For a half hour on Tuesday at Roland Garros, 36-year-old Nicolas Mahut turned back time. The French wild card was dominating fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro, drop shotting the 6'6” Argentine and serving and volleying as if he was on the The Queen's Club grass. Twenty-five minutes into their first-round match, Mahut led 6-1 and had the French crowd on Court Suzanne-Lenglen eager for more. But the party soon ended. Del Potro, perhaps nervous about testing his injured groin, eventually settled his game and started to solve Mahut's serve-and-volley style. The Argentine sprinted through the second set in 31 minutes, and repeated the act two more times to advance 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. “I know he starts very slow,...
Carlos Moya, coach of world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, will be breaking down Rafa's performances for ATPWorldTour.com. Nadal hopes to lift the trophy for the 11th time. On Tuesday, the defending champion defeated Simone Bolelli 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(9) to advance to the second round, where he'll face Guido Pella for a place in the Round of 32. Moya lists five key takeaways from Nadal’s opening-round match. A Victory -- With Its Ups And Downs Today's match wasn't the prettiest, but he still managed to win. Getting through the early rounds at a Grand Slam is an ordeal. Yes, he came through in three sets, but the match was a lot tougher than the score suggests [Nadal trailed 6/3 in the...
So let's begin here: At the start of the year, my goals for 2018 were to have a breakout season, and to reach the main draw at Roland Garros for the third consecutive time. I wanted to blossom on the court and break into the Top 100 of the ATP rankings. The actual quest to this year's Roland Garros main draw has been a long and winding one and my dream of getting here actually began back in May, when I won the title in Barletta, Italy -- my first ATP Challenger Tour title (d. Simone Bolelli 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4). Winning at Barletta only reinforced my belief that I have what it takes to keep my early year goal of...
Three of the Top 4 Americans in the ATP Rankings experienced mixed fortunes on Tuesday at Roland Garros. John Isner and Steve Johnson reached the second round, but Jack Sock wasn’t as fortunate. Isner was made to work hard in beating fellow American Noah Rubin in straight sets in a two-day encounter. Ninth seed Isner led 6-3, 7-6(7), having saved two set points at 5/6 and 6/7 in the second set tie-break, when rained suspended play on Monday night. But upon the resumption of play on Tuesday, World No. 173 Rubin fought just as hard. Rubin saved a total of four match points at 4-5 (three) and 5-6 (one) in the third set, before missing out on a set point...
Rafael Nadal was tested more than he would have preferred, but the Spaniard returned to Court Philippe-Chatrier victorious on Tuesday at Roland Garros. The 10-time champion's first-round match against Simone Bolelli of Italy was suspended by rain at 6-4, 6-3, 0-3 late Monday evening. But Nadal, a champion in 2005-08, 2010-14 and '17, seized momentum from the start and saved four set points in the third-set tie-break to advance to the second round 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(9). “He was a very aggressive player, and he was playing very strong. I didn't know that he was going to play so aggressively. I understood that I really had to attack, and I had to have the proper mindset, be positive, and accept how...
