Medvedev ate clay
Medvedev ate clay br>The most promising before the start of the French Open among all Russians looked like the chances of Daniil Medvedev. He had a strong preparatory period for Roland Garros and won the Masters in Rome, his first clay title in this category. Of course, this victory did not automatically make him the favorite of the Parisian earthen venues, but at least Medvedev entered the number of contenders for the title, especially since the opportunity to climb to the first line of the world ranking should have become an additional motivation for him if successful.
However, Medvedev not only did not get close to the decisive matches, but generally flew out in the very first round, losing in four games to the Brazilian Thiago Zaibot-Wild from the second hundred of the ATP classification. Daniil reacted to the sensational defeat in a very paradoxical way, saying at a press conference that he was happy when the clay season ends. dry court, and I ate clay. I don't like it. I don't know if people like to swallow clay to have it in their bags, boots, white socks that you just have to throw away. I don't.»
A little further than Medvedev, another Russian winner of the clay Masters this season, only in Monte Carlo, Andrey Rublev, advanced on the grid. He reached the third round, where he lost to the Italian Lorenzo Sonego. The Russian, moreover, took the first two games, but the opponent rested and won the next three sets, one of them in a tie-break.
«
«I am devastated. I deserved this defeat with my game «, — only Rublev said after the match.
As a result, Karen Khachanov went farthest of all the Russians in the men's singles grid at Roland Garros. He managed to get to the quarterfinals, where he was stopped by Serbian Novak Djokovic. “Coming home with my head held high,” the Russian admitted immediately after that match, and he is probably even more proud of this result now, since he lost to the future winner.
src=»/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2b14919b0622e2011bba52164ad772d0.jpg» />
br>
Of course, it cannot be said that in the absence of the injured Rafael Nadal, the French Open became a cakewalk for Djokovic, but in the end, it was the four-set match with Khachanov that caused the greatest difficulties for the Serb. Even the Spaniard Carlos Alcaras, although he also took away one game from Djokovic, resisted less. The Serbian won the rest of the fights in three sets — including the final against the Norwegian Kasper Ruud.
Thus, Djokovic won a record, 23rd Grand Slam title. With this achievement he was already congratulated by Nadal, who has 22 majors left to win. After the victory in Paris, the Serbian will regain the title of the first racket of the world.
Mirro vs Alina. So far in absentia
The victory in the women's tournament «Roland Garros» was won by the first racket of the world Iga Sventek from Poland. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova achieved the best result among the Russians in the singles. She, like Khachanov, reached the quarterfinals, where she lost to Czech Carolina Muchova. The first racket of Russia Daria Kasatkina performed a little worse. She reached the fourth round of the competition, where she lost to Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
However, it was not Pavlyuchenkova or Kasatkin, but another Russian athlete, who made the entire tennis world talk about herself during the Paris tournament. It was Mirra Andreeva, who at the age of 16 made her debut in the women's professional tour and so far has been doing it just phenomenally, rapidly rising in the rankings. She qualified, becoming the youngest tennis player since 1995 who managed to do this in Paris, and then reached the third round, where she gave a real fight to the American Corey Gauff, one of the ten strongest tennis players in the world.
Andreeva was also remembered for her statements at press conferences, where she behaved so naturally that she aroused the delight of journalists who had seen many tennis stars. And after the competition, she gave an equally relaxed interview for Kasatkina's YouTube channel and ex-figure skater Natalya Zabiyako, which finally confirmed that a very charismatic tennis player is growing in Russia. At least not since the time of Maria Sharapova so much has been said about a Russian athlete of her age.
However, with Mirra Andreeva at the very end of the second week of Roland Garros, media attention switched to another young Russian woman. 15-year-old Alina Korneeva became the winner of the junior Roland Garros, thus winning the second Grand Slam tournament after the Australian Open this season.
Journalists, of course, asked her if she would like to repeat the path of Andreeva, to which they received a categorically negative answer. «I am Alina Korneeva, not Mirra Andreeva,» the champion of the junior Roland Garros said at a press conference, thus indicating a likely confrontation in the coming years for the Russian tennis crown.
The next Grand Slam tournament — Wimbledon — will be held in the suburbs of London from 3 to 16 July.