Tennis

Neither the pioneer nor the present-day popularizer of the underhand serve has been in Paris this year during the French Open.Michael Chang, who won the tournament with a clutch use of the serve in 1989, is back in the United States, spending time with his wife, Amber, and their three young children. Nick Kyrgios is back in Australia, spending time on social media as a freelance tennis critic, which should make for some testy conversations with his peers when he finally does return to the circuit in person.But Chang’s and Kyrgios’s legacy has been on frequent display in the first week of the Grand Slam tournament.Underhand serves, once broadly considered underhanded in the sport, have been popping up in the autumnal gloom like mushrooms in the French countryside.Peak season may have been Wednesday. In the stretch of a couple of hours, you could watch Alexander Bublik hold serve with an underhander (it seems time for a punchy, one-word term), see Sara Errani save a match point with one and watch Mackenzie McDonald save nothing at all with a floating, sacrificial offering of an underhander that the 12-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal pounced on for a return winner en route to a 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 victory.“If he’s winning, it’s a good tactic; if he’s losing, it’s a bad tactic,” Nadal said. He added that, for example, it was “not a good tactic” for Mackenzie. For Bublik, he said, “if that works,” it was “a good tactic.”Unfortunately for Bublik, it did not work often enough. He lost his second-round match to Lorenzo Sonego in a duel that was also brimming with other tennis exotica, like serve-and-volley tactics and tweeners.With Kyrgios taking a break because of the coronavirus pandemic, Bublik is clearly the standard-bearer for the underhander.“I’m missing my boy Nick here,” Bublik said in an interview. “We would do 25 in a week.”A tall and flickering talent from Kazakhstan, Bublik, like Kyrgios, has a thunderous first serve that only makes his underhanded efforts all the more unsettling for the opposition.It is the tennis equivalent of a changeup from a flame-throwing relief pitcher, but Bublik knows he cannot go to it too often, or the element of surprise is gone.He has been deploying it once or twice a match in recent tournaments. At the German Open last week, he aced Felix Auger-Aliassime with one in a first-round victory and aced Cristian Garin with another in a quarterfinal defeat, as Garin voiced his displeasure with the tactic.In Paris, he aced Gaël Monfils in the first round and Sonego at 4-5 in the opening set, before missing another underhand serve in the tiebreaker.Bublik actually prefers the term “underarm serve,” which has its supporters.“To be honest, serving a good underarm serve is very tough,” Bublik said. “I really practice.”That does seem the path forward, particularly after watching McDonald’s unsuccessful effort.“Mackie’s was terrible,” said Paul Annacone, the veteran coach and Tennis Channel analyst. “I think you should practice it a bit if you are going to use it. I do believe a good underarm serve is warranted in today’s game.”With leading players like Nadal and Dominic Thiem and rising players like Sonego often standing back by the line umpires to return, there is certainly room for a serve that is designed to function like a drop shot. Not only do underarm serves land closer to the net, they often pose a timing challenge, because the server does not make a long, high toss and instead flicks the ball forward at a moment when a windup would usually begin.“We have never had players stand back that far before to return serve,” Chang said on Wednesday night. “From a tactical standpoint, it makes logical sense.”Chang’s memorable underhand serve at the 1989 French Open was an act of desperation, not strategy. At age 17, he was facing the No. 1 seed, Ivan Lendl, in the fourth round and had rallied from a two-set deficit but was cramping badly in both legs in the fifth set.At one stage, Chang actually started walking toward the chair umpire, Richard Ings, to retire from the match, but he stopped short because he said he felt as if God was telling him to keep pushing.Serving at 4-3, 15-30 in the fifth set, Chang could feel that Lendl was on his way to breaking him again, and with his legs hurting, he decided, quite spontaneously, to try the first underhand serve of his career.It landed short, and a surprised Lendl managed to dash forward and return it, but he could not handle the subsequent Chang passing shot. Chang went on to hold serve to 5-3 and then to break Lendl, who double-faulted on match point. Chang won, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.“If they play that match 20 times, Michael wins it once,” said Jose Higueras, Chang’s coach at the time.Chang went on to win the tournament, his only Grand Slam singles title, and more than 30 years later, it is that underhand serve that still sticks with those who remember his success; many mistakenly recall the Lendl match as the final.But surprisingly, in a sport where success quickly generates imitation, Chang’s masterstroke did not start a trend. That is partly because of an unwritten code that framed the shot negatively, as an unsporting, showboating attempt to make an opponent look bad.When Martina Hingis tried a couple of underhanders under duress against Steffi Graf in their tumultuous, irresistible French Open final in 1999, the French crowd turned against Hingis, who went on to lose.After Chang, no man attempted it in a high-profile match for decades. Ivo Karlovic, a towering Croat with one of the best serves in history, tried one that worked against Tommy Haas in 2007. But generally, when somebody did attempt the shot, as the Frenchman Mikael Llodra did a few times during his career, he practically had to apologize.“I was feeling so bad on court that I was just trying something fantastical to try to get a breath of fresh air,” Llodra said in 2011 after a lopsided loss to Robin Soderling.Another French player, Virginie Razzano, also tried a few during the 2010s when she was struggling with her serve. So did Errani, who has struggled with hers throughout her career and has resorted to the tactic more than any active player.On Wednesday, in a wild ride of a three-setter against Kiki Bertens, Errani served for the match at 6-5 in the third set and tried four consecutive service tosses without being able to pull the trigger. She finally went back to the underhand serve and lost the point. She later saved a match point with another underhander before losing, 7-6, 3-6, 9-7.“There are days where it is really bad,” Errani said, adding that she had “just tried to compete with everything I have.”But increasingly, the underhander has become a show of strength instead of weakness. Kyrgios, who relishes playing mind games with opponents, has brought it back into vogue, irking Nadal last year when he used it in Acapulco and then acing him with it again at Wimbledon.Nadal seems to have to come to terms with it — tennis’s rule book clearly allows it — but still views the trend through a moralistic lens.“If you do it with the goal to improve your game, or like a tactical thing, I support it 100 percent,” Nadal said Wednesday. “If you do it to disrespect the opponent, it is not a good thing. Everybody knows internally if you are doing it in a good way or a bad way.”Monica Niculescu tried an underhander against the feisty American Danielle Collins in the first round. Collins roared after she won the point but said it was not because she had taken umbrage.“I was just pumped I saw it coming,” she said. “I approve of people thinking outside the box and being creative.”Ultimately, the shot will thrive or wither based on results, and Chang, who tried it only once during his career, certainly liked his results.“I have never lost a point serving underhand,” he said.Ben Rothenberg and Karen Crouse contributed reporting. More

How to watch: 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Tennis Channel; streaming on the Tennis Channel app.After many crowd favorites like Daniil Medvedev and Alison Riske lost in the first round of the French Open, Wednesday offers an opportunity for stability. The two main courts, Philippe Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen, will be primarily populated by familiar faces, with five former major champions and two more tour finals champions on display. But the outside courts may provide some of the more interesting matches because they are less likely to be one-sided affairs.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are at best a guess and are certain to fluctuate based on the times at which earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.COURT Suzanne Lenglen | 8 a.m.Dominic Thiem vs. Jack SockIn the first round, Dominic Thiem dispatched the former U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic in three sets. It helped allay questions about whether Thiem’s lack of preparation on red clay would harm his ability to perform after acclimating to hardcourts during his title run at the United States Open. Thiem, who finished as the runner-up at the past two French Opens, is using the first few rounds at Roland Garros as training fodder.On the other side of the net, Jack Sock is still working on bringing himself back to his highest level. In 2017, Sock was a semifinalist at the ATP Tour finals, an impressive feat for a player who had never reached the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam tournament. But Sock has struggled with his singles game since then, and he seemed to enjoy himself much more on the doubles court, winning a pair of Grand Slam titles and the ATP Tour finals alongside Mike Bryan.Sock’s singles ranking fell as low as 768th at the beginning of the year. Now, ranked 310th, he needed to go through the qualifying rounds before playing in the main draw. The road back to his best will be full of challenges, which Sock faces with humor by saying of Thiem, “I heard he played all right in New York.” Let’s hope he can properly keep his spirits up as he works his way back toward the heights of men’s tennis.COURT PHILIPPE CHATRIER | 7 a.m.Serena Williams vs. Tsvetana PironkovaSerena Williams, ranked ninth, came back from a breakdown in her first set against Kristie Ahn to win in a tiebreaker before storming through the second set without losing a game. Following a pattern we saw with some regularity in the U.S. Open, Williams can start some of her matches slowly before coming into form and dominating.For this reason, some question whether Williams is capable of chasing down a 24th Grand Slam singles title. While some criticism is fair, it’s undeniable that Williams is still a contender, having reached at least the semifinals at five of her nine major tournaments since returning to the WTA tour.Tsvetana Pironkova lost to Williams in the quarterfinals in a tight three-set match, and looked dominant in her first-round victory over Andrea Petkovic. Pironkova, a quarterfinalist at the 2016 French Open, has not always favored clay courts, which are much different from the grass courts on which she thrives.Williams will be a heavy favorite, but if Pironkova can start well there is a chance she can overwhelm the 23-time Grand Slam champion.Court 13 | 9 a.m.Casper Ruud vs. Tommy PaulCasper Ruud, the son of the former player Christian Ruud, became the first Norwegian to win an ATP title, in February at the Argentina Open on clay. In the run-up to the French Open, he reached the semifinals at the Italian Open and the German Open, losing to Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev.Ruud, 21, is a natural clay-court player, using his consistency to exhaust and draw errors out of his opponents. In the longer, five-set format of the French Open, these strengths are complemented even more. Even if an opponent can grab a set off Ruud, his ability to entrench deep in the court and absorb pressure will serve him well.Tommy Paul, ranked 58th, had his best Grand Slam result at the Australian Open, reaching the third round before losing to Marton Fucsovics. In Melbourne, Paul defeated Grigor Dimitrov in five sets, but that defeat was soon forgotten as Dimitrov trounced Paul in their first-round meeting at the U.S. Open.Paul, naturally a good hardcourt player, has struggled with consistency on his backhand side. The two-hander tends to feel somewhat stilted, especially when put in contrast with Paul’s smooth forehand strokes. It is likely that Ruud will target his backhand with a variety of shots to figure out which will extract the largest number of errors.Court 14 | 5 a.m.Sara Errani vs. Kiki BertensKiki Bertens, the fifth seed, was a semifinalist at the 2016 French Open, but has failed to make it into the second week of competition in Paris since then. Her struggles on clay seem to have continued, as she lost in the first round at the Italian Open as well as a tournament in Strasbourg, France.Bertens does have some variability in her game, which can help throw off opponents who would rather settle into long repetitive points. If she can settle herself and limit unforced errors, she may still be able to put together a run.Sara Errani, a former French Open finalist, last played in the main draw of a Grand Slam event at the 2018 French Open. After failing a drug test in 2017 and subsequently having her ban retroactively extended in 2018, she struggled to return to the level of competition necessary to succeed on the WTA tour.However, Errani is well known as a clay-court specialist, and after storming through the qualification rounds without dropping a set, she dismantled Monica Puig in the first round in under an hour, losing only three games. The former world No. 5 will be a tough test for Bertens as she attempts to shake off her clay-court collywobbles. More

Kristina Mladenovic had reason to complain after blowing a 5-1 lead at a Grand Slam tournament for the second time this month.As rain roiled play elsewhere at the French Open on Tuesday afternoon, Mladenovic quickly took her comfortable lead in the first set of her opening-round match under the new retractable roof over Philippe Chatrier Court against Laura Siegemund. Then, just as at the United States Open, it all came undone.On her first set point, Mladenovic hit a sharp, short backhand drop shot which Siegemund hurtled toward, reaching her racket under the ball and sending it barely back across the net.Mladenovic could not return it, but immediately appealed to the chair umpire, Eva Asderaki-Moore, saying that her drop shot had bounced twice before Siegemund reached it. When Asderaki-Moore shook her head in disagreement, Mladenovic covered her mouth in disbelief, but protested no further.Slow-motion replays later confirmed that the ball indeed bounced twice, meaning Mladenovic should have won the point and the set.Siegemund won the next two points, holding serve to pull to 2-5. Mladenovic had a second set point in the next game, and five more in the game after that, but could not convert any. Having saved seven set points, the last six without controversy, Siegemund leveled the first set and went on to win it and the match by a final score of 7-5, 6-3.Though Mladenovic admitted she “still had the result in my hands,” she said her mind-set was clouded by the missed call.“Probably I put a little bit less intensity in my focus,” Mladenovic said. “Even though I tried, I was a little bit away, I was still in that point thinking, ‘OK, I should have been in the second set already.’ It wasn’t easy.”Mladenovic blew an even bigger lead in her last singles match; in the second round of the United States Open earlier this month, Mladenovic led, 6-1, 5-1, and did not convert four match points in a 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0 loss to Varvara Gracheva.Mladenovic said her collapse in New York should not be compared to the one in Paris. “Because the set was mine,” she said. “It was just unlucky for me that the chair umpire didn’t do her job.”Mladenovic said she didn’t expect Siegemund to concede the point on her own. “But if she would have done it, she would have all my respect and be super fair play,” Mladenovic said. “Yeah, this thing didn’t happen. But she’s not the one responsible. I think the chair umpire is the one that should be really focused on that call.”Siegemund also believed the officials should be solely responsible for making the right call.“Depends on the situation: if it’s a close call and it’s a set point against you, I think it’s the umpire’s responsibility,” Siegemund said. “I’m coming running full speed; if in that call I say, ‘Oh, it was a double bounce,’ and later I see on the video it was not, I would be angry at myself.”Siegemund, who won the mixed doubles title at the U.S. Open this month, also emphasized Mladenovic’s bevy of other opportunities to close out the first set.“There is a lot more room to close the set,” Siegemund said. “But if you want to jump on that one, you know, go ahead.”Both Siegemund and Mladenovic agreed that video replay review, which has never been used to adjudicate such calls in tennis, would be a welcome innovation.“To err is human,” Mladenovic said of the umpire. “Unfortunately, she will continue at Roland Garros; I will not continue at Roland Garros.”The missed call was only the latest in a series of September setbacks for Mladenovic. After her singles loss at the U.S. Open, she was disqualified from the doubles draw, where she was part of the top-seeded pair with Timea Babos, because she was identified as among a group of players who had spent time with Benoit Paire, who tested positive for the coronavirus.Mladenovic, who had been playing under tighter conditions than other competitors, was forced to isolate in her hotel for eight more days after her disqualification, hurting her preparation for the European swing on clay, her best surface.“I’m going to try to be a philosopher, and tell myself that if this has to happen, it has to happen in 2020, because seriously, it’s a hell of a year,” Mladenovic said. “I’m not sure what to say, I’m just wondering, why? Why does this happen? Why this sequence of bad spells?” More

At the only Grand Slam tournament where marathon matches are still allowed to drift endlessly into the unknown, Lorenzo Giustino and Corentin Moutet took more than six hours to finish Monday what had started a day earlier at the French Open.Giustino, an Italian qualifier ranked 157th, prevailed, 0-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), 2-6, 18-16, over the 71st-ranked Moutet of France. The match started Sunday but was suspended after nearly two hours because of rain, with Giustino leading by 4-3 in the third set. It resumed on Monday and ultimately lasted six hours five minutes, split between the two days.After rule changes instituted at the Australian Open and Wimbledon last year, each of the four Grand Slam tournaments now ends deadlocked final sets in its own fashion. The U.S. Open holds a first-to-seven tiebreaker at 6-6. The Australian Open has a first-to-10 tiebreaker at 6-6. And Wimbledon waits until 12-12 to play a first-to-seven tiebreaker.At the French Open, however, no such finish line has been drawn onto the powdery red clay surface: Final sets of main-draw singles matches continue beyond 6-6 until a player has a two-game lead.Giustino, who played his first Grand Slam main draw only earlier this year in Melbourne, did not realize the unique rule at Roland Garros until he was watching a first-round match Sunday between Jurij Rodionov and Jérémy Chardy, which Rodionov won, 10-8, in the fifth set.“I said, ‘No, there is no tiebreaker in the fifth?’” Giustino recalled asking his coach. “I said, ‘No, way, man.’ And so my coach said, ‘You know that you will go like 12-10, something like that, in the fifth.’ I always do like this in my matches — and look what happened.”Giustino indeed went long in qualifying even though tiebreakers were used. He won in a final-set tiebreaker in his first-round qualifying match, and 7-5 in the third set of his second round qualifying match.Monday’s match, perhaps surprisingly, did not break any records, coming in as the fourth-longest match in Grand Slam history, and the second-longest at the French Open by elapsed time. It did equal the mark for most games in the fifth set of a French Open match, tying the 34 games in which Paul-Henri Mathieu beat John Isner in 2012, and in which Facundo Bagnis defeated Julien Benneteau in 2014.Both those matches also featured French players, each packing thousands into the stands. But in this pandemic-era Grand Slam event, where the French government has capped spectators at 1,000 per day, Moutet was not able to even have his relatives who live near Roland Garros in attendance.“I am used to sharing it with my loved ones every year; it wasn’t possible this year,” Moutet said. “It’s a shame, but hey, it’s for the good of all, and it’s necessary. There are things that are more important than our well-being as tennis players.”As word of the interminable fifth set spread around the grounds, however, a decent contingent of people flocked to Court 14 to watch the conclusion.“It was really cool they came to see me, to encourage me, despite the small audience,” said Moutet, who spent some of his free time during the coronavirus hiatus writing and performing moody piano-driven rap music.“Frankly, there was everything for me to win this game, finally. Everyone did everything to make me win this game. I failed to win,” Moutet said. “It sure hurts.”Giustino, who is part of a deep crop of rising talent in Italian men’s tennis, said he thought he spotted some of his compatriots urging him on from the stands of Court 14, but he couldn’t be confident who was behind every mask.“I saw people who were trying to give me energy, and I thought, OK, this guy is not French for sure,” he said.After the longest match of his career, Giustino joked that he was ready for more.“Perfect,” he said. “Tomorrow I’ll go run a bit because I think I’m too fresh.”The match had ripple effects beyond Giustino, who will be a considerable underdog in the next round against the 12th-seeded Diego Schwartzman. It delayed all remaining matches scheduled on Court 14, including the one immediately after, which featured a three-time Grand Slam champion.Angelique Kerber, who needs only a French Open title to win each of the four Grand Slam events during her career, said she “was warming up more than 10 times” as she anticipated many possible finishes to the match that never came.“I couldn’t find my rhythm, especially at the beginning of the first set,” Kerber said after losing, 6-3, 6-3, to Kaja Juvan.The final match scheduled for Court 14, between Arantxa Rus and Clara Burel, was ultimately relocated to Court 7, but still became the first match in French Open history to finish after midnight, after the Grand Slam tournament in the City of Lights finally installed some for the first time this year.Burel won, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, at 12:10 a.m. on Tuesday. That, of course, was a French Open record. More

It’s an old story. A venture to Paris filled with hopes for sun and blue skies. Instead, the air is cold and blustery, the skies are gray and there is some rain, too.It is hardly great tennis weather this week, and it is definitely not French Open weather at Roland Garros. And that is wreaking all kinds of havoc for players used to dripping with sweat under the late-spring sun and seeing balls jump off their rackets, fly through the warm, dry air, and pop off the usually hard red clay.With temperatures stuck in the mid 50s, a crisp wind and intermittent rain throughout the first day of the tournament, Simona Halep, Coco Gauff and Johanna Konta were among those wearing tights and long sleeves. Andy Murray wore tights, too, as he lost to Stan Wawrinka, who wore a short-sleeved turtleneck.The wardrobe changes may help the world’s top tennis players adjust their body temperatures, but adapting to a ball that feels like a rock coming off their strings may prove harder.Victoria Azarenka, a United States Open finalist who made quick work of Danka Kovinic in her first-round match Sunday, had a warning the other day for anyone hoping for some semblance of what this tournament has delivered in the past.“It’s not going to be a regular Roland Garros where the balls bounce high enough and the courts are fast,” Azarenka said. “We will have to adapt every day.”“It’s cold, it’s heavier, it’s more difficult,” said Dominic Thiem, who won the U.S. Open two weeks ago on the strength of his searing forehand.Getting warm is one thing. Thermodynamics is another.Rafael Nadal, the 12-time French Open champion who will play a first-round match against Egor Gerasimov of Belarus on Monday, is not so happy, especially since his game relies on super-heavy topspin that makes his shots bounce above the eyes of his opponents.“These are new balls and balls that are much slower than in previous years,” Nadal said during a news conference after training last week. “But given the cold and humid conditions, they are very short.”Indeed, in addition to changing the timing of the tournament from spring to fall because of the pandemic, tournament organizers did change their ball sponsor and supplier to Wilson from Babolat. But Guy Forget, the tournament director, said the Wilson ball passed a series of performance tests and no ball can overcome the inevitable effects of the chilly and damp weather conditions that are expected to continue in the coming days.Cool humidity makes the ball wet, and subsequently heavier. A wet ball also picks up clay, which also adds weight.There are also far less obvious forces that will jostle the memories of anyone who endured a high school physics class.Warmer temperatures increase the speed and kinetic energy of the molecules inside the ball. When a ball hits the ground, it compresses, then springs back to its full size. The faster those molecules move, the more kinetic energy and bounce they produce.Also warm air is slightly less dense than cold air, allowing a ball to travel faster and longer because there is less drag, especially with a tennis ball, which does not have a smooth surface.“How much faster will depend on the assumed temperature difference between warm and cold weather,” said Adrian Bejan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University and an expert in thermodynamics.Bejan said higher humidity can help and on a hardcourt, damp air, which is a little less dense than dry air, might allow the ball to move faster. But the additional clay that the damp ball picks up during each point may very well diminish that effect.“Some of those balls we were using you wouldn’t give to a dog to chew,” said Daniel Evans of Britain, who lost to Kei Nishikori of Japan in five sets on Sunday. “It’s tough to get that ball to go anywhere.”Forget, who was once ranked as high as No. 4 in men’s singles, had this advice for players obsessing about the nontraditional behavior of the ball at a time when nothing about Grand Slam tennis is as it usually is: Deal with it, just as you would deal with the slippery grass that characterizes the first few days of play at Wimbledon compared with the hard, dry ground during the second week of the tournament.“This is part of what tennis is, playing in different conditions,” Forget said. “You have to adjust to it.”Adjustments can be both psychological and technical. The most basic move that players are making is loosening their strings. Looser stings increase the trampoline effect. John Isner, the big-serving American, has lowered the tension of his strings by roughly 15 percent.Not everyone is feeling bothered by the changes.“Me, I like the balls,” said Daniil Medvedev, the rising Russian with a quirky arsenal who has struggled to advance at Roland Garros and plays his first-round match Monday. “Tennis is a fun and interesting sport. Sometimes one player doesn’t like something, but another player will like it. So far, I love it.”As it nearly always does at Roland Garros, the conversation may begin and end with the performance of Nadal. He struggled at the Italian Open earlier this month. That tournament also took place in cooler than usual temperatures, and Nadal lost in straight sets on clay against Diego Schwartzman as his ball lacked its usual life.Nadal spent much of the pandemic training in the balmy climate of Mallorca, Spain, where he is from. One day into the tournament in Paris, one thing is very clear — he is not in Mallorca anymore.“We have to stay positive,” he said. “We have to play with these balls, I have to find the best game.”Karen Crouse contributed reporting from Paris. More

How to watch: From 3 a.m. Eastern to noon on Tennis Channel, and from noon to 3 p.m. on NBC; streaming on Tennis Channel and NBCSN apps.The twists of fate that determine tournament draws can seem quite cruel at times. Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal, who have faced each other in the past two French Open finals, are in the same half of the draw this time. Both start their campaigns on Sunday, with Nadal seeking his 13th French Open title and Thiem hoping to win his second consecutive Grand Slam tournament. But even without looking that far into the tournament, there are plenty of first-round matchups that seem as if they shouldn’t have happened until the third round at least.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are, at best, a guess and are certain to fluctuate based on the times at which earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Court Philippe-Chatrier | 10 a.m.Serena Williams vs. Kristie AhnSerena Williams, chasing a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title, is least comfortable on the red clay of Roland Garros — she has won only three of her major titles there. (Although it is a testament to her abilities that a tournament at which she has won titles can be considered weaker ground.) In the past three years, she has at least made it to the finals of each of the other Grand Slam events, but she has not made it past the fourth round at Roland Garros since 2018.At the United States Open this year, she seemed to leave every ounce of her energy on the court. Williams’s frustrations and ecstasies during her matches were broadcast as if to inform viewers that winning is not a straightforward process but a struggle that even one of the sport’s greats must grapple with every day. Now, she’ll face a familiar challenge on her path to victory in Kristie Ahn, a fellow American.Ahn and Williams faced each other in the first round of the U.S. Open as well, a bad break for Ahn. She reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open as a wild card in 2019 and seems perpetually on the brink of a breakthrough. With Williams once again in front of her, it seems unlikely that this year’s French Open will be her stage for that.COURT SUZANNE-LENGLEN | 9 A.M.Gaël Monfils vs. Alexander BublikGaël Monfils, the eighth seed, is unparalleled in his ability to entertain. An extremely athletic player, his pace allows him to sustain long points, and his use of circus shots is unique not just in variety but in frequency. Underlying the showmanship is a player who, on his best day, is capable of standing toe to toe with the world’s best. Although a regular in the second week of Grand Slam events, he has lost two matches in the lead-up to Roland Garros, and he will need to get up to speed quickly if he’s going to have a good result.Alexander Bublik, ranked 56th in the world, is best known for his serving ability. Many opponents tend to step back from the baseline to give themselves time to return it. But in a simple yet unorthodox counter, Bublik has taken up hitting low underarm serves sporadically, not only forcing his opponents to deal with an unusual ball, but making them shift their overall return positioning to be more to his liking. This strategy has drawn some ire from opponents, but there is nothing illegal or unsporting about it, and in a clay-court era defined by players like Nadal and Thiem, who both stand well behind the baseline, it may help rewrite the playbook.Court Philippe-Chatrier | NOONMarin Cilic vs. Dominic ThiemAt the U.S. Open, Thiem became the latest player to win a first major title as he outlasted Alexander Zverev in five sets. Before that, it was Marin Cilic, the winner of the U.S. Open in 2014, who was the latest first-time major champion.Cilic, who has not reached the final of a Grand Slam tournament since the 2018 Australian Open, has struggled to maintain the high level of play that made him a mainstay in the top 10 from 2014-18. In 2019, he did not even reach the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam, for only the second time since 2012. Cilic will now face the unenviable task of playing Thiem, who is both confident after his performance at the U.S. Open and generally more well suited for clay court tennis.Thiem has been a finalist at the French Open for the past two years, losing both times to Rafael Nadal. With his victory at the U.S. Open still fresh, Thiem is among the favorites to reach his third Roland Garros final, and, with Nadal having lost in the quarterfinals of the preparatory tournament in Rome, some think Thiem has a strong opportunity to challenge Nadal’s dominance.Thiem’s defensive game is well suited to clay, and with early reports on court conditions suggesting that this year’s surface at Roland Garros will be faster than in previous iterations, the sudden swing from hardcourts to clay may play into the hands of those who thrived in New York.COURT SIMONNE-MATHIEU | 8 A.M.Garbiñe Muguruza vs. Tamara ZidansekGarbiñe Muguruza, the 2016 French Open champion, was returning to her prime, reaching the final at the Australian Open, before the pandemic halted play. She had a disappointing result at the U.S. Open, losing in the second round to Tsvetana Pironkova, but showed upon her return to clay at the Italian Open that she is still on an upswing.During a run to the semifinals, she beat Victoria Azarenka and Coco Gauff before eventually losing in a tight three-set match against Simona Halep, the top seed at Roland Garros.Tamara Zidansek, a promising young Slovenian player, has a limited history on the WTA Tour, but at the lower levels of professional tennis, her greatest successes have come on clay courts. She is the two-time reigning champion of the Bol Ladies Open, hosted in Croatia on red clay, and she won the doubles competition at the Palermo Open alongside Arantxa Rus in August.Although she is faced with a nearly impossible task, Zidansek can make a good showing for herself. A good performance, even if it is a losing one, may give her the confidence that she can compete with established players on the biggest stages, and help her settle into her ascent on the tour. More

How to watch: From 3 a.m. Eastern to noon on Tennis Channel, and from noon to 3 p.m. on NBC; Streaming on the NBCSN app.The French Open begins on Sunday, with the first-round matches spread across three days instead of two in a departure from tradition. While some things have changed, the high level of play and the familiar faces are returning. Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka will be the marquee matchup around midday for U.S. audiences, but look out for a few more stellar matches to get this edition of Roland Garros off to a good start.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are at best a guess and are certain to fluctuate based on the times at which earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Court Philippe-Chatrier | NoonAndy Murray vs. Stan WawrinkaMurray and Wawrinka last met at a Grand Slam in the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2017. Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open champion, persevered in five sets. Now, with both major winners still recovering from lengthy injury spells, they meet in the first round.Wawrinka skipped the United States Open to play preparatory tournaments on red clay, winning a challenger-level event in Prague in August before withdrawing from the subsequent Prague Open in the quarterfinals. After a first-round loss to an Italian youngster, Lorenzo Musetti, at the Italian Open, Wawrinka will be looking for a quick turnaround.Murray, a three-time major champion, has always been known for his ability to grind away at opponents. At the U.S. Open this year, his first Grand Slam singles event following his return to the tour after hip surgery, he was true to form, winning a tough five-set match against Yoshihito Nishioka. Although it was a vintage performance from Murray, he lost in the second round to Felix Auger-Aliassime in three sets, clearly struggling with the effects of his previous slog.Although Murray has beaten Wawrinka in most of their encounters, Wawrinka holds a 3-1 lead on clay. Wawrinka’s advantage will only be enhanced by his recent play on clay, while Murray has focused on hardcourts for the past few months. Expect a battle of high-quality tennis fueled by a rivalry built on bigger stages.Court Philippe-Chatrier | 5 a.m.Jannik Sinner vs. David GoffinDavid Goffin, ranked No. 12, lost in the round of 16 at the U.S. Open to a surging Denis Shapovalov in four sets. Goffin has consistently stayed in the top 25 since 2014, but he has not won a title since 2017. A runner-up at the ATP Tour Finals in 2017, Goffin seems to keep scratching the surface of being a top-tier player. He has fallen short so far, and the next generation may usurp him.Among that generation is Jannik Sinner, who is 19. The exciting Italian prospect is ranked 74th but has an impressive record. At the Italian Open, he dispatched Benoît Paire in two quick sets before overtaking the world No. 6, Stefanos Tsitsipas, in three sets. He lost in the third round to Grigor Dmitrov in another tough three-set match and appears entirely unfazed by the records of the titans whom he has started to play regularly.Sinner won the only previous meeting between the two, on hardcourts in Rotterdam earlier this year. But in the five-set format of the Grand Slam tournaments, Sinner has not proved able to last. For Goffin, the physical and mental test of a marathon may be to his advantage.Court Suzanne-Lenglen | 10 a.m.Johanna Konta vs. Coco GauffCoco Gauff, the young American star, had her worst Grand Slam performance at this year’s U.S. Open, losing in the first round to Anastasija Sevastova. To think that Gauff, at 16, could be genuinely disappointed with a first-round loss is a testament to her skill.Johanna Konta does not take Gauff lightly. “It doesn’t matter if she’s 14 or 40,” Konta said. “I think she’s there for a reason. It’s going out on court respecting the player that I’m about to play. I’m going to be playing against the tennis she brings, not her social media following, not her persona.”For Konta, ranked No. 13, the French Open has been a strange tournament. Having competed at Roland Garros five times, she lost in the first round on her first four attempts and then surged to the semifinals in 2019 before losing to Marketa Vondrousova in two very tight sets.Konta’s style focuses heavily on offense, which generally suits her on the faster surfaces. Gauff, playing in her first French Open, will have a slight advantage with her counterstriking and her consistency, which allows her to draw out longer points and force errors. Even for casual fans, this will be a matchup well worth watching.Court Philippe-Chatrier | 10 a.m.Simona Halep vs. Sara Sorribes TormoSimona Halep, the top seed and the 2018 Roland Garros champion, comes into this year’s French Open as a clear favorite. She skipped the U.S. hardcourt swing this summer, citing concerns over handling of health protocols, and stuck to her favored surface. She has won two clay court tournaments in succession, the Prague Open and the Italian Open, demonstrating along the way that she could dispatch rivals like Garbiñe Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova with relative ease.Halep’s short, angled shots are supremely effective on clay and can pull even the most mobile opponents into awkward positions on the court. That will create many problems for Sara Sorribes Tormo, whose speed is not up to par with that of the top players.Sorribes Tormo, ranked No. 70, has never made it past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament. Although she is most comfortable on the red clay of southern Europe, her best skill, volleying, is better suited for doubles than for long, drawn-out points. Against Halep, her chances seem slim, but as any coach will point out, if you can play well without becoming intimidated by your opponent’s reputation, you can keep your head held high and learn from a loss. More

Andy Murray is set to play Stan Wawrinka in the first round of the 2020 French Open: a major matchup that could never have taken place so early at a Grand Slam tournament when both were at their peaks for much of the last decade.It remains remarkably unclear how many fans will get to see them in person.“Life works in funny ways sometimes,” said Daniel Vallverdu, who coached Murray and is now coaching Wawrinka.2020 has been particularly strange, and this pandemic edition of the French Open is no exception. It was postponed from its traditional May and June dates to September and October because of the tennis tour hiatus. Though the draw went ahead as scheduled in Paris on Thursday, French Open organizers are still facing big questions about this year’s event less than 72 hours before it is scheduled to begin on Sunday.The initial plan (after the postponement) was to host as many as 20,000 spectators per day at Roland Garros Stadium. But a resurgence in coronavirus cases in France in recent weeks has forced the tournament leadership to significantly reduce the number of people on site.On Wednesday, Olivier Véran, France’s health minister, announced that large planned events in many parts of France, including the Paris region, would be limited to no more than 1,000 people beginning Saturday.Though the French Open was still planning on hosting 5,000 spectators per day, that now seems unlikely if it does indeed go ahead. . On Thursday after the draw, Jean Castex, the French prime minister, said in a French television appearance that the 1,000-person daily limit applied not only to fans but to all accredited personnel on site. That would include players and their team members, officials, security workers, reporters, broadcast technicians and others. According to the French Tennis Federation, the number of those accredited far exceeds the 1,000-person limit.“There is no reason we would not apply the same rules to everyone,” Castex said, when pressed on the issue. More