In his latest column, our Global Tennis Ambassador discusses the players to watch in both the men’s and women’s singles at the French Open, as well as the reaction to Naomi Osaka’s first-round exit.
Cam Norrie’s win over Daniil Medvedev was the match of the French Open so far. Norrie is such a tough out, and a great player. His win showed what’s so exciting about this best-of-five format – anything can steal the attention away from the top players, and the potential for drama with the longer format rarely disappoints.
The one thing that you don’t ever worry about with Norrie is his fitness, and he’s of the 30 or 35 guys in any Grand Slam who could talk himself into a result just because his legs never go away. He can play the longer format and he’s seen the big matches before, so it’s not a stretch for him to make a run.
He’s in Novak Djokovic’s section of the draw, though, and that’s a tougher matchup. The big question with Novak coming into the tournament was whether he had the legs for it. A lot of us dummies were questioning why he would pull out of the Italian Open, but it seemed like he went to Geneva and really got his legs underneath him.
First rounds have been dicey for Novak this year, but when he gets two or three matches into tournaments, he’s like a diesel engine. Novak in round four is very different to Novak in round one.
It’s a massive task for him to win the tournament considering the way that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are playing, but Novak isn’t scared of those guys. He thinks his best tennis can beat them, and he’s one of the only players in the draw that can say that and not be telling stories to themselves.
Novak is able to flip confidence levels very quickly. He was playing terribly in Monte Carlo and Rome, and then all of a sudden he gets two matches into Geneva and it’s like riding a bike again. It’s a huge ask, but bet against Novak at your own peril. I did it on Thursday before he was in Geneva and now we really look like dummies. Sooner or later, we’ll know better.
Sinner v Alcaraz is must-see TV
There’s no doubt that Sinner and Alcaraz were the two best players going into this tournament, and even Novak would probably tell you that. They’ve won the last five Grand Slams, after all.
Now, Novak doesn’t have to be better than them every week. He can certainly pace himself and find his top form, but I think they’re the two clear favourites.
A final between the two of them would obviously get the juices flowing. They’re the next version of must-see TV when they go against each other. We were spoiled in the best possible way with the ‘Big 3’ and ‘Big 4’, and Sinner and Alcaraz are the next generation of those match-ups. We’re always in a rush to get to that next thing, but there are going to be a lot of players in this tournament who don’t care what we want.
Musetti is becoming one of the world’s best
I have a tonne of respect for Lorenzo Musetti, who I picked to make the semis on my podcast. Last year, it was a surprise when he made the semis of Wimbledon. I don’t think it would be a surprise now.
He’s really become one of the best players in the world, and while Alcaraz and Sinner are the favourites, Musetti’s good every single week now. He used to be kind of flashy, a little bit more inconsistent, but now he puts up results with quarter-finals and semi-finals every week. He’s really done a great job of that.
Swiatek should be feared in the latter stages
On the women’s side, I think people are completely underestimating Iga Swiatek. She’s getting judged against her own shadow right now, which is immense, but she still made the semis in Madrid and Australia. It’s not as if she hadn’t played any good tennis.
I actually weirdly think that a tough draw will get her dialled in. She’s never lost a Grand Slam final – when she gets to the tail end of Grand Slams, she’s very good at closing. I still think Sabalenka is probably the favourite going into any tournament she enters right now, but I wouldn’t look past Iga.
If she gets to the quarters or semis, she’s going to have a chip on her shoulder. People are forgetting about her really quickly. If I had won four of the last five French Opens, I’d feel like, “screw you guys”.
Keys and Andreeva are certainly both capable
Madison Keys is going under the radar slightly despite being the Australian Open champion, but she’s so consistent. I think she would tell you the surface in Australia was better for her, but she’s really good on clay and she’s made the semis here before.
I think Madison would want it this way. I know for a fact she doesn’t have an ego about it. She would rather you look up and go, “oh, Madison’s in the semis again, this is dangerous!”
She’s certainly capable, and she has that X-factor where she can take the racket out of your hand with her forehand and serve. She can play a lot of matches on her terms, and she doesn’t need someone to play badly for her to get a win.
Mirra Andreeva could also go all the way, there’s no doubt, and she beat Sabalenka at the French Open last year. To me it’s when, not if, with Andreeva. She’ll win a Slam very quickly in the next 18 months.
Is it going to be on clay at this one? It’s tough because it’s so match-up based, and she’s 0-4 or 0-5 against Coco Gauff – who she could meet in the semis – and I trust the match-ups sometimes.
But if you wanted to look smart and just say Andreeva is going to win going into each of the next four, five or six Slams, then you’re going to be smart one of those times.
Osaka’s honesty should be celebrated
The reaction to Naomi Osaka is always a little bit weird. In my career, if I would have talked about how much the losses hurt, people would have taken that as, “he wants to win so badly.” If it was a different person saying the exact same things, I think that we would be reporting it differently. With Naomi, there’s a lingering narrative.
I think it shows her will to want to come back to the level that she was at before. She wants to play in the semis and finals because that’s what she knows, so it’s strange for her, but I take that as a good thing. You have a former No. 1, four-time Slam winner who’s desperate to win these matches – I generally think that’s a good thing.
Naomi is only 27. I don’t know that I see her ever being No. 1 in the world, but can she still make the tail end of a Slam? I fully believe she can. The comeback was a little short last year, and I’m not going to judge her on 2025 through the clay court season, because that’s her worst surface. We’ll see what happens, but would it surprise me if she was in the semis of the U.S. Open? Absolutely not.
The match-up I’m hoping for
Novak against the top guys would be phenomenal. We want to see that on clay. We’ve had versions of Novak and Alcaraz already, so I think that’s a big one, and it looks more likely to happen as the days go by.
Novak winning last week in Geneva changed the conversation completely. It was great for him to go and play there, so him against the people that are trying to take the throne – outside of the 1 v 2 seed – is probably the one match-up that I’m hoping for.
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