Federer, Roger

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      Roger Federer Pulls Out of French Open

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      The 20-time Grand Slam event champion withdrew after a brutal third-round match that lasted until early Sunday morning.PARIS — After winning a grueling third-round match that finished well after midnight, Roger Federer put an end to his French Open, withdrawing from the tournament on Sunday.Federer, 39, was scheduled to face ninth-seeded Matteo Berrettini of Italy in the fourth round on Monday, but decided he did not want to risk pushing himself beyond his comfort zone.Federer, seeded eighth, was playing in only his third tournament in the last 16 months after two knee operations in 2020. Though he won the French Open in 2009 and has had strong clay-court results in his career, he ruled out his chances of winning before this year’s tournament even began, recognizing that he had played too little to be able to succeed on clay in a long series of best-of-five-set matches.Federer, the oldest player in this year’s men’s singles tournament, was also in a brutal half of the draw. It includes his two main rivals: No. 1 seeded Novak Djokovic and No. 3 seeded Rafael Nadal, a 13-time French Open champion.“After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation, it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery,” Federer said in a statement. “I’m thrilled I have gotten three matches under my belt. There is no greater feeling than being back on the court.” More

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      Federer Escapes With a Win in a French Open Night Match

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      Still, he expressed doubt about his ability to play his fourth-round match Monday against Matteo Berrettini.PARIS — In a third-round night match that ended at 12:45 a.m. Sunday in a nearly empty center court, Roger Federer managed to summon the energy and inspiration to hold off Dominik Koepfer, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 7-5. “It was definitely unique in many ways, and I’m happy I found a way, also especially emotionally,” the 39-year-old Federer said. “How do you handle losing that second set? How do you handle to keep pushing yourself on and trying to feed off the energy of the team and all the people watching on TV?”“I was in many ways also playing for them,” Federer said of the viewers.Federer first played the French Open in 1999 as a teenager on a sunlit afternoon, losing to Patrick Rafter. Twenty-two years later, he had the dubious honor of playing in his first French Open night session. The sessions, new this year and created in part to increase television revenue, are being held without paying spectators because of pandemic curfew restrictions in Paris.There’s nothing quite like it ❤️ pic.twitter.com/A5SCKFptrs— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) June 6, 2021
      Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and now Federer have all played and won under the lights, but Federer came closest to big trouble, needing 3 hours 35 minutes to prevail.Next up: a daunting fourth-round match on Monday with Matteo Berrettini of Italy, but only if Federer decides to play. This is only his third tournament in 16 months after two knee surgeries, and he said he would make a final decision on whether to remain in the French Open only after seeing how his body reacted to Saturday night’s grueling match. Wimbledon, which begins June 28, remains his main priority.“I don’t know if I’m going to play,” he said of the Berrettini match. “I will discuss with the team, and I go from there.”It was not a great escape against Koepfer — Federer faced no match points and was not pushed to a fifth set — but it was certainly an escape.Koepfer, an unseeded German who did not begin playing tennis seriously until age 16, often extended the rallies by playing from well behind the baseline in the heavy, late-evening conditions. He was repeatedly rewarded with mis-hits and miscues by Federer. The Swiss star finished with 63 unforced errors to 51 winners.“I guess business needs to keep moving,” Federer said of the new time slot. “But one thing’s for sure: Days and nights on clay make a huge difference. You cannot compare the two, whereas on hardcourt, you feel it’s quite similar.”Federer was down a break of serve in the third set before recovering. In the fourth set, Koepfer lost his serve at 1-1 with a backhand error. After the chair umpire had descended from his chair to confirm the ball mark, Koepfer crossed to the other side of the net and, after looking back over his shoulder to make sure the chair umpire was not watching, leaned forward and spit angrily on the ball mark and wiped it with his foot.Other officials were watching, however, and Koepfer was given a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Though he started the next game at a 15-0 disadvantage, he still managed to break Federer back as the Swiss player missed a series of forehands. Koepfer shouted triumphantly, and Federer shouted in frustration toward his box, both men’s voices reverberating through the stadium.Only journalists, officials, tournament staff members and the players’ teams were in attendance.“Thanks for not falling asleep, everybody,” Federer said with a wave to the few, the very few, in the stands. More

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      At the French Open, Serena Williams Moves to the Fourth Round

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      At the French Open, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion defeated her fellow American Danielle Collins, 6-4, 6-4, in her most convincing performance of the week.PARIS — Serena Williams’s tennis dress was green and billowed in the breeze. The tape on her right thigh was white and tight.It was a fashion clash, surely not what Williams had in mind when she approved this French Open ensemble. But the tape was a fitting symbol of her determination and persistence at age 39.Williams is not at her peak, and she looked rusty indeed when she returned to the tour and the red clay in Italy last month. But she is serving and scrapping her way into a much better place in Paris, and on an overcast Friday afternoon at a lightly populated center court, she produced her most convincing performance of the week to defeat a fellow American, Danielle Collins, 6-4, 6-4.The match was less straightforward and symmetrical than the score. Collins, who reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros last year, led by 4-1 in the second set after holding serve at love. The momentum appeared to have shifted, but Williams lifted, Collins dipped, and Williams did not lose another game.“Today in particular, this whole week thus far, I just needed a win,” Williams said. “I needed to win tough matches. I needed to win sets. I needed to win being down. I needed to find me, know who I am. Nobody else is Serena out here. It’s me. It’s pretty cool.”The one and only Serena is now back in the fourth round of the French Open, which is not unusual for a player who has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles but is extraordinary at this advanced stage of her game.“I needed to find me, know who I am. Nobody else is Serena out here.”Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesShe is the oldest woman to reach the round of 16 in singles at Roland Garros in the Open era, surpassing her older sister Venus, who was 36 when she reached that round in Paris in 2017.“I personally can’t imagine still playing at this level at almost 40 years old,” said Chanda Rubin, a former top 10 player who is now a Tennis Channel analyst. “People get used to things, and we’re all guilty of it. You start seeing it more often, and it becomes less amazing, but what she’s doing is still amazing to me.”Success among older athletes is all the rage with Phil Mickelson winning the P.G.A. Championship last month at 50, Tom Brady winning a Super Bowl in February at 43 and Sue Bird winning a W.N.B.A. title last year at 39.There is clearly a role-modeling effect underway. Venus, who will turn 41 on June 17, is fading but still on tour, playing with tape and day-to-day pain of her own yet still hitting winners past women half her age.Roger Federer, who will turn 40 in August, remains in contention at this French Open after looking quick off the mark again on Thursday as he defeated his longtime rival Marin Cilic in four sets on the same patch of red clay where Williams beat Collins in cooler, heavier conditions.Seven Americans played third-round singles matches on Thursday, including four men: John Isner, Steve Johnson, Reilly Opelka and Marcos Giron. Williams was the only American to prevail, and I asked the 27-year-old Collins afterward if seeing Williams and other icons succeed late into their 30s and beyond made her view her own future differently.“I think that should give a lot of different athletes confidence, younger athletes especially, not to put as much pressure on themselves,” Collins said. “You’re seeing some of the greatest athletes in the world have some of their best success once they’re a little bit older. I think that goes to the maturity, the experience that they have at that point. It just shows how much of sports is a mental game, more so than just a physical game. It should give players confidence to see somebody like Serena or Tom Brady or Phil Mickelson.”Of course, Williams, Federer, Brady and Mickelson were all young phenoms before they became enduring superstars. What made them exceptional initially has helped keep them exceptional, but they have also had to adapt: training differently, eating more carefully and, in the cases of Williams and Federer, competing more efficiently.“Serena has had to make adjustments, just like Roger, to remain a factor at the majors,” Rubin said. “Look at Roger, being more aggressive and moving in, taking on that challenge, so I think that kind of adaptability is a requirement.”Even so, it has been quite some time since they reaped tennis’s biggest rewards. Federer’s last major singles title came at the Australian Open in 2018; Williams’s came at the Australian Open in 2017, when she was two months pregnant with her daughter, Olympia.Serena Williams acknowledged the crowd after her win on Friday.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesBut both have continued to give themselves major opportunities: two match points for Federer in the 2019 Wimbledon final against Djokovic; four different Grand Slam finals for Williams since her return from maternity leave.The odds of winning another major are against them. Federer, who will play Saturday night against Dominik Koepfer in the third round, is still in the half of the men’s singles draw with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. But Williams’s section of the women’s draw has opened up promisingly. At No. 7, she is the highest seed left in the bottom half after No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka experienced her latest Grand Slam setback by losing, 6-4, 2-6, 6-0, on Friday to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.The only Grand Slam singles champions left in the bottom half are Williams and Victoria Azarenka, who is not at her most dangerous on clay. There is also Marketa Vondrousova, a left-handed Czech who reached the final here in 2019.“There are some real challenges in front of Serena, but of course it’s possible,” Rubin said. “If you look at who’s left in her half, she has to feel pretty good about her chances. She can go toe-to-toe in any of those matches and lose them, but they are also winnable. That’s what you want, and she has to be feeling better about her game after seeing how she handled a tough challenge against Collins today.”Williams served and competed well, and will need more of the same in the next round when she faces Elena Rybakina, a 21-year-old who is seeded 21st. Rybakina, who was born and raised in Moscow, now represents Kazakhstan and has Williams-level power.But Rybakina has never faced Williams and never played a match of this magnitude. Even at 39 on her least favorite surface, Williams deserves to be the favorite. More

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      2021 French Open: What to Watch on Saturday

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      Iga Swiatek, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic feature on Court Philippe-Chatrier on the second day of third round action.How to watch: 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern time on the Tennis Channel, noon to 2 p.m. on NBC and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Peacock; streaming on the Tennis Channel+ and Peacock apps.It is difficult to ignore the fact that Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will all be playing on Saturday afternoon in Paris. As appealing a draw as they might be, against three unseeded players, there are minuscule chances for upsets as the “Big Three” march forward.Direct your attention to the women’s draw; packed with exceptional matches from dawn on the East Coast until dusk in Paris. Although last year’s champion, Iga Swiatek, will be the main focus, plenty of other contests are sure to entertain.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are estimates and may fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Suzanne Lenglen Court | 8 a.m.Sofia Kenin vs. Jessica PegulaSofia Kenin, the fourth seed, has had a pair of tough matches to start at Roland Garros. The former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko was an early test in the first round. Kenin reached the final last year but lost at the Australian Open in the second round earlier this year. Now, with a couple of wins under her belt, it seems that Kenin is regaining the confidence necessary to push into the second week of the French Open.Jessica Pegula, the 28th seed, has had an excellent run of form this year. She reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in February, recording a pair of upsets over Victoria Azarenka and Elina Svitolina along the way. In the past few months, she has also recorded multiple victories over Karolina Plíšková and Naomi Osaka. With this in mind, Pegula will feel she is well matched to challenge Kenin, even though Kenin came out victorious in their match earlier this year.Rafael Nadal returns the ball to France’s Richard Gasquet during their second round match.Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSuzanne Lenglen Court | 10 a.m.Rafael Nadal vs. Cameron NorrieCameron Norrie, ranked No. 45, has had a breakout year. He has reached the third round of a Grand Slam event in three of his past four attempts and reached the final of two clay court events in May. This run will push him into the top 40 for the first time in his career, but Rafael Nadal is likely to end Norrie’s French Open.Nadal, the 13-time French Open champion, has won 102 of his 104 matches played on the grounds of Roland Garros. It’s a stunning statistic, even without considering the caliber of players that he has battled against throughout the years. He has once again looked dominant, not dropping a set on his way to the third round. For the time being, there doesn’t seem to be any challenger worth discussing as a successor for Nadal, and it makes his march to the final an almost foregone conclusion.Coco Gauff playing a forehand during her second round match.Adam Pretty/Getty ImagesSuzanne Lenglen Court | 1 p.m.Coco Gauff vs. Jennifer BradyJennifer Brady, the 13th seed, needed steely determination to push through her second round match against Fiona Ferro. Brady was down a break on two occasions in the final set, but she managed to fight back, using her powerful forehand strokes to force Ferro around the court. The match took over two hours, and it will be interesting to see whether Brady can bring that same energy into her next challenge against talented Coco Gauff.Gauff, the 24th seed, has slowly been establishing herself as a serious contender on the WTA Tour. After breakout performances at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon in 2019, Gauff had a quiet 2020 season, but she is now working her way up the rankings. Although she has lost her only match against Brady, Gauff’s game has progressed well since then, and she will be confident that she can edge out an upset in this competitive matchup.Court 14 | 7 a.m.Jannik Sinner vs. Mikael YmerJannik Sinner, the 18th seed, is at the lead of an Italian renaissance in tennis. The 19-year-old reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2020, and the finals of the Miami Open, a masters level event, earlier this year. Although he has looked slightly inconsistent on clay over the past few months, there have been shining moments, even in defeat to some of the best players on the tour. If he can settle into matches early and try to control them from the start, anything could be possible.Mikael Ymer, ranked No. 105, upset the 14th seed, Gael Monfils, in the second round over four sets. Ymer has begun to show serious results in 2021, reaching the third round at the Australian Open and now again at Roland Garros. Ymer’s hard-striking baseline game is not particularly well suited to clay, but his athleticism can help him overcome deficiencies in his play on any given day.Here are a few more matches to keep an eye on.Sloane Stephens vs. Karolina Muchová; Simonne-Mathieu Court, 5 a.m.Elina Svitolina vs. Barbora Krejčíková; Philippe-Chatrier Court, 6 a.m.Novak Djokovic vs. Ričardas Berankis; Philippe-Chatrier Court, 8 a.m.Ons Jabeur vs. Magda Linette; Court 14, 10 a.m.Iga Swiatek vs. Anett Kontaveit; Philippe-Chatrier Court, 11 a.m.Roger Federer vs. Dominik Koepfer; Philippe-Chatrier Court, 3 p.m. More

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      At the French Open, Serena Williams Wins While Roger Federer Waits

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      Both players are 39 years old, and both are rounding into form as they eye another Grand Slam, whether on Paris’s clay or Wimbledon’s grass.PARIS — They have been on often-parallel tracks for two decades and as they close in on the big four-oh, Serena Williams and Roger Federer still cannot break the habit.Both are ranked eighth in the world at age 39 after playing very little so far this year. Both are back at the French Open trying to keep their minds from racing ahead to Wimbledon, even if both have to know their chances are better on the well-manicured lawns of the All England Club in London than on the gritty red clay of Roland Garros where younger set can grind them down.Federer has conceded that he is not going to win it all in Paris, even if he will not be easy to beat. Williams has conceded nothing of the sort and while Federer took a break on Wednesday on the eve of his second-round match with Marin Cilic, Williams fought hard on Court Philippe-Chatrier.Her opponent was Mihăela Buzarnescu, a 33-year-old lefthander from Romania with a Ph.D. in sports science and a ranking of 174 that does not do justice to her talent or her ability to conjure winners from unexpected places. She was ranked as high as 20th in 2018 before injuries and shoulder surgery knocked her down.Williams controlled the play in the opening set, lost command in the second and then reclaimed full possession of the steering wheel in the third: roaring, shrieking, smiling but never not caring.“It’s always good when you enjoy your job,” she said, looking weary but relieved as she spoke on court after her 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory.There was ample cause for concern. She is not yet at her fittest, not close to her finest. Court coverage is a challenge: she suffered in the longer rallies on Wednesday. So are changes of direction and consistency. But she has looked better in both her matches in Paris than she looked in her matches in Rome or Parma, Italy, last month, where she lost early in both clay-court tournaments in her return to competition after a three-month break. “When she played Rome and Parma, I told her that she was not at all ready,” said her coach Patrick Mouratoglou. “The results did not surprise me because she was not prepared, and I told her that when you are not prepared, it is better to train than to compete. But after Parma we had 10 days, and we did the best we could in those 10 days. I think she’s much better now than she was in Italy, but I still cannot say she is as ready as she was in Australia.”At this year’s Australian Open in February, she looked particularly fit and focused before a deflating and unexpectedly lopsided 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Naomi Osaka in the semifinals.“All tournament long in Australia, Serena had a very high level,” Mouratoglou said. “The only match she let pass her by was the match against Osaka. But here in Paris she is suffering and anyone who thinks she wasn’t suffering today was not watching the match.”Very few were watching in person. Pandemic-related restrictions have limited daily crowds at Roland Garros to just over 5,000 spectators, and only a few hundred were seated in the Chatrier Court as Williams and Buzarnescu faced off for the first time in their careers.When Federer won on the same court on Monday in the late afternoon, the sun was shining, the shadows on the red clay sharply defined as the photographers snapped away from the otherwise-empty top tier.Roger Federer at his opening match on Monday.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesIt felt theatrical, like a play, in that the ending seemed to have been written in advance. Federer’s opponent, the veteran qualifier Denis Istomin, was more foil than threat, providing Federer with all manner of big opportunities to express his beautiful game.“I sensed quickly that I could win the points a lot of different ways,” he said of his 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory. “Then you can enjoy it: come to net, serve and volley, drop shots, take risks. You could really choose everything, so I think this opponent was ideal for the first round.”It was the movement that dazzled. Federer cannot be as quick as he was, not at 39 and after three knee operations: the most recent two coming in 2020, both on his right knee, and keeping him off the tour until March of this year.But his innate sense of anticipation and fluidity remain: the ability to get around the ball nimbly enough to slap that inside-out forehand, the ability to glide forward (or backward) and win pretty. That is no guarantee that the gears won’t start grinding and the mishits won’t start piling up on Thursday against Cilic, the 2014 United States Open champion who lost to Federer in the 2018 Wimbledon final and the 2019 Australian Open final before falling back in the rankings.But there was no genuine suspense against Istomin, a player with a triple-digit ranking whom Federer had beaten in all seven of their previous matches.“It was nice to play someone I already knew, and it will be nice to play Marin again for the same reason,” Federer said, perhaps happy to see familiar faces as he returns after an extended break with nearly all of his peers long retired.He is the oldest man in the singles draw, and Williams, with her older sister Venus out of the tournament, is now the oldest woman in the singles draw as she prepares to face Danielle Collins, an American ranked 50th, in the third round.Both Williams and Federer have played at Roland Garros in the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s and now the 2020s.They have such different styles: Federer the self-contained fencer; Williams the fiery boxer. But they share the essential at this advanced stage.“If you don’t have the flame burning in you, you just cannot compete at this level,” Mouratoglou said. “They express it in different ways, but it’s still burning for both of them. And though it’s harder for me to speak about Roger than Serena, they both must feel capable of still winning Grand Slams. Otherwise they wouldn’t still be out here. Of that much I am certain.” More

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      2021 French Open: What to Watch on Thursday

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      Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek and Ashleigh Barty feature in an action-packed second round at Roland Garros.How to watch: 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time on Tennis Channel; streaming on Tennis Channel+.The four Grand Slam tournaments are the most important tennis events of the year. For good reason, they draw the world’s best players. But it’s a rarity for all of the top players, the tournament favorites, to be playing in the same half of the bracket.On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek and Ashleigh Barty, the past two winners of the French Open, are both looking to extend their Roland Garros win streaks to nine matches. On the men’s side, the three most decorated champions of the sport, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, are appearing in the same half of a major draw for the first time. With 58 Grand Slam titles among them, the Big Three are still dominating. Any other player in their half will have quite a challenge to reach the final.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are estimates and may fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Philippe Chatrier Court | 10 a.m.Roger Federer vs. Marin CilicRoger Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion in men’s singles, recently returned to the ATP Tour after a pair of operations on his right knee. Now 39, he has missed the French Open four times in the past five years, often resting during the clay-court swing.Marin Cilic has won just one Grand Slam tournament, the 2014 U.S. Open, which made him the fourth most successful male player entering this year’s French Open. Twice, Cilic was denied a second major title by Federer, at Wimbledon in 2017 and the Australian Open in 2018.The two players are not well suited to the crushed brick of Roland Garros; Federer’s elegant slices and Cilic’s powerful serve and volley are dampened on clay. This match will revolve more around tennis fundamentals and fitness than on stylistic strengths.Philippe Chatrier Court | 10 a.m.Sloane Stephens vs. Karolina PliskovaSloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, had to play through the qualifying rounds of the Italian Open in May, the first time she needed to qualify into a tournament since 2012. In the first round at Roland Garros, she edged Carla Suárez Navarro on Tuesday in a late-night match. Both players have had off-court struggles in the past year; Suárez Navarro recently underwent treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, and Stephens had deaths in her extended family from Covid-19.Karolina Pliskova, the ninth seed, had a good run on the clay-court swing, reaching the final of the Italian Open. But then she was dismantled by the 2020 French Open champion, Iga Swiatek. Pliskova won only 13 points and lost, 6-0, 6-0. She will need to shake off any doubts from that performance.Philippe Chatrier Court | 8 a.m.Ashleigh Barty vs. Magda LinetteAshleigh Barty, above, beat Bernarda Pera in the first round, and will next meet Pera’s doubles partner, Magda Linette.Adam Pretty/Getty ImagesAshleigh Barty, the first seed, was pressed by Bernarda Pera in the first round. To win in three sets, Barty focused on consistency, making only 25 unforced errors as she focused on lengthening points. Her first serves were not in fine form, however. She landed only 66 percent of them, and when they did land, she was less likely to win the point than on her second serves. The 2019 French Open champion, Barty will need to address this issue.Magda Linette, ranked No. 45, struggled at the beginning of 2021, losing five of her first six matches. She has turned it around just in time, gaining some confidence as she reached the semifinals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg last week in France. Now, she will try to avenge the loss by her doubles partner, Pera, and upset Barty to equal her best major result.Court 7 | 10 a.m.Aslan Karatsev vs. Philipp KohlschreiberPhilipp Kohlschreiber, ranked No. 132, was once a regular presence in the fourth round of major tournaments. But in the past eight Grand Slam events, he has not made it past the second round, and this once fearsome player now seems to be edging toward the end of his career. That’s not to say that he is without hope. In the first round, he beat Fernando Verdasco, a clay-court specialist and former world No. 7.Aslan Karatsev, the 24th seed, burst into the public eye with an outrageous run to the semifinals of the Australian Open as a qualifier, knocking out three seeded players before being dismissed by Novak Djokovic. It was not just a flash in the pan. He followed that with his first ATP Tour title at the Dubai Open and big victories on clay over Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev. Karatsev’s consistency can be tested over the best-of-five format if Kohlschreiber imparts pressure with aggressive baseline play.Here are a few more matches to keep an eye on.Elina Svitolina vs. Ann Li; Suzanne Lenglen Court, 5 a.m.Sofia Kenin vs. Hailey Baptiste; Court 14, 5 a.m.Novak Djokovic vs. Pablo Cuevas; Suzanne Lenglen Court, 10 a.m.Rafael Nadal vs. Richard Gasquet; Philippe Chatrier Court, 3 p.m. More

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      The First of Nadal’s 100 French Open Victims Has His Say

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      And what he says, having played the Big Three in men’s tennis, is that it’s too hard to declare one the best. Now about that first match …Lars Burgsmüller remembers telling himself he could beat Rafael Nadal on the red clay at the French Open.And why not?Burgsmüller, after all, was a well-regarded 29-year-old veteran on the pro tennis tour. Nadal, only 18, was little known outside the game and was just beginning to write a remarkable story of Grand Slam brilliance.“I thought if I play my game, maybe I have a chance,” Burgsmüller said, recalling that windswept afternoon in late May 2005. “Maybe I can pull off the win.”As you probably guessed, no such luck.Instead, Burgsmüller became the answer to a trivia question. He was Rafael Nadal’s first opponent at Roland Garros. And Nadal’s first victim in a list that stands at a clean 100 as this year’s tournament begins Sunday.Much has changed in the world since 2005. But not Nadal. If he emerges with the title, it will be his 14th there. That would give him 21 major championships, the most in men’s tennis, one more than Roger Federer.So, would that make Nadal the best male player ever?I took that question to Burgsmüller, who has both experience on his side and a cleareyed distance from tennis.Three years after that Nadal match, having retired, he did something unusual for a professional athlete: He went to medical school and studied radiology. Now he is Dr. Lars Burgsmüller, 45, a physician treating cancer patients at a hospital in Essen, Germany.It’s a world away from his playing days, when he squared off against, and lost to, each of the so-called Big Three in men’s tennis.“They are all so close,” he said, during our recent video call. “Too close to judge. Each has been so consistent over the years. Each has his own strengths.”Nadal, he said, suffocated and punished opponents, particularly at the French Open, the most grueling of the major tournaments because of its slippery and uneven clay surface.Federer slashed so many smooth, fast stiletto winners that losing to him felt almost painless.There are no holes in Novak Djokovic’s game.To Burgsmüller, they are equals. But every year when the Open rolls around, he remembers young Nadal with particular fondness.He smiled, recalling the locker room chatter at Roland Garros back in 2005.The players knew that Nadal, who had established a foothold on the men’s tour but had missed the French Open in the previous year because of an injury, was soon to emerge as one of the best. But that meant a guy who could win a few major titles, not 20 or more.All Nadal needed to break through, his fellow pros thought, was a little more seasoning.“I didn’t want to listen to that too much,” said Burgsmüller , ranked No. 96 in the world at the time. “I tried to stay with my plan, to play my game.”That meant pressing the attack.He tried, but he quickly sensed that playing Nadal was unlike anything he had ever experienced. He had never faced anyone with such intensity. Or anyone who hit with such devastating topspin. Or anyone better able to sprint across a clay court, slide and stay balanced, and send balls back as scorching replies.Again and again, Burgsmüller thought he had won a point with a winning shot, only to see Nadal not only keep the point alive but smack back a winner.“Pretty early on, I could see he was better than I was,” said Burgsmüller, who was good enough as a pro to win nearly $2 million in prize money.The first of Nadal’s 100 Roland Garros victories ended quickly, with the Spaniard stretching wide for a backhand passing shot that rocketed across the net with no retort.Game, set, match: 6-1, 7-6, 6-1.Nadal on the way to 100 flexes at Roland Garros.Lionel Cironneau/Associated PressThough slimmer and baby-faced compared to the solidly built 34-year-old we see today, Nadal would march through the draw with little opposition. It was one of the most remarkable debuts in tennis history. He beat Federer, who was then ranked No. 1, in the semifinals. He then thumped his way to a win in the final and raised the champion’s trophy.Between then and now, Nadal has lost only twice at Roland Garros.If he defends his title this year, the arguments about the GOAT, the greatest male player to grace the game of tennis, will heat up once again. Such wrangling has been a hallmark of tennis in the 2000s, an era dominated not only by the men’s Big Three but by Serena Williams and her haul of 23 Grand Slam titles in the women’s game.It can be an entertaining debate, no doubt. It keeps fans and pundits alike preoccupied. It sells tennis, same as similar arguments sell other sports: Who you got, LeBron James or Michael Jordan? Leonardo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?It’s also nonsense.Even if Nadal tops Federer for the most Grand Slam titles, is Nadal the better player? No, they’ve won enough, taken enough bites out of each other’s hides in classic matches, to remain linked forever, side by side.Are those two better than Djokovic, whose haul of 18 major championships would have been unthinkable just two decades ago, when Pete Sampras topped the Grand Slam list with 14? Short answer: no.And who can say what the all-timers of past eras could have accomplished if they had grown up in the current era?In the 1970s and ’80s, Bjorn Borg won the French Open six times. Compared to the aerodynamically sculptured graphite instruments of destruction used today, Borg’s rackets look like an old-time carpenter made them out of pickup sticks.I get it. We live in a world fueled by the need to argue. A world where we seem pushed to quantify and categorize and, most of all, figure out who is the top dog.But I also believe we’re best served by setting debate well aside. Why can’t we simply say that the players who rise far above the field possess equal measures of brilliance?Having found himself across the net from genius more than once in his day, Burgsmüller agrees.At the end of our chat, he paused for a moment to reflect, thinking back on squaring off against maestros of tennis, on that long-ago duel at Roland Garros and his small part in Nadal’s still-unfolding story.“At the time, that was just another match for me,” he said. “I was disappointed to lose. But now when I look back, I can see that I was part of an important moment. Nadal really started with that match, on that date, and I was the one he played.“It’s a nice bit of history.” More

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      2021 French Open: What to Watch on Monday

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      Serena Williams and Roger Federer feature on Court Philipe-Chatrier on the second day of first-round matches.How to watch: 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time on the Tennis Channel and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on NBC; streaming on the Tennis Channel+ and NBC apps.In Serena Williams’s illustrious career, there have been many firsts. On Monday, win or lose, she will add another as the first person, alongside her opponent, Irina-Camelia Begu, to play a night session match at the French Open. But before then, there are plenty of entertaining contests to watch on Memorial Day.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are estimates and may fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates winning her first career Grand Slam singles title at the 2020 French Open.Alessandra Tarantino/Associated PressCourt PHILIPPE-CHATRIER | 6 a.m. MondayIga Swiatek vs. Kaja JuvanIga Swiatek, ranked No. 9 in the world, won the French Open last year without dropping a set, but hasn’t rested on her laurels since. In the Italian Open final this month, Swiatek defeated Karolina Pliskova, a former world No. 1, without dropping a game, and secured a No. 9 world ranking, a career high. Swiatek, who turns 20 on Monday, modeled her game after Rafael Nadal’s, evinced in her aggressive style of play and topspin-heavy shots. It’s well suited for the crushed red brick of Paris.Kaja Juvan, a 20-year-old ranked 101st, reached the third round of the Australian Open in February, her best major tournament finish. This is daunting opposition, and while Juvan’s deft touch serves her well on clay, her drop shot will be hard to execute against Swiatek, whose excellent movement was a factor in her march to the title last year. There is little doubt that Swiatek will be able to secure a win.Court PHILIPPE-CHATRIER | 8 a.m. MondayDaniil Medvedev vs. Alexander BublikWith Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal both in the other half of the draw, Daniil Medvedev, the two-time Grand Slam finalist, hopes to make a deep run on his worst surface. Medvedev, a 25-year-old lanky baseliner ranked No. 2, has struggled with clay, proclaiming during his first match at the 2021 Madrid Open that “I don’t want to play here on this surface.” Although he was able to win in three sets, he’s never done so at Roland Garros, losing in the first round every time.On the other side of the net, Alexander Bublik is equally unsuited to clay. Although Bublik, 23, reached a world ranking of No. 37 after a run to the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open in early May, his style is similar to that of Medvedev, preferring hard and grass courts. Bublik, a Russian-born player who now represents Kazakhstan, has had slightly more success at the French Open, reaching the second round in the past two years.Because of their poor performances on clay and similar styles, it’s hard to tell which player is favored. Bublik’s recent success might give him the confidence to beat the best all-around player in this half.Sofia Kenin competing at the Stuttgart Open in Germany in April.Pool photo by Philipp Guelland/EPA, via ShutterstockCOURT SUZANNE-LENGLEN | 10 a.m. MondaySofia Kenin vs. Jelena OstapenkoSofia Kenin, the fourth seed, had a breakout season in 2020. Kenin won the Australian Open at the beginning of the year and reached the French Open final. However, this season has not gone well; Kenin, 22, has lost her last four matches and announced in early May that she would no longer be coached by her father. While her style of play is well suited to clay, she may struggle, especially against better opponents.Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, will be pushing for an upset. Now ranked No. 44, Ostapenko hasn’t made it past the third round of a major since Wimbledon in 2018 and has lost in the first round on four occasions since. Having reached the quarterfinals at the Italian Open, Ostapenko, 23, will be confident, and a deep run is not out of the question if she can muscle past Kenin.Roger Federer practicing ahead of his first match on Monday at Roland Garros.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesCourt PHILIPPE-CHATRIER | 10 a.m. MondayRoger Federer vs. Denis IstominRoger Federer, a 20-time major champion, last played a Grand Slam event at the 2020 Australian Open. Now, having recovered from two surgeries on his right knee, he has returned with a more grounded sense of what he can accomplish. Federer, 39, has spoken about the reality that even on his best days he was rarely a top contender for titles at Roland Garros, and that his focus is mostly on the grass courts at Wimbledon, which begins in three weeks.Denis Istomin, a 34-year-old qualifier, is in a similar position. Istomin, a Russian-born player who represents Uzbekistan, has never made it past the second round of the French Open. His style of play is better suited for grass and hardcourt tournaments. Although Istomin is ranked No. 204, he will be a tough challenge for Federer, if only because of his match fitness.Court PHILIPPE-CHATRIER | 3 p.m. MondaySerena Williams vs. Irina-Camelia BeguSerena Williams, the seventh seed, recently played her 1,000th match on the WTA tour, a testament to both her longevity and her success at the highest levels of tennis. However, she has recently struggled on clay. After reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open in February, Williams, 39, took a break, returning in May for the Italian Open. Now, having lost two of her three matches in preparation for Roland Garros, it’s unclear whether she has prepared herself properly for a deep run at the tournament.Irina-Camelia Begu, ranked No. 74, may see this as an opportunity for her first top 10 victory since 2018. Although Begu, 30, hasn’t won a main draw match since the Phillips Island Trophy in February, Begu’s grinding style of play works well on clay, and her plan will be to move Williams around the court and disrupt her powerful baseline play. More