French Open 2024 Fan Diary #3: Iga Swiatek bakery, Steffi Graf museum, & Carlos Alcaraz smiles
It's Day 3 for me at Roland Garros and I can't believe I'm already halfway through my four-day French Open experience. As I wake up, I tune into the election results back home. The early trends are indicating a surprise. Would there be a surprise in the Roland Garros quarter-finals as well?
I head out to the stadium and reach in time for the first match of the day between third seed Coco Gauff and eighth seed Ons Jabeur. The Tunisian is a crowd favorite, especially in Paris. There are a lot of Tunisian flags around the court and a couple of very loud sections cheering for the player known as the 'Minister of Happiness'. This time, my seats are behind the players and to the left, and it's a cloudy overcast day, just the way I like it.
It's a happy start for Jabeur, whose variety and court craft are among the best in the game. She takes the first set 6-4. Early in the second set, the body language of both players is telling. Jabeur is bouncing around on her feet and pumping her fists. Gauff has her shoulders slightly dropped. The American gets a break early in the second set and doesn't let go of the advantage as she wins it 6-2. Suddenly, the body language of both players changed.
Gauff also breaks in the fourth game of the second set and despite a valiant effort from Jabeur, the American holds on to her serve and wins the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to move into the semi-finals.
I step out to grab some food - a vegetarian galette (pancake) with cheese and mushroom and a double scoop (milk chocolate and dark chocolate) of ice cream. I head back to my seat to watch the second match - Iga Swiatek vs Marketa Vondrousova, the reigning Wimbledon champion. In tennis circles, Swiatek is known for her dishing out bagels (winning a set 6-0) and breadsticks (winning a set 6-1). The Iga bakery delivers again today, as she wins the first 6-0.
The winners of the Pole's racket come fast and furious, as do the memes on the election results from back home. Will we see a new leader?
There's no sign that Swiatek is letting go of her status as the leader on the women's tour. She wins the second set 6-2 to advance to the semis and set up a clash against Gauff.
As I wait for the third match of the day, my eyes fixate on the Infosys logo on Court Philippe Chatrier, right above the speed gun. I'm very well aware of Infosys' association with the sport but somehow seeing its logo on the most famous clay court in the world, alongside names like BNP Paribas, Emirates, and Rolex, fills me with a new sense of pride.
By now, second seed Jannik Sinner and 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov are out on Chatrier. The Italian has a good shot of becoming the new world No. 1 in men's tennis if he reaches the final in Paris. He starts well, hitting the balls in all the right corners to win the first two sets 6-2, 6-4.
My eyes move towards the quote on Court Philippe Chatrier. Victory belongs to the most tenacious (on one side of the court in English, and the other in French). By now, messages from back home confirm that India won't have a new leader. It looks like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party/ coalition have emerged victorious, even though it wasn't the bagel/breadstick kind of win they had hoped for.
Back to the tennis, the third set is going on serve. Deep in the third set, my phone is buzzing with a lot of messages. Could it be a sudden turn of events back home in the election results? The hope of a new leader after some political re-alignment perhaps?
Well, it turned out that Novak Djokovic, the top seed and current world No. 1, had just announced his withdrawal from the tournament due to a knee injury he sustained during his five-set win the previous day. There's a murmur in the crowd.
Djokovic won the title here last year and his withdrawal at the quarter-final stage means he loses a bunch of points in the rankings tally. There will be a change of leadership after all, as irrespective of what happens next, Sinner will be the new world No. 1 in the world on Monday, June 10th. After a small hiccup late in the third, Sinner could win the tiebreak and complete the win in straight sets to move into the semi-finals. What a great way to confirm his status as the world's best player.
I have a couple of hours before the night session begins so I decide to walk the grounds. There's a tennis museum on-site and I check that out. A lot of interesting stuff for tennis nerds like me. I learned more about the story behind the man known as Roland Garros, after whom the stadium has been named (Note: he wasn't a famous tennis player).
There's also a section on Steffi Graf, my all-time favorite player and the one who I'd kill to watch/ meet in person. Hopefully, one day I will!! (meet her, I mean).
I also catch up with a fellow tennis writer, Chris Oddo - or as tennis fans know him -TheFanChild, on the grounds. Chris is writing for the Roland Garros website this week and has a lot of fun stories to share.
At 8 pm I decided to grab some food for the evening session match between third seed Carlos Alcaraz and ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas - a tomato/mozzarella focaccia sandwich and a chocolate muffin this time.
Alcaraz has never lost to Tsitsipas in five previous encounters and shows no signs of losing today. The Spaniard wins the first set 6-3 and goes up a break in the second. Tsitsi, as the crowd cheers him, manages to breathe some life into the match as he breaks back and pushes the second set to a tiebreak.
However, Alcaraz is too strong in the breaker and takes a two-sets-to-love lead. As the match heads to its conclusion, the crowd does their best to cheer Tsitsipas on. One fan shouts out "I don't wanna go back home so soon". Neither do I. As Alcaraz gets ready to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third, the French crowd erupts into a Mexican wave that goes on for nearly two minutes.
The Spaniard smiles, as he often does on the court, stays focussed, and serves out the match to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash against Sinner (P.S. Anyone with any connections to get me tickets for Friday here?).
I walk out of Philippe Chatrier. I catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower from the grounds. I plan to see it up close in the second half of this week. Will it be as spectacular as the tennis has been?
I reach back to my hostel and type my thoughts down. What an eventful day. India continues with the same leader while tennis fans get a new one!!