, who is playing for the 14th and final year.
Warm-Up Tournaments Are Going Strong
Several Top 20 men and women are playing the final tune-ups before Paris. These events wrap up on Saturday.
WTA 500 Strasbourg: Victoria Mboko, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Iva Jovic, Clara Tauson, Leylah Fernandez, Liudmila Samsonova, Daria Kasatkina
ATP 500 Hamburg: Ben Shelton, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ugo Humbert, Jakub Menšík, Tommy Paul
ATP 250 Geneva: Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, Alexander Bublik, Learner Tien, Alex Michelsen, Stan Wawrinka, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Arthur Rinderknech
One notable absence: Novak Djokovic skipped Geneva, where he played last year. He heads to Paris having played just one clay match this spring.
La Monf Gets His Moment Thursday Night
The highlight of fan week is a celebration of Gaël Monfils’s career before he plays his final Roland Garros. Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be there, along with DJ Martin Solveig and rapper Franglish. It will stream live on the Roland Garros YouTube channel on Thursday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. Paris time.
Served Bracket Challenge Opens Thursday
Can you beat Andy, Kim or JW in the French Open draw? Enter our Bracket Challenge and find out. We will break down the draw as soon as it drops Thursday, and your predictions are due by Sunday before the main draw starts.
Main Draw and Served Live Chats Begin Sunday
First-round action kicks off Sunday at 11 a.m. Paris time. Join our daily Substack chats to watch along with other Chuckers and Served’s team. See you on the clay.
Gut Check: Why Do Tennis Players Puke on Court?
Jannik Sinner joined an exclusive club in Rome yesterday by completing the Golden Masters 1000. He also renewed his membership to the least-exclusive club in tennis when he got sick on court during his semifinal.
Sinner already belonged to the Upchucker’s Club. In Beijing in 2023, he spent a changeover with his head in a trash can at his chair. Remarkably, he won that match versus Grigor Dimitrov.
It’s crazy how often tennis players are pushed to the puking point during a match. But there’s something even more insane than the startling frequency.
Can Sinner Win the Grand Masters 1000?
Five down, four to go. Jannik Sinner is now over halfway to a feat no one has ever achieved in tennis: winning all nine Masters 1000 tournaments in a single year. Before we turn the page to summer Slams, let’s preview where Sinner will stand when the Masters return in August.
58
Break points saved by Elina Svitolina in her title run in Rome
Svitolina faced 76 break points in her six matches in Rome, which would be a dubious stat if she hadn’t overshadowed it by saving 58 of them and winning the title. It was her third Italian Open and first in eight years.
In the quarterfinal, the 31-year-old fought off 16 of 20 match points against Elena Rybakina, a former Rome champion who won Stuttgart in April. Svitolina won 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 23 minutes.
Svitolina needed another epic display of resilence in the final against Coco Gauff. She saved 14 of 17 break points in the 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 win over nearly three hours.
According to OptaAce, it’s the most break point saved at a WTA 1000 since since 2021, when OptaAce began tracking WTA matches.
With her 20th career title, Svitolina put herself high on the list of French Open contenders. How high? Andy gauged her chances in today’s episode.
Quick Hits
The Italian Open arranged for pediatric cancer patients to escort players onto the court. Sofia stole our hearts.
At 36, Sorana Cirstea became the oldest player to make her WTA Top 20 debut with her semifinal run in Rome. She is No. 11 in the race and has no points to defend in the near future.
In the NCAA tennis championships last weekend, Dylan Dietrich came through in the clutch for Virginia against Texas in the final. You’re going to want to see how it ended.
The women of Texas A&M dominated Auburn for the program’s second NCAA title in three years. Sorry, Matthew McConaughey.
Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli are the first all-Italian team to win the men’s doubles title in Rome in the Open Era. Life is beautiful.
Ben Rothenberg reports that coach Wim Fissette is on the bag for Victoria Mboko. Don’t get too excited, though.
Marta Kostyuk’s spring: Madrid title, viral backflip, Harvard Business School.
We’ll have what she’s having. ⬇️
SQUASH: At 18 years and 10 months, Amina Orfi became the youngest woman to lift the world squash championship trophy, defeating eight-time champion Nour El Sherbini in five games, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 7-11, 14-12, in Giza, Egypt, on Saturday. At one hour and 46 minutes, the match was the longest ever at the world championships.
PADEL: Kate Middleton is a padel princess.
BADMINTON: Indonesia is in a state of panic after its badminton team, a source of national pride, lost before the group stage of the Thomas Cup world championships for the first time in the competition’s 68-year history. Indonesia hosts the event, and the government (not just the sport’s government) has been dealing with the fallout since the early-May upset. With the Indonesia Open beginning June 2, it’s a great story to watch to understand the cultural power of sports.
PICKLEBALL: Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao is launching a professional pickleball league in the Philippines called the Maharlika Pi
lipinas Pickleball Tour. May the sport will find its Alexandra Eala.
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