Petit Choux: Teflon Dames

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Roland Garros 2026: Order of Play | Draws | Live Scores

• The first winner at the 2026 Roland Garros: James Duckworth. He advanced after Canada's Gabriel Diallo retired down 6-3, 4-1 due to heat stroke.
• Grit of the Day: Hailey Baptiste, who saved two match points to beat Barbora Krejcikova 6-7(7), 7-6(6), 6-2 in nearly three hours. That’s the second time in three tournaments where Hailey bested a Grand Slam champion from match-points down, having ousting Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid. She’ll play Wang Xiyu next.

What’s making Hailey Baptiste so good at saving match points? | Tennis.com

“I just refuse to let myself be the reason that I lose a match,” the American said after digging in to beat Barbora Krejcikova in the Roland Garros first round.

Tennis.com

• Hailey afterwards, on her crafty style:

“[Shot selection is] definitely something that I've struggled with throughout my career. I think that in the end I just tried to make a solid decision. Sometimes I can't help myself but do something that's so stupid it's unbelievable. But, yeah, I mean, I guess it's more just reaction and, yeah, hope that I make a smart decision (laughing)."

"I think focus falls into play with that, just being really dialed and knowing what the right decision is. Sometimes the crazy decision isn't the worst decision. I think that's a part of my game and what makes me difficult to play, just kind of doing some things that aren't expected."

• Don’t look now, but Marta Kostyuk is 13-0 on clay this year. She moved past Oksana Selekhmeteva easily. The win ain’t nothin’. She lost in the first round of three of her last four Grand Slams. She gets Katie Volynets next. (The Guardian)

• Here was Marta after the match: “Happy to be in the second round and that everyone is alive,” is such a chilling kicker.

"I didn't know what to expect from myself. I didn't know how my focus is going to be, how I'm going to be able to control my emotions or my thoughts.

"There were obviously times in the match when I would go back to thinking about it, because most of the morning I felt sick just for my thought that if it was 100 meters closer, I probably wouldn't have a mom and a sister today.

"It was really difficult to just process it so quick and also go out and play. That's why I'm also very happy that I played first match, because I don't know what would be the outcome if I played last, for example.

"Yeah, it's tough, but I'm very proud of myself today, of how we all handled it, and, you know, happy to be in the second round and that everyone is alive."

Sabalenka’s ‘custom’ Nike dress worn by Selekhmeteva in Roland Garros shock | Women’s Tennis Blog

In the first round of Roland Garros, world No. 88 Oksana Selekhmeteva turned out to be the first WTA player to wear the new seductive Nike Summer Slam Dress

Women's Tennis BlogMarija Zivlak

• Magda Linette won the longest women’s match of the day, going the distance in a match tiebreak to beat Teresa Valentova 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 [11-9] in 2 hours and 58 minutes. She’ll be Jelena Ostapenko’s potential second-round opponent. Which is meaningful for the fans who have been throwing things since learning Ostapenko is Iga Swiatek’s projected third-round opponent. The good news, Iga fans: at least the match won't be played on Pietrangeli!
• Hell of a match from Nishesh Basavareddy to knock out Taylor Fritz 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-7(9), 6-1 to score his first Top 10 win. Here’s how Taylor saw it:

"I really don't think my level was that bad, to be honest. All things considered, I thought actually I played all right.

"Certain things here and there that I could do a bit better. I wasn't hitting some of the spots on my serve as good as I could have. I could have returned a lot better as well, but a bit frustrating, because a lot of times I'm not returning well, it's more like I'm having trouble just getting my racquet, getting in a good place to make contact. I felt like today I actually had a lot of returns on my racquet, and I just didn't really hit it well enough and didn't take advantage of some opportunities. I mean, when I look back at it, the first three sets I faced one break point, and I felt like I had some chances to break him.

"So, you know, I did a lot of what I'd say my job normally is. I just failed to convert some chances. I was up a break in the second, I really should have served out the second. In the end I just wasn't able to turn it around, and I think he played amazing.

The biggest thing was just the dropshots were crazy. Typically when someone is dropshotting me too much, I kind of just tell myself, okay, I need to hit the ball deeper. He was hitting insane dropshots, like, off balls that were landing on the baseline. He killed me with that, and there's not really much I can do about it, like I said. I feel like he's just hitting insane dropshots off of crazy shots to hit dropshots off of.

"So, yeah, it is what it is. He really cooked me with the dropshots today."

• Karen Khachanov moved into Round 2 after France’s Arthur Gea almost shit himself. (AP via Yahoo)

• Good to see Caty McNally both level up and level out this season. She’s into Round 2 with a three-set win over Ajla Tomljanovic. She’s a player no one wants to play and that’s a great reputation to have in the locker room. She’ll get a crack at Belinda Bencic in Round 2.
• 32nd seed Wang Xinyu ended the Lilli Tagger experiment with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win. Good showing from the Austrian, who kept coming back in the final set before Wang finally closed. She was followed into Round 2 by Wang Xiyu, who backed up her qualifying campaign with a straight-set win over Danka Kovinic.

Inside Tennis’ Secret Crackdown on Luxury Accessories

Elite tennis players have become prominent endorsers of designer fashion brands in recent years, including Carlos Alcaraz for Louis Vuitton and Coco Gauff for Miu Miu. But in recent years, tournament organizers have begun cracking down on overt attempts to turn the tennis court into a luxury showroom. Earlier this month, Aryna Sabalenka walked out …

Yahoo SportsSara Germano

• Louisa Thomas on Tennis Klaxon: Lovely profile of Elina Svitolina. (New Yorker)

Early last year, Monfils was asked by a reporter about not achieving the dream of winning a Grand Slam. “That’s your dream, I guess, to win a Slam,” Monfils replied. “I’ll tell you my dream. My dream is to have an unbelievable family. Tennis is cool. Of course, you want to have goals, dreams, whatever. But my dream is out there.” When I brought his words up to Svitolina, she demurred a little. “Gael is six, seven years older,” she pointed out. I sensed her dreams weren’t only on the other side of tennis; she is ready for this moment, now. 

French Open Predictions: Who Will Win at Roland Garros in 2026? | Opta Analyst

Who will win the singles titles at the 2026 French Open? We look at the Opta supercomputer’s predictions ahead of Roland Garros 2026.

Opta AnalystStats Perform

• Can’t wait to see more of this type of long-form analysis from the top-notch team at Stats Perform, aka OptaAce. Here they are on the make-or-break importance of Iga Swiatek’s serve. (The Analyst)

Since the start of last season, 31 players have played at least 10 matches against WTA top-10 opponents. Of those 31, only Jasmine Paolini (16.2%) has recorded a larger drop in break-point save rate between matches against top-10 opponents and those ranked outside the top 10 than Swiatek (14.2%).

Over that same span, among current top-10 players, Swiatek is also one of only two, alongside Victoria Mboko, to both face more break points against fellow top-10 opponents and save a lower percentage of them compared to matches against players ranked outside the top 10.

Since the start of last season, Swiatek has averaged 5.8 break points faced per match against top-10 opponents, compared to 4.8 against players ranked outside the top 10, while saving an average number of break points of 2.7 and 2.9 respectively.

Given Swiatek (2.9) is averaging the fewest break points faced against opponents ranked 11+ out of those players ranked in the WTA top 10, the change in match complexion has been tough to navigate.

Players can either increase or decrease their margin for error on serve, but the accompanying risk-reward balance inevitably affects how effectively they can hold against stronger opposition.

Traditionally, Swiatek has taken the more pragmatic route. Since the start of last season, her first-serve percentage has actually been higher against top-10 opponents (67.0%) than against players ranked outside the top 10 (64.6%).

The trade-off, however, has been a decline in effectiveness behind that delivery. Swiatek has won 67.0% of first-serve points against top-10 opponents, compared to 70.2% against everyone else.

As a result, since the start of last season, Swiatek (23.4) has averaged the fewest points won on first serve among current WTA top-20 players in matches against top-10 opposition.

• Another reminder that getting tennis players to agree on the simplest of things is like herding cats:

Q.  What do you think, too, about the thing with boycott-like thing that you can't talk as much to the media, for example now? You know what I'm talking about?

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA: If you want my honestly opinion on that, I think media guys has nothing to do with our prize money. You don't pay us, right? So how we can boycott somebody who also getting paid from the same tournament?

I think for me it's a little bit nonsense, so I'm not really into this, so here I am and talking to you as much as I want (smiling). As much as you want as well, so...

• Point of order: “The Media” is not just written press. It is also rights-holders, e.g., broadcasters, who pay huge sums to the Slams for those rights. So yes, that “The Media” actually does pay you and has a lot to do with your prize money.

Naomi Osaka Created a Space For Community And Connection Among Black Tennis Players

Osaka hosted an intimate French Open dinner celebrating Black players in tennis, bringing them together to foster community, representation, and connection beyond the court.

Yahoo SportsBoardroom Staff

• I was once again reminded how much I enjoy Taylor Fritz in a press conference. Asked him about his tactical thoughts in the match and he was, as always, great:

Q.  Taylor, a lot of kind of discussion between you and Mike and the team throughout the match trying to figure out where to kind of set the line in terms of how aggressive you should play it, so I'm kind of curious how you were seeing that, and whether or not ultimately you were pleased with kind of where you set that line?

TAYLOR FRITZ: The main thing I felt like we were kind of going back and forth about was where I wanted to stand on the first serve return on the ad side. Because when I stood really far back, he was kicking me back out wide and serve and volleying me. But I felt like when I stood up, then it got very tough to – you know, I had a lot less time before the serve got to me.

So I felt like I was making more mistakes, and I felt like if I didn't hit a good return, then my court positioning had to be too far up. It would be too easy for him to kind of hurt me on the first ball.

Mike wanted me to step up, and I felt like when I stepped up, it was good for him. He would miss more first serves because he would go for more instead of just kind of kicking in a first serve, but I also felt like when he made the first serve, I didn't have as good of a play on it as when I was standing back.

I ultimately felt like I could stand back. I just had to do a better job of returning. And that’s sometimes the conversation I have with Mike is sometimes we have to identify if something is not working. If it's the strategy that's not working or if it's just me that's not executing the strategy well enough.

I thought that that's what this particular issue was. I felt like I had my racquet on a lot of these returns, and it was more I wasn't winning points, but I didn't really want to change it, because I felt like I could do better.

• Holy cow, I did not know about what happened to Fran Jones:

Earlier this year, she suffered lingering concussion symptoms following a freak gym accident in which the locking mechanism on a leg-press machine failed and a 45kg weight crashed onto her head and knee.

"I would say this has been arguably the hardest moment of my career, this year," Jones told BBC Sport.

"Having clawed my way back [to win the match], it kind of makes it better.

"It shows that, irrespective of the difficulties and adversity, I'm still going to keep trying to play chess with myself and find a way forward."

• Day 2 matches I’m looking forward to: Rublev-Buse, Paolini-Yastremska, Parks-Fernandez, Wawrinka-De Jong, Umbert-Mannarino, Gaston-Monfils, Atmane-Kokkinakis, Kasatkina-Sonmez, Boulter-Urhobo.
• Speaking of Urhobo, loved this from Carole Bouchard’s interview with her:

Carole Bouchard, The Tennis Sweet Spot: Your father being a big fan of Pete Sampras explains a lot of things too!

Akasha Urhobo: Yes! (She laughs)

Carole Bouchard, The Tennis Sweet Spot: I guess watching someone like Taylor Townsend doing really well has also been inspiring… Like, you can make it with that game style even in today’s tennis. And you’re already showing it by winning a lot of matches, even on clay.

Akasha Urhobo: Yes, definitely. When I was around 12, I saw Taylor Townsend take on Simona Halep, and I saw how she was rushing the net. It was really just giving a lot of people so many different issues. And so when I tried to emulate that and try to play the net, I saw that it was having the same effect, as no one really knew when I was coming in. They knew I was going to, but not exactly when or how I would. It really builds a sense of confidence because no matter what, you’re going to keep doing the same thing over and over.

• Ignore the part about her being 12 years old during Townsend-Halep. Fake news.

WTA Backspin by Todd Spiker: Wk.20- Sense, Sensibility and Emma (in Strasbourg)

Sense, Sensibility and Emma (in Strasbourg)

• Nice ATP feature on Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong, who is on the verge of a Top 100 debut.

“I was thinking to actually stop tennis during Covid because it was just too tough,” Wong said. “My parents actually told me to go to university in Hong Kong and just see if there’s another way because we didn’t know how long it was going to be if I can continue tennis like that.

“The toughest part is you don’t know when you can start. You don’t know what you need to do. You cannot control it.”

• Catching up with Kyle Edmund, who is in the ATP’s inaugural ATP x LALIGA MBA in Sports Management program. In this house we stan education, and so we stan this. Good stuff, Kedders.(ATP)
• This is the baby-brained “you criticize capitalism, YET you participate in capitalism” gotcha but for Big Tech:

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• I am and have always been a Sad Desk Sandwich/Salad girlie. I like to eat my lunch or dinner at my desk while I work. The French Open and the US Open are my favorite Sad Desk tournaments. The US Open had a great salad bar, good burgers, fries, etc. The French Open was a simple tradition: ham and butter or ham and cheese baguette, bag of chips, and a Coke Zero. Every day. For 18 days. I looked forward to it, even though the baguettes could be hit or miss – remember that one year Andy Murray cracked his tooth on one? Girl, I understood.
• But this year, the Sandwich has, indeed, become Sad! I went to grab my usual only to find they didn’t have the traditional baguette sandwiches anymore! It’s been replaced by a ham and cheese and PESTO on a PRETZEL roll. Was it tasty? Yes! Was it arguably tastier than my usual basic as stale baguette? Yes! But did it also taste like a sandwich I could literally eat anywhere in the world? Yes. It didn’t taste french! I was sad. At my desk. With my sandwich.
• Bop of the Day: I’ve been building out a Spotify playlist of modern French pop to get me into the rhythm of the festivities: