Petit Choux: Let’s Talk

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• It’s Media Day here at Roland Garros, a kick-off of a 48 hours that will turn the hundreds of reporters here in the bustling media center into headless chickens, all running up against the plethora of invisible changes that test even Mother Teresa’s patience – what do you mean Player X is coming to the Mixed Zone, which is in an area written press are apparently not allowed? – as everyone tries to iron out the bumps and sharp corners until operations are running like a tranquil river (I hope!).
• The show must go on, or so they say. But it shouldn’t. Not today, anyway. Yesterday we were hit with the shattering news that the Associated Press’ Howard Fendrich, the bedrock of American tennis journalism over the last 20 years, died. Unbeknownst to many of us, he had been diagnosed with cancer after returning home from covering the Milan Olympics.

• If you’re a tennis nerd, you know Howard, either from his tireless and thankless AP reporting – you may not have noted his byline – or from his ever present questioning in Grand Slam press conferences. A small group of us met up for drinks on Thursday night to toast Howard and share our memories of him. Everyone had their own impression of Howard’s very specific questioning technique – methodical, precise, kind but direct – that left us all laughing with love. Everyone had stories of thinking you were going to be the only one at an obscure or late-night press conference, only to walk in to see Howard. His penchant for shushing you when he was on deadline was something I used to joke was a badge of honor for any young reporter – and I had many, many, MANY badges lol.
• My favorite Howard anecdote: When it was custom to identify your outlet before asking a question, Howard would of course say, “Howard Fendrich with AP”. One day, he was interviewing a player off the dais, and he could see the player quizzically staring at his credential badge before the look of confusion melted away from his face. “Ohhhh. I thought you spelled your name with a P."
• Get it? “Howard with a p."
• That story has had me rolling for years. I love it. He had such a mischievous and triumphant grin when he nailed the punchline.

• It sucks, but it’s fitting that we got the news here at Roland Garros. This is where, for me, I first understood the absolute machine that was Howard. Before the new large media center was built below ground under Chatrier, the old media center consisted of various small rooms that were roughly divided up by French press, English-speaking press, non-English-speaking press, a tiny web-only room, and a small room for wires (AP, Reuters, etc.). One year I was placed in the wires room, and every day I watched (and heard) Howard going THROUGH IT. He was a one-man team, updating what AP calls “The Runner”, a single post that is updated throughout the day with results and stories, as well as writing his individual wire copy, and going to press conferences and interviews. He would juggle the chats and phone calls back to the desk, jump back into his copy, curse up a storm when things weren’t clicking at his pace and expectation – I can still hear his seething “God DAMMIT” in my ears – and then just get back on it.
• And then, 45 minutes later, you would see him in the hallway or outside, having the gooeyest call with his wife, getting soccer game updates from his kids, and never ending the calls without an "I Love You". Because, as I never stopped needling him, Howard Fendrich was a marshmallow. And his crooked grin always proved he knew that.
• Because of the deadline-driven nature of wire reporting, a vast majority of wire reporters in tennis don’t really go to press conferences, let alone ask questions. They’re usually tethered to their desks monitoring and filing. Howard was the only one who not only went to interviews, but he would actually pursue stories and angles. In other words, he wasn’t just a match reporter and transcriptionist – he was as much of an in-the-trenches reporter as anyone else. And that showed in his work, which wasn’t just dismissible wire copy. I read Howard because I knew he’d have something more than the basics. And I also knew that what he had, he HAD. The guy was an absolute stickler for the very basics of reporting that often gets shafted in this world of “first is better than right”. And watching him do all that in real time, under intense deadline and standards pressure, was the best clinic on reporting I could ever receive and it stayed with me. I was never as good as Howard – no shot – but it wasn’t for lack of trying to chase his standard. And that made me better than I otherwise would have been if left to my own stupid devices.

• Everyone has a Howard story. In fact, everyone who was lucky enough to be in his orbit has more than one. (Inside Tennis)
• I’ll miss Howard here in Paris. Knowing him, he would have rocked up with a US Open baseball cap, tattered long reporter’s notebook tucked into his shirt pocket, chomping his gum, walking with purpose. First one in. Last one out.
• And now, we get back at it.

Roland Garros Media Day Quick Hits

• The Bottom half of the Women's Singles draw and the Bottom half of the Men's Singles draw will be scheduled on SUNDAY and MONDAY.
• The Top half of the Women's Singles draw and the Top half of the Men's Singles draw will be scheduled on MONDAY and TUESDAY
• Obviously the pre-announced Top 10 media protest was looming over the festivities, but at least for the written press, it was pretty much business as usual. Of the press conferences I went to, Jess, Iga and Coco were the ones to crack a ‘last question’ joke, but their press conferences were effectively winding down at that point anyway.

‘As world No 1, I have to stand up and fight’: Sabalenka leads players in grand slam protest

Aryna Sabalenka said the push for a greater financial contribution from the grand slams is focused on improving the welfare of lower ranked players

The GuardianTumaini Carayol

• Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff opened their respective press conferences with some nice words about Howard:
  • Pegula: "I just heard about the passing of Howard Fendrich from the AP and wanted to send my condolences to him and his family and his friends and everything. I'm glad that he was back home, but he's someone that I always looked forward to talking to in press, and sometimes there is few people that I feel like that. I miss seeing Howard here and just sending my prayers to his family."
  • Gauff: "I just wanted to start this off just recognizing a deep loss that I think we all have experienced as a community with Howard. He was someone I always enjoyed having conversations with, I think one of my favorite faces to see in the room. I was deeply sad to hear the news this morning. I just wanted to send my condolences to you guys and of course his family and friends, and his presence will definitely be missed on tour."

• This was good from Daniil Medvedev on Jannik’s strength in a backhand-to-backhand rally:

"I think if we compare it to any other player, the difference is that Jannik can any moment decide kind of to, let's call it, step up and, for example, go down the line. But not many players can do the backhand down the line and do it every time almost as winner.

"He can. He can do it, like, for three sets, step up, down the line, strong shot, and then he's super fast to cover the forehand side. If you try to wrong-foot him, to go on his backhand, he basically doesn't wrong-foot, so he's there."

• Angel or devil, can we just clone Coco? Here she is on the media protest:

"I feel like the ones doing this today, I think they're pretty comfortable with this part of things. It was a fine line of what we can do but also not punish you guys, because you guys have nothing to do with this.

"So that's why I think a lot of players chose to do media today and just trying to limit things with the TVs and the tournaments' partners with that. But also showing up today and being able to answer questions for you all too.

"It's kind of difficult to balance, and obviously, yeah, it's not hard to ask us to do less media, but I also appreciate the media, too. I don't know. It's kind of like, I don't know, what is it, devil – what's the term? You know what I'm trying to say. Angel/devil? Yeah, God. Sorry.

"Q.  I really hope we're the angels.

"Yes, you are. At least for me. I don't know what questions you asked everyone else."

• Here’s Iga Swiatek on how she feels going into Roland Garros this year compared to last year:

“Last year, my tournament in Rome was like a really cold, cold shower, you know, and I wake up cold. I felt terrible on the court in Rome, so for sure, this year, after a couple of good matches, there is more positive vibe. It's good to just have some really solid matches on your shoulders and start the tournament with that.

"It's a bit different, but every year I say that every tournament is a different story, no matter if I won Rome, no matter if I lost second round. We still have time to kind of refresh, reset, and start the tournament from a totally different perspective.

"So, yeah, I think I will take good experience from this year's Rome and positive feedback also after the matches. And I also had the chance to play under pressure, I also had the chance to play short matches. I get the vibe of the matches. I'm in the match rhythm, which is great, comparing to last year.

"But still, this is a totally different tournament with different conditions right now, especially with the heat. So you need to be humble and start knowing that you're willing to fight for every match."

• After a bit of an injury scare in Rome, Aryna Sabalenka says she’s 100% good to go: "I struggled the beginning of the clay court physically, to be honest, but right now I feel 100%. We did a great recovery. We focused on recovery and make sure that I'm healed everywhere and I'm ready to go. Right now, as I said, physically I'm ready to go."

Saying less has meaning for top-10 players in prize money protest at the French Open

Ten questions into her pre-tournament news conference as the defending champion at the French Open, Coco Gauff announced she was done.

NBC SportsAssociated Press

• Novak Djokovic confirmed that he was not part of the media protest, but gave his unwavering support to the players. He says the last 10 days have been positive on a physical level:

"I wanted to play more, but my body was not allowing me. I was going through rehabilitation process for my injury. So after Indian Wells, it was, yeah, just not possible for me to compete for several months. That's the reason why.

"Really wanted to go to Rome to give it a shot and try and see how I feel. I was far from being ready to compete, but still, I needed at least that one match just to have the score called by chair umpire and have experience of the nerves before I eventually come to Roland Garros, which at that point I didn't know if I was going to be able to play or not.

"Thankfully, the response of the body and the preparation has been positive in the last 10 days, so here I am, and we'll see what happens."

• Emma Raducanu uses ChatGPT a lot. That’s just a big bummer to hear: I use Chat a lot. Like every small thing I do it, and actually I got this idea. So, you know how Spotify do a Spotify Wrapped? I asked ChatGPT to make me a Chat Wrapped, and it was that she giving me a rundown on my personality. I was, like, it's a little bit too accurate. So it was, like, very clear, very concise. Yeah, no nonsense, like straight into the question."

• This feels right: It’s not who can stop Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros. It’s what. One item of note – it’s going to get progressively hotter as the tournament progresses towards Championship Weekend. No word on whether they’re serving shrimp tacos in player dining though. (Tennis Grandstand)
• Carole Bouchard sees a deepening of the Jannik/Novak parallels, which was a tremendous excuse to bring up the famous Roger Federer finger wag. She’s also got a nice interview with Sloane. (The Tennis Sweet Spot)

After the soul crushing loss of last year here - which was also very Djokovic-in-Roland-Garros cripted - is it Sinner’s redemption arc? And what happens if, despite all the odds being in his favor, he doesn’t get the trophy? A trophy he’s been saying over and over is the goal of his year. Just like it ended up being for years for the Djoker. The Elusive Grand Slam Title. The One That Would Not Be Tamed. I get that some people are going to find it boring that it might end up in a one way traffic. But the journey of Sinner being literally his only opponent in Paris can be fascinating. He’s the only one standing in his way: his nerves or his body could come for him. Nothing else. How do you manage a situation like that? 

Sinner had three match points in that final last year and he knows he should have won: that is scar tissue and it’s a thick one. It will come back to Sinner’s brain here and there. The little voice will try to get louder. The irony is that the only player who fully understands what he’s about to go through can’t be called for help: It’s Novak Djokovic, who lost three finals at Roland-Garros, lived to tell all the drama and tales, before winning it. The only thing Sinner really has to go through in Paris now is his own scar tissue and we’re about to see how thick or not it is.

• I’m not a big fan of the ghost-written Player Tribune stuff, but this is very sweet piece on Gael Monfils’ legacy. Elina and Gael are really a great couple. He is, inarguably, the most popular athlete in the locker room not named Roger Federer. Absolutely beloved and he served as a big inspiration for the generation behind him. (Player Tribune)

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• A good feature on Marco Trungelliti, who did exactly what the TIU rules require and ended up getting death threats and having to move his family out of Argentina. (The Times)

Trungelliti reported the approach to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), which was replaced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency in 2021. He heard very little for more than two years until December 2017, when he was asked to waive his anonymity and testify. “I was told they are going to trial against three Argentinian players and they needed me to show my face [to corroborate the allegations]. They told me if I refused, they would go against me, so it was very strange and I pretty much had no option. I know how people think in Argentina. It was going to be very tough. I thought that the TIU was going to be more active in the sense of taking care of me, as the guy who reported it, but instead it was the opposite. I felt completely used.” The TUI said in 2019 it had not commented publicly about his involvement in the case to protect him as a witness, and said “his courageous stand” was to be admired.

Nicolás Kicker (six years), Patricio Heras (five years), and Federico Coria (two months) were banned as a result of the investigation. Trungelliti was labelled a snitch by fellow players and was sent death threats on social media. After Coria’s father confronted Trungelliti’s wife in the players’ lounge at a tournament in Córdoba, they resolved to leave Argentina permanently and moved to Spain.“I was a bit depressed at how the whole process went,” Trungelliti says. “It took me a minute to realise how bad [the threats were] and I talked with my wife and said, ‘I’m going to make it public because then at least if anything happens to me, there is a reason, otherwise it’s just getting worse and worse.’ The safety for myself and my family was just not there.”

• This should have been an automatic disqualification, zero hesitation. It simply cannot be that you only get penalized if you hurt someone:

• Here are your tournament finals on Saturday:
  • ATP Geneva: Learner Tien vs. Mariano Navone – Tien edged Bublik to make his first clay final; Navone straight-setted Ruud.

• WTA Strasbourg: Emma Navarro vs. Victoria Mboko
• ATP Hamburg: Ignacio Buse vs. Tommy Paul
• WTA Rabat: Anhelina Kalinina vs. Petra Marcinko
• The Frenchies are sweating: Arthur Fils said his back was fine after he withdrew from Rome, but L’Equipe reports he has yet to be seen hitting a tennis ball at Roland Garros or the practice courts. He was scheduled to take part in Gael Monfils’ exhibition last night, but withdrew. And he did not do media 0n Friday (he could still do it on Saturday).

• Nice profile by Matt Futterman on the USTA’s winner of the RG Wildcard challenge, 19-year-old Akasha Urhobo. (The Athletic)

Urhobo finished last year as the world No. 432. She has climbed nearly 250 spots since then. For five weeks between the end of March and the start of May, she won more rankings points on clay than any other U.S. player outside the top 100. That made her the winner of the organization’s “wild card challenge” for the French Open, and she will play her first Grand Slam main-draw match against Katie Boulter of Great Britain.

Urhobo, 19, is 29-7 this year. She qualified for the main draw at the WTA 500 Charleston Open in March, and was up 7-5, 3-0 on Solana Sierra of Argentina, who took Coco Gauff to three sets at the Italian Open, when Sierra retired due to injury. Urhobo lost in the next round. She still came away thinking that she wasn’t far away from the competition. 

“They’re just like me,” she said during a recent interview. “They’re just playing at this higher level, and if I keep my head down and keep grinding, I can be there too.”

Let Them Play: How Welcoming Trans Athletes Can Improve Sports Culture for All

Three recent books press us to understand the humanity and lives of gender-expansive athletes.

The Texas ObserverJessica Luther

• Why can’t the internet just be this:

• France really lost the ham PR wars for no good reason. French ham, salty butter, and a fresh baguette has to be Top 5 best three-ingredient bites in the world. I will take a slice of french ham over all other cured pork offerings.
• Bop of the Day: Been listening to a lot of modern French pop and I’m always a sucker for a disco beat: