It’s already over for world number one Angelique Kerber knocked out by Eketerina Makarova 6-2 6-2. Given Kerber’s pretty bad results this year, it hardly comes as a surprise.
With that defeat, she became the first top-seed woman in the Open era to lose in the opening round at Roland Garros. She joins Virginia Ruzici (Australian Open 1979), Steffi Graf (Wimbledon 1994) and Martina Hingis (Wimbledon 1999 and 2001) as top seed who have fallen in the first round of a Grand Slam.
I watched Kerber at practice on court Lenglen on Thursday and I must say I was impressed neither by the intensity nor the quality of her training session. Enjoy a few pictures:
Lots of Japanese fans were on court number one to watch Kei practice with his coach Michael Chang. Nishikori will debut his Roland Garros campaign against Thanasi Kokkinakis on Tuesday. How far do you think he can go?
Lots of people to watch Rafa‘s training session on court number 1 yesterday. He appeared a bit grumpy, seemed frustrated by his forehand and talked quite a bit with Carlos Moya after practice. He then spent a good 10 minutes signing autographs before being interviewed on court. Rafa will debut his quest for a 10th Roland Garros title tomorrow against Benoit Paire on court Suzanne Lenglen.
Andy Murray was looking to turn around his season in Rome, but instead he suffered a shock defeat to Fabio Fognini 6-2 6-4. Murray, who didn’t drop a set in Rome last year, becomes the first defending champion to lose in his first match since 2008 when Rafael Nadal fell to Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Fognini lost to Sascha Zverev in the next round, and arrived just in time in Barcelona for the birth of his son:
After his finals in Barcelone and Madrid, Dominic Thiem appears as a serious Roland Garros contender. How far do you think he can go on the French clay courts?
Nadal, Djokovic, Lendl, Wilander... they all took part to the 16 and under Summer Cup held each year in Le Touquet. Discover the tennis stars of tomorrow.
Lower tournaments are a good opportunity to discover young players in the making like Karen Khachanov and Quentin Halys, or some charismatic veteran players like Rudy Coco.
