There were also a lot of five-set matches. Former champion Stan Wawrinka, Denis Shapovalov and Cameron Norrie survived the toughest bouts in five sets. But two-time tournament runner-up Dominic Thiem flew away after losing in five sets to Argentinian Pedro Cachin.
The main results of the second day of play:
The controversy surrounding Novak Djokovic
World number 3 Novak Djokovic began his quest for a record 23rd Grand Slam title by beating Alexander Kovacevich in straight sets. The first set Djokovic won 6:3, the second – 6:2, and in the third began a struggle. Kovacevich broke back when Djokovic served for the match, but Novak then quietly won the tie-break 7-1.
However, the 35-year-old’s victory was overshadowed by controversy when, after the victory, he wrote a message on camera with political overtones.
Djokovic wrote: “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence.”
Northern Kosovo is dominated by a Serbian population who consider Belgrade, the Serbian capital, as their capital. After refusing to participate in local elections in April, ethnic Serbs in the region clashed with Kosovo police and NATO peacekeepers.
In his post-match press conference, Djokovic stressed the need to show support and show unity.
“It’s the least I can do. I feel responsible as a public figure and the son of a man born in Kosovo. I feel the need to show my support for all of Serbia. I don’t know what the The future holds for the Serbian people and Kosovo, but showing support now is very important, I don’t know what the consequences will be, maybe I’ll be punished, I won’t make excuses, I’ll do it again.
I am against wars and all conflicts, I have always spoken about it publicly. The situation in Kosovo is a precedent under the Charter of the United Nations. I am very sorry that we are in this situation. Kosovo is our home, our backbone, the most important monasteries are there,” Djokovic said.
Fans called for Djokovic to be suspended and prevented from playing at Roland Garros, but later it became known that the organizers would not punish the Serbian for his political message, as tennis players have the right to express their opinion on any issue.
Departure of Auger-Aliassime, Kudermetova, Kvitova and Bencic, a feeling of Avanesyan
While most of the top seeds qualified for the second round of Roland-Garros, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Petra Kvitova were less fortunate.
Auger-Aliassime lost in three sets (6-4, 6-4, 6-3) to Italian veteran Fabio Fognini.
Fognini converted eight of his nine break points for a superb victory. In the second round, Fognini will face Australian Jason Kubler.
On the women’s side, two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova lost to Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6:3, 6:4. The two-time French Open semi-finalist arrived at Roland Garros with just one clay-court win of the season and extended her losing streak by losing to Cocciaretto, who scored 82% on Kvitova’s second serve.
11th seeded Russian tennis player Veronika Kudermetova lost to 100th ranked WTA Anna Karolina Shmidlova of Slovakia. Kudermetova won only 4 games per game. In the first set, on the second serve, she took only 2 draws out of 12, while having a first serve percentage of only 60%. And on the first serve, she only took 50% of the points and made 23 unforced errors. In the second set, the second serve was improved, but at the same time, Veronika took only 4 out of 10 draws from the first serve. At the same time, Shmidlova’s figure reached 89%. Yes, and Shmidlova abruptly stopped making errors, only 7 unforced errors per set, and Kudermetova made 17 errors. As a result, a devastating loss and a first-round start.
But another Russian, Elina Avanesyan, on the contrary pleasantly surprised by beating the 12th seed Belinda Bencic. The 134th racket in the world won in three sets – 6:3, 2:6, 6:4. The match was fairly even, despite Bencic initially being a clear favourite. But Avanesyan managed to pull himself together at the decisive moment. In the third set, she lost 2-4 on Bencic’s next serve, but managed to make the most important break and went on to win three more games in a row. In the second round, Avanesyan will face Leoli Zhanzhan of France.
Svitolina won the first Grand Slam match after giving birth, knocking out last year’s semi-finalist
Following the birth of her daughter last October, Elina Svitolina marked her return to Grand Slam tournaments with a victory over last year’s French Open semi-finalist Martina Trevisan.
After winning in Strasbourg last week, Svitolina delivered an incredible performance at Roland Garros. In each set, she only lost two games.
Meanwhile, her husband Gael Monfils also returns to a Grand Slam this week for the first time since the Australian Open 2022. On May 30, in the evening slot, he will face Sebastian Baez for a place in the second round.
Vyacheslav Gorbachev, Athletistic
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Source: Sport
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
