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      2021 French Open: What to Watch on Wednesday

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      Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Serena Williams feature on the first day of second-round matches.How to watch: 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time on Tennis Channel; streaming on Tennis Channel+.Grand Slam tournaments often feature some first round upsets, but this year’s French Open has been particularly eventful in the half of the draw that plays its second-round games on Wednesday.Pablo Andujar, who is 35 years old and has never reached the fourth round of the French Open, is trying to follow up his knockout of fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem in the first round. Naomi Osaka, who was seeded second, withdrew from the tournament after reaching an impasse with organizers about appearing at news conferences.While there are plenty of stars still present in the tournament, the field has certainly widened for new challengers to make deep runs.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through the courts, the times for individual matchups are estimates and will fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Court Phillipe-Chatrier | 3 p.m.Daniil Medvedev vs. Tommy PaulDaniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, secured his first French Open victory on Monday in his fifth appearance at the tournament. Medvedev has reached the final of two hardcourt Grand Slam events, but has struggled on clay. Although he pushed past Alexander Bublik in straight sets, it was not a particularly convincing performance.Tommy Paul, ranked No. 52, won his first-round match in five sets. Paul, a vaunted youth prospect who won the Junior French Open in 2015, has not yet bloomed on the ATP Tour, only making it to the third round of a major event once. Paul’s main weakness is his two-handed backhand, which is incredibly stiff and mechanical compared with his powerful, fluid forehand strokes.Paul will need to remain aggressive and try to unsettle Medvedev throughout their match to push for an upset, while Medvedev will clearly look to aim at Paul’s backhand when he needs to reset points and get himself back into winning positions.Court 13 | 8 a.m.Danielle Collins vs. Anhelina KalininaDanielle Collins, ranked No. 50, underwent surgery for endometriosis in the spring. Although she has not played a competitive match since March, Collins looked at ease in her first-round victory over Xiyu Wang. Although it took her three sets to win, Collins was consistent except on her first serve. With a few days of rest between matches, that will have been the focus of her practice sessions and a key to her advancing farther at Roland Garros.Anhelina Kalinina, a qualifier, upset Angelique Kerber, the No. 26 seed and three time Grand Slam champion, in straight sets on Sunday. This is Kalinina’s third main draw appearance at a major event — her first on clay — and the young Ukrainian seems to be oozing confidence as she tries to reach the third round for the first time.Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece reached the semifinal at the French Open last year.Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesCourt Suzanne-Lenglen | 10 a.m.Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Pedro MartinezStefanos Tsitsipas, the fifth seed, has had a strong clay court season, winning the Monte Carlo Masters and Lyon Open and reaching the final of the Barcelona Open. Tsitsipas, 22, reached the semifinals of the French Open last year, and looks to be a favorite to reach the final this year, with both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the other half of the draw. Keeping focused and trying to be as efficient as possible will be Tsitsipas’s main goal throughout the early rounds.Pedro Martinez, ranked No. 103, is a clay-court specialist. His first-round upset over Sebastian Korda, an American who had just won the Parma Challenger, was clinical, as Martinez needled away at Korda’s weaknesses and drew out 47 unforced errors. Although Martinez’s task is much harder for the second round, a similar strategy would be appropriate: he should try to unsettle Tsitsipas and coax out mistakes with long, arduous points.Paula Badosa of Spain won the Serbia Open in preparation for Roland Garros. Yoan Valat/EPA, via ShutterstockCourt 6 | 8 a.m.Paula Badosa vs. Danka KovinicIt is quite rare for Grand Slam tournaments to have a player seeded No. 33. But Paula Bodasa received that designation when Alison Riske, the 27th seed, withdrew from the competition after the draw was announced last week. Bodasa filled in her spot in the draw but to avoid confusion about relative rankings, was formalized as the 33rd seed instead of every player being adjusted. Badosa, who won the Serbia Open in preparation for Roland Garros, should feel that a seeding is well deserved, especially after a fourth-round finish at the French Open last year.Danka Kovinic has never been past the second round of a Grand Slam event in 15 previous main draw appearances. Kovinic reached the final of the Charleston Open on green clay after defeating several top players, and will be hopeful that her success earlier this year can help lead to an upset against the in-form Bodasa.Here are a few more matches to keep an eye on.Fabio Fognini vs. Marton Fucsovics; Court 14, 7 a.m.Karen Khachanov vs. Kei Nishikori; Court Phillipe-Chatrier, 8 a.m.Serena Williams vs. Mihaela Buzarnescu; Court Phillipe-Chatrier, 11 a.m.Aryna Sabalenka vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich; Court Suzanne-Lenglen, 1 p.m. More

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      Assessing Osaka's Sad Departure From the French Open

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      Naomi Osaka, a superstar in the sport, pulled out of the French Open after she was fined for skipping a news conference. Did it have to end this way?PARIS — Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open was not the outcome anyone in tennis desired, and yet it happened just the same.It could likely have been avoided through better communication and smarter decisions, but on Monday night the sport’s most prominent young star felt she had no better option than to pull out of the year’s second Grand Slam tournament.Her second-round match with Ana Bogdan will be a walkover for Bogdan instead of another chance for the second-ranked Osaka, 23, to make steps forward on red clay, a surface that has long bedeviled her.“Above all, it’s just really sad: for her, for the tournament, for the sport,” said Martina Navratilova, a former No. 1 who has seen plenty of tennis turmoil in her 50 years in the game. “She tried to sidestep or lessen a problem for herself and instead she just made it much bigger than it was in the first place.”It is not wise at this stage to speculate on the full scope of Osaka’s issues. She is still coming to grips with them herself, and she said in her withdrawal announcement on social media that she had experienced long bouts of depression since the 2018 United States Open that she won by defeating Serena Williams in a tumultuous final.What is clear is that the catalyst in Paris, if only the catalyst, was one of professional sport’s staples: the news conference.Osaka, citing her mental health, announced ahead of the tournament that she would not “do any press” during the French Open. News conferences are required at the Grand Slams for players who are requested, and Osaka was the first tennis star to make it clear that she intended to break the rule for as long as she was in the tournament.Her announcement on social media caught the French Open organizers and sport’s leadership by surprise. That was her first misjudgment. Her next was failing to be accessible when those tennis leaders justifiably sought more information.Gilles Moretton, the new French Tennis Federation president, and others repeatedly tried to speak with her without success.When she did indeed skip the news conference after her first-round victory on Sunday over Patricia Maria Tig, the French Open fined her $15,000 and the Grand Slam tournament chiefs made it clear that she risked being defaulted from the tournament and future Grand Slam tournaments if she continued to decline to fulfill her media duties.It was a hard line: too hard in light of what Osaka explained on Monday night. “I feel for her, and I feel the sport in general has mishandled this,” said Pam Shriver, a former leading player and president of the WTA Tour Players Association. “I just feel that Grand Slam statement poured fuel on the flames in a way that was irreversible. I feel they should have kept their views and efforts quiet, not made them public, and worked behind the scenes. All the more so because the pandemic is still the elephant in the room and has been so hard on so many young people.”Depression is more common in sports than many would expect. The problem was that Osaka did not offer tennis’s leaders that explanation — in public or apparently in private — until Monday night.Considering Osaka’s prominence and the increased awareness of and sensitivity to athletes’ mental-health challenges, it is hard to imagine that Moretton or the other Grand Slam leaders would not have tried to work with her to find a more conciliatory short-term solution if they had been given a clearer picture.Instead, they were left too long in the dark: with Osaka focusing her pretournament complaints on reforming the sport’s player-media model, citing overly repetitive questions and lines of inquiry that made her doubt herself. There are perhaps better ways for professional journalists to find out more about tennis players and their matches.Tennis champions and would-be champions have been dealing with such challenges in the interview room for decades and if Osaka is sensitive to questions about her weaknesses on clay, imagine how Pete Sampras felt when he was asked about his own failings for more than a decade as he tried and failed to win Roland Garros.Osaka met the news media after losing in the third round of the 2020 Australian Open.Kelly Defina/Getty ImagesAnd yet he kept showing up for news conferences and chasing the prize, just as Jana Novotna did at Wimbledon before finally winning the singles title in 1998.As Billie Jean King likes to say, pressure is a privilege, and repetitive questions are an inconvenience but also a reflection of legitimate public interest. Media coverage, much of it favorable, has helped Osaka become the world’s best paid female athlete. She earned more than $55 million in the last year, nearly all of it from sponsorship deals.That brings its own new pressures. “She has lots on her back,” said Marin Cilic, the Croatian men’s star who once broke down in the middle of a Wimbledon final.But facing unwelcome questions, even in defeat, does not seem like too much to ask. “No comment” or a more polite demurral remain legitimate options. But one of the takeaways from l’affaire Osaka may be the realization that some players really do find it all too much to bear (and it did not go unnoticed that Moretton took no questions at his own short news conference on Monday night). The debate will be, how much special treatment should such players receive?One of the reasons for the Grand Slam tournaments’ hard line with Osaka was the desire for fairness.“I think Naomi has always struggled with public speaking and dealing with the press has always made her anxious and so it’s finally come to a head,” said Rennae Stubs, a former No. 1 doubles player who is now a tour-level coach and ESPN analyst. “You cannot allow a player to have an unfair advantage by not doing post-match press. It’s time consuming, so if one player is not doing that and others are, that is not equal. But after this, it’s time to really take a hard, long look at all of it.”Williams was sympathetic after her first-round victory in Paris on Monday.“I feel for Naomi,” she said. “I feel like I wish I could give her a hug because I know what it’s like. I’ve been in those positions. We have different personalities, and people are different.”“I’m thick,” Williams said, possibly referring to being thick-skinned. “Other people are thin. Everyone is different, and everyone handles things differently. You just have to let her handle it the way she wants to, in the best way she thinks she can.”That is a fine sentiment, but it is also important to learn when things go awry. It seems clear that if this unfortunate situation had been handled differently from the start, Osaka would not have felt she had become too much of a distraction and would be getting ready for round two in Paris instead of packing her bags, unsure of when she will play next with Wimbledon starting in less than a month.But the underlying issues that Osaka faces would likely have remained.“The bottom line is that this is about more than talking to the press,” Navratilova said. “This goes much deeper than that, and we have no way of knowing, nor should we speculate, just how deep it does go.” More

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      Naomi Osaka Quits the French Open After News Conference Dispute

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      The four-time Grand Slam tournament winner wrote on Instagram that she had suffered from bouts of depression since 2018 and that she would “take some time” away from the tennis court.PARIS — The weeklong confrontation between Naomi Osaka, the second-ranked woman in tennis, and leaders of the sport’s four Grand Slam tournaments turned bitter on Monday when Ms. Osaka withdrew from the French Open, citing concerns for her mental health.The move was a dramatic turn in the high-stakes standoff between the most powerful officials in tennis and Ms. Osaka. The player, 23, is not only the world’s highest-paid female athlete but also a generational star who has quickly become the most magnetic figure in tennis.“I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can get back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris,” Ms. Osaka said in an Instagram post, in which she said she struggled with depression and anxiety.She had never before spoken in public about her depression, which she said began after her 2018 victory over Serena Williams at the United States Open before a boisterous crowd that was firmly behind her opponent.“I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer,” she added. “The truth is that I have suffered long bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018 and I have had a really hard time coping with that.” She did not indicate when she would return to tournament play.It is the first time in professional tennis that a star as significant as Ms. Osaka who has not suffered a physical injury has walked away in the middle of an event as big as the French Open, and Gilles Moretton, president of the French Federation of Tennis, called her withdrawal “unfortunate.”Mr. Moretton said in a statement that tournament organizers wished her the “quickest possible recovery.”“We are sorry and sad for Naomi Osaka,” he said. “We remain very committed to all athletes’ well-being and to continually improving every aspect of players’ experience in our tournament, including with the media, like we have always strived to do.”The dispute between Ms. Osaka and tournament officials began on Wednesday when she announced she would not participate in post-match news conferences during the French Open because she said negative questions about her play affected her mental health. It came to a head on Sunday after her first-round win, and she made good on her promise to skip the news conference.Within hours Ms. Osaka was fined $15,000 by the French Open’s tournament referee, and the leaders of the four Grand Slam tournaments — the Australian, French and United States Opens, and Wimbledon — threatened that she could be expelled from the French Open and face harsher penalties if she would not fulfill her media obligations.Ms. Osaka described herself in her Monday Instagram post as an introverted person who suffers from anxiety before she has to speak with the press. “Anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I’m often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety,” she wrote.She said reporters had never been unkind to her, but “here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious so I thought it was better to exercise self-care and skip the press conferences.”Ms. Osaka’s sister, Mari, a former professional tennis player, indicated that Naomi Osaka’s anxiety was caused in part by her struggles to win on clay courts like the one at the French Open. The press asks about her sister’s poor performance every time she plays on clay, which hurts her, Mari Osaka said in a post on Reddit.By avoiding news conferences, her sister could “block everything out. No talking to people who is going to put doubt in her mind.”Naomi Osaka said she had written to tournament officials privately to apologize for the distraction she had created and had offered to speak with them after the tournament about potentially changing rules requiring players to engage with the media that she described as “outdated.” Before returning to the tour, she said, she would discuss with tournament officials ways they could make things better for the players.This is not the first time that Ms. Osaka, who rarely grants one-on-one interviews with the mainstream media, has taken a public stand on an issue. Last summer, tennis officials suspended play at the Western & Southern Open after the four-time Grand Slam tournament winner announced she would not play her semifinal match to draw attention to the issue of police violence against Black people following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.Osaka gave an on-court interview but did not do a news conference after her first-round match.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesThough she skipped her post-match news conference on Sunday, Ms. Osaka did take three questions after the match from an on-court interviewer, Fabrice Santoro, and a few more queries on her way off the court from Wowow, the Japanese broadcaster with which she is under contract. Ms. Osaka plays for Japan and lives in the United States.Few of Ms. Osaka’s colleagues have shown unequivocal support for her stance.“Press and players and the tournaments comes hand in hand,” Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Grand Slam champion, said. “I think it’s very important in developing our sport, in promoting our sport.” She added that there were moments when the media did need to be more compassionate.Ms. Williams has been through many difficult news conferences during her career but viewed the experiences as having made her stronger. “I feel for Naomi, and I wish I could give her a hug because I’ve been in those situations,” the 23-time Grand Slam tournament winner said. “You have to let her handle it the way she wants to in the best way she can.”Tour officials have long believed that news conferences are an important part of promoting the sport and the athletes themselves. Ms. Osaka questions that assumption.“If the organizations think they can keep saying, ‘do press or you’re going to get fined,’ and continue to ignore the mental health of the athletes that are the centerpiece of their cooperation then I just gotta laugh,” she wrote on social media on Wednesday.Last week the WTA Tour said it welcomed a dialogue with Ms. Osaka about mental health but stood by its position on press obligations for players. “Professional athletes have a responsibility to their sport and their fans to speak to the media surrounding their competition, allowing them the opportunity to share their perspective and tell their story,” the WTA said.Ms. Osaka is certainly not the only elite athlete to have acknowledged mental health struggles. The Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has spoken openly about his struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts. The NBA player Kevin Love has spoken about having a panic attack during a game. Data shows that as many as 35 percent of elite athletes have suffered from a mental health crisis, such as stress, eating disorders, burnout, depression or anxiety, according to Athletes for Hope, a group that seeks to engage athletes in charitable causes.Although tournament officials allowed Ms. Osaka a platform to demonstrate her beliefs last summer, this time leaders of the sport’s most prestigious events refused to bend.In the statement signed by Jayne Hrdlicka, the head of Tennis Australia; Mr. Moretton, president of the France Tennis Federation; Ian Hewitt, the chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis Club; and Mike McNulty, chairman of the United States Tennis Association, the officials said they had reached out to Ms. Osaka to open a discussion about both her well being and concerns she had about news conferences and mental health.Ms. Osaka, they said, refused to engage with them, leaving them with no choice but to pursue significant penalties to help ensure that she did not gain an advantage over her competitors.“We want to underline that rules are in place to ensure all players are treated exactly the same, no matter their stature, beliefs or achievement,” the officials stated. “As a sport there is nothing more important than ensuring no player has an unfair advantage over another, which unfortunately is the case in this situation if one player refuses to dedicate time to participate in media commitments while the others all honor their commitments.”Osaka has said she will take some time away from the court.Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSince the inception of social media more than a decade ago, sports stars, politicians and celebrities, especially those who are younger, have increasingly used it to speak directly to their fans. The pandemic, which has forced nearly all news conferences in sports to be held virtually, has accelerated the power shift, making the events that led to Ms. Osaka’s withdrawal from the tournament even more surprising.Sofia Kenin, the player of the year on the women’s tour in 2020, said she respected Ms. Osaka’s decision, and acknowledged that the pressures of being a young star are intense.“This is what you signed up for,” Ms. Kenin said. “This is sport. There’s expectations from the outside, sponsors and everyone. You just have to somehow manage it.”Ms. Osaka said she planned to take some time away from the tennis court. She did not specify whether she would play in the next Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon, which begins in just four weeks, just two weeks after the conclusion of the French Open.Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament that is played on grass, another surface where Ms. Osaka’s performance has not matched her dominance on hard courts. She has never made it past the third round at Wimbledon, which is widely considered the most important championship in the sport.“I’ll see you when I see you,” she wrote to end her Instagram post.Michael Levenson in New York contributed reporting. More

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      Serena Williams Wins in the First Round at the French Open

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      Playing in a night session in Paris, Williams defeated Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets in a brisk match that moved her along to the second round, again.PARIS — In a new time slot, Serena Williams kept her return engagement with the second round of a Grand Slam once more.Playing in the first dedicated night session in French Open history on Monday at Roland Garros, the seventh-seeded Williams defeated the 74th-ranked Irina-Camelia Begu 7-6(6), 6-2 in an hour and 42 minutes.Williams, who first played the French Open in 1998, said she appreciated the novelty, even without any fans in attendance due to a citywide 9 p.m. curfew in Paris.“In all my eons of playing here, there had never been a night session at Roland Garros,” Williams told the Tennis Channel’s Jon Wertheim in an on-court, post-match interview. “So it’s cool.”Making a late start did nothing to dim Williams’s sparkling career record in the first round of Grand Slams, which improved to 77-1 with the win over Begu. Her lone loss in the opening round of a Grand Slam came nine years ago in the first round of the French Open against Virginie Razzano.Williams looked on the way to an emphatic victory early, breaking Begu for a 4-2 lead in the first set by ripping a running cross-court forehand winner. But after consolidating that break, Williams’s 5-2 lead slipped, with the Romanian veteran discomfiting her with her high, heavy shots that drew repeated errors from Williams’s groundstrokes.Begu, a veteran who has spent most of her career inside the top 100, peaking at No. 22 in 2016, does not have a track record of pulling off big wins. She had won only two of her previous 14 Grand Slam matches against top-20 opponents coming into the match with Williams.That lack of pedigree proved pivotal on Begu’s first set point opportunity, up 6-4 in the first set tiebreak on her serve. After Williams clipped the net with her return, Begu was unable to take control of the rally, and ultimately lost it on a backhand unforced error into the net caused by slow footwork.After that escape, Williams asserted herself, stepping forward to take a swinging volley out of the air to punish the soft return Begu had hit off a 77 m.p.h. second serve.“I was just thinking to get that ball out of the air, because I’ve been hitting some good swing volleys in practice,” Williams said.Williams closed out the set with the same shot. After turning the rally from defense to offense with a high lob that pushed Begu back behind the baseline, Williams smacked another forehand swing volley on her first set point to take the tiebreak 8-6, then roared with satisfaction and threw her arms in the air.“I know what to do, I’ve been here a million times,” Williams said of escaping the first set. “I just have to do it, because I know how to get out of those positions and those tight shots.”Williams controlled the second set with considerably less suspense, taking it in 36 minutes after breaking Begu in the opening game and adding a second break in the seventh game for good measure.Williams will face another Romanian, the 174th-ranked Mihaela Buzarnescu, in the second round on Wednesday.Williams extended her nearly flawless Grand Slam opening round record despite her recent form, which has been shaky and seen her win only one of her three matches in the clay court swing so far this year. Williams, who lost in the semifinal at the Australian Open in February, suffered straight set losses to the 44th-ranked Nadia Podoroska in Rome and the 68th-ranked Katerina Siniakova in Parma when she returned to the tour.But as players past and present know, playing Williams under the spotlight of a Grand Slam is a thoroughly more challenging proposition.Lindsay Davenport, an early rival who now is a Tennis Channel commentator, said as much as she commented on the match: “The Serena who shows up at the majors is a completely different player.”The statements Williams made with her shots were accompanied by ones with her footwear. She wore a pair of green Nike shoes that she said were “an art piece,” decorated in the style of the artwork from one of her favorite albums: Green Day’s “Dookie.”Most of the text was in English, but one statement in French in capital letters stood out from the other writing as Williams, 39, again seeks her 24th Grand Slam title: “JE NE M’ARRÊTERAI JAMAIS.”Simply: “I will never stop.” More

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      2021 French Open: What to Watch on Tuesday

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      Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty start their French Open campaigns on the final day of first-round matches.How to watch: 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time on the Tennis Channel; streaming on the Tennis Channel+ app.As the first-round matches stretch into a third day of play at Stade Roland Garros, there are two women who can claim defense of the French Open title. Iga Swiatek, the 2020 champion, won her first-round match on Monday. On Tuesday, we turn our attention to Ashleigh Barty, the 2019 champion, who did not play at the French Open or United States Open last year, citing pandemic health concerns. Today, Barty will return to Court Phillipe-Chatrier to face Bernarda Pera, ranked No. 70.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.Court PHILIPPE-CHATRIER | 3 p.m. TuesdayNovak Djokovic vs. Tennys SandgrenTennys Sandgren made a joke on Twitter after the French Open draw was revealed that was a self-aware assessment of his slim chances, given he has only won one of his six clay court matches this year.Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1, has also assessed his chances of winning the French Open in clear terms. He sees only one player as his main challenge: Rafael Nadal. He lost to Nadal in three sets in the final of the Italian Open, so if they were to meet in the semifinals in Paris, the five-set format could favor Djokovic’s fitness. While there are plenty of opponents to mind before then, it’s unlikely that Sandgren will last long in the bullring with Djokovic, the Australian Open and Wimbledon defending champion.Court PHILIPPE-CHATRIER | 10 a.m. TuesdayRafael Nadal vs. Alexei PopyrinAlexei Popyrin, ranked No. 63, secured his first ATP title in February at the Singapore Open. The lanky 21-year-old’s game is more suited to hard courts, but Popyrin reached the third round at the Madrid Open on clay. Unfortunately, he then ran into Rafael Nadal, who summarily knocked him out.Nadal has won the French Open 13 times, and is the four-time defending champion at Roland Garros. The undisputed “King of Clay” won the Barcelona Open and Italian Open this year, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic in the finals. Although Nadal has not looked as usually dominant in the clay court tournaments, he demonstrated that he can still make up for shortcomings with tenacity. It is an almost foregone conclusion that he will advance to the next round on his way to a deep run.COURT SUZANNE-LENGLEN| 1 p.m. TuesdayKarolina Pliskova vs. Donna VekicKarolina Pliskova, the ninth seed, has struggled with her form over the past few years. Although she is an exceptional ball striker, her movement on court has declined. Pliskova added the renowned coach Sascha Bajin to her team in 2020, but so far, any improvement has been met with a counterbalance. At the Italian Open, she reached the final only to be swept by Iga Swiatek.Donna Vekic, ranked No. 36, did not played any clay tournaments in preparation for Roland Garros as she recovered from knee surgery after the Australian Open in February. Vekic reached the round of 16 in Melbourne, and has the ability to make a similar run in Paris, but without match fitness, it will be difficult to chase after Pliskova’s flat, powerful shots.Venus Williams has won seven Grand Slam tournaments but struggles on red clay.Juanjo Martin/EPA, via ShutterstockCourt 14 | 10 a.m. TuesdayVenus Williams vs. Ekaterina AlexandrovaEkaterina Alexandrova, the 32nd seed, won her first WTA title in 2020, but has yet to break through to the second week of a Grand Slam event. Alexandrova has reached the third round of the French Open for the past two years, and if all goes as expected she will meet the fifth seed, Elina Svitolina, there once again this year.Venus Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, has always struggled the most on red clay. Williams captured her first major title on grass at Wimbledon in 2000, before the defending champion of the French Open, Iga Swiatek, was born. This year, Williams has only won one match, but continues fighting for victories that seem only slightly out of reach.Here are a few more matches to keep an eye on.Ons Jabeur vs. Yulia Putintseva; Court 8, 5 a.m. TuesdayAshleigh Barty vs. Bernarda Pera; Court Phillipe-Chatrier, 8 a.m. TuesdayFelix Auger-Aliassime vs. Andrea Seppi; Court 13, 8 a.m. TuesdaySloane Stephens vs. Carla Suárez Navarro; Court Simonne-Mathieu, 1 p.m. Tuesday 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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      Naomi Osaka Skips News Conference, Drawing Tennis Officials’ Ire

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      The heads of the Grand Slam events warned Osaka of escalating penalties, including default, if she continued to not “do press,” as she vowed she would not last week.PARIS — Naomi Osaka’s return to the French Open was triumphant as she won her first-round match over Patricia Maria Tig on Sunday in straight sets. But Osaka did not emerge unscathed from the tournament’s opening day.She was fined $15,000 by Rémy Azémar, the French Open tournament referee, for declining to appear at a mandatory postmatch news conference and warned that she risked stronger penalties, including default from the tournament, if she continued not to fulfill her media obligations.That surprisingly stern warning was delivered in a statement signed by the leaders of the four Grand Slam tournaments: Gilles Moretton, the new president of the French Tennis Federation; Mike McNulty, the new head of the United States Tennis Association; Jayne Hrdlicka, the head of Tennis Australia; and Ian Hewitt, chairman of the All England Club, which runs Wimbledon.The Grand Slam events’ leaders also emphasized that repeat violations by Osaka could lead to “more substantial fines and future Grand Slam suspensions.”Osaka, a four-time major singles champion who is one of the sport’s biggest stars, is now faced with a choice. Before the French Open began, she announced that she would not do “any press” during the tournament, citing the need to preserve her “mental health” by avoiding repetitive and potentially negative questions from journalists.But if the intent was to limit distractions and find inner calm, she now faces a potentially bigger concern in Paris if she continues to abstain from news conferences.“It’s developed into a power struggle,” said Chris Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion who is covering the French Open as an analyst for Eurosport. “Press conferences are crucial to Grand Slams to get the players’ perspective of their match, and it’s a collective responsibility for players to continue to grow the sport. I think we’ve lost sight of the early days, the ’70s, when there was no women’s tour, and that generation talked endlessly to the press to promote the sport and themselves. The players today are making a tremendous amount of money, and there are trade-offs.”The Grand Slam leaders expressed frustration with Osaka’s lack of engagement with tennis officials, explaining in their statement that the French Open management team had “tried unsuccessfully to speak with her to check on her well-being, understand the specifics of her issue and what might be done to address it on site.”The Grand Slam leaders said they had written jointly to Osaka to remind her of her obligations and of the consequences she faced for not complying with the rules. The leaders also emphasized the importance of equal treatment.“We want to underline that rules are in place to ensure all players are treated exactly the same, no matter their stature, beliefs or achievement,” the statement said. “As a sport there is nothing more important than ensuring no player has an unfair advantage over another, which unfortunately is the case in this situation if one player refuses to dedicate time to participate in media commitments while the others all honour their commitments.”Leading players such as Andre Agassi, Novak Djokovic and Venus and Serena Williams have skipped news conferences after defeats and been fined. But this is the first instance of a top player making it clear in advance that she did not intend to speak with the news media during a Grand Slam tournament.Osaka, who is based in the United States and represents Japan, is the world’s highest-paid female athlete, with the bulk of her earnings coming from sponsorships. She has raised her profile not simply by winning major titles but by advocating social justice; she wore masks that honored Black victims of violence, including police violence, after matches at last year’s United States Open.Fabrice Santoro, an on-court interviewer at the French Open, asked to talk to Osaka after she won her first-round match on Sunday.Julian Finney/Getty Images“Naomi certainly makes us think and examine the status quo,” Evert said on Sunday. “I respect Naomi and what she’s done for social issues and for the game but everyone needs to communicate and come up with a solution.”Tennis leaders followed Osaka’s lead last August when she withdrew from the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open to protest racial injustice, tournament organizers called off all play that day in a show of solidarity. She played her semifinal, but there is clearly less consensus this time, suggesting that Osaka may have misread the room. The Grand Slam tournaments even brandished the possibility of a “major offense” investigation if she continued to break the rules, which could lead to further fines or suspension from future Grand Slam tournaments. The grounds for such sanctions would be the rule that defines a major offense as “a series of two or more” violations of the code of conduct within a 12-month period, which “when viewed together establish a pattern of conduct that is collectively egregious and is detrimental or injurious to the Grand Slam tournaments.”Repeatedly skipping news conferences could be considered a pattern of conduct. Evert said tennis leaders and Osaka should meet and work through the issues before “this blows up anymore.”Osaka has had, in general, a positive relationship with the news media. But in her announcement on social media ahead of the French Open, she said, “I have often felt that people have no regard for athletes mental health, and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one.” She focused in particular on players being required to speak after defeats.Osaka, whose decision caught some members of her own support team by surprise, did not say whether she was experiencing a specific mental-health issue, but she made it clear in her social media posts that she felt strongly about taking a stand. “If the organizations think that they can just keep saying, ‘do press or you’re gonna be fined’ and continue to ignore the mental health of the athletes that are the centerpiece of their cooperation then I just gotta laugh.”The Grand Slam leadership said on Sunday that players’ mental health was “of the utmost importance to the Grand Slams.”“We individually and collectively have significant resources dedicated to player well-being,” the statement said. “In order to continue to improve, however, we need engagement from the players to understand their perspective and find ways to improve their experiences.No leading player has yet expressed publicly a desire to follow Osaka’s lead by skipping news conferences. The main draws of the previous generation — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Serena Williams — have regularly answered questions after each match despite becoming global stars.There is concern among tennis leaders that Osaka could set a precedent at a time when social media has given stars a broad platform to reach the public directly. But the Grand Slam leaders emphasized that the news media still played an important role.“A core element of the Grand Slam regulations is the responsibility of the players to engage with the media, whatever the result of their match, a responsibility which players take for the benefit of the sport, the fans and for themselves,” their statement said. “These interactions allow both the players and the media to share their perspective and for the players to tell their story. The facilitation of media to a broad array of channels, both traditional and digital, is a major contributor to the development and growth of our sport and the fan base of individual players.”Osaka’s next match is on Wednesday against Ana Bogdan of Romania.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesOsaka was not silent after her 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Tig on the main Philippe Chatrier Court on Sunday. She answered three questions from the on-court interviewer, Fabrice Santoro, after the match and a few more queries on her way off the court from Wowow, the Japanese broadcaster with whom she is under contract.But she declined all other television requests and skipped the news conference. After earning more than $55 million in the last year, she can afford the $15,000 fine and other fines that might come her way. The bigger question is whether she wants to risk jeopardizing her participation in the French Open. She has struggled on clay and never advanced past the third round in Paris, but the tournament remains one of the pillars of the sport.The next chance to escalate or defuse the tension comes in the second round on Wednesday against Ana Bogdan of Romania. 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