French Open Today

The men

No major upsets, but some interesting matches just ahead.  They include:

1) Bernie Tomic vs Borna Coric.: Two young players; the first a little nuts, the second very driven, and both quite talented.

2) Davbid Ferrer vs Juan Monaco:  Ferrer is a bit more vulnerable than a few years ago, and Monaco is a great clay court player.  He won the US clay court championships earlier this year.  Expect some long points!

3) Raonic vs Mannarino:  Mannarino is kind of a tough out to face early.  Should be interesting to see how Raonic handles it.

4) Jack Sock vs Dustin Brown.  Sock has that great forehand and is quite a lot of fun to watch.  Brown is a fantastic shot-maker and shows that you can be extremely entertaining to watch without acting like an idiot.

The women

Kerber and Azarenka out.  Kerber went down to Kiki Bertens (current rank, 58) as her spotty play since winning in Australia continues.  Azarenka retired in the third set against Karin Knapp with, guess what?  Another injury, this time to the right knee.  Azarenka is a walking orthopedics textbook. 

Interesting upcoming matches:

1) A. Radwanska vs Garcia.  Aggie should prevail, but Garcia is very dangerous and is playing on her home turf (should I say “dirt”?).  Could be fun to watch.

2) Louisa Chirico vs Venus Williams.  How far has Chirico’s game developed?  We might get a feel for that in this match.  Venus is not on her best surface, but is obviously a top player.  A couple of things about Venus: One of the interesting features of Sjogren’s Syndrome, with which Venus has been diagnosed, is that it often simply disappears.  Venus’ play over the past several months suggests she has been fortunate enough to have this condition subside.  Also, don’t worry about retinal exhaustion if you watch Venus.  She’s traded in her blinding outfits of 2015 for more visually soothing garb.

3) Eugenie Bouchard vs Timea Bacsinszki.  Bouchard has a world of talent but has struggled to maintain her form.  She now suggests that her problems are psychological, and has apparently developed some issues with excessive weight loss.  When a young female pro tennis player isn’t eating, attention should be paid.  Bacsinszki is a very dangerous player, seeded 8.   Expect her to win, but it will be interesting to see how Bouchard is doing.

4) Taylor Townsend, who had to play her way to a wild card, is still in it.  She can really hit a tennis ball!  She will play Elina Svitolina, seeded 18, a very tough opponent.  One might expect clay to be a good surface for Townsend.  Let’s see.