Full operation on Monday in Roland Garros with Dominic Thiem, Andrea Petkovic and Philipp Kohlschreiber. Elina Svitolina was not quite satisfied with her entry into the tournament.
Thiem-Zverev-Watch: Dominic Thiem met on court 14 at the French open 2018. For a training session with Sam Querrey. So it’s interesting to note that the two could face each other in the fourth round, according to their seedings. Physio Alex Stober joined the team again, in Lyon only head coach Günter Bresnik was at the start.
The lower half will be finished on Monday, so Thiem only enjoyed a day break before his match against Ilya Ivashka (second match after 11:00 on Court 1, in our live ticker). It goes without saying that the Lower Austrian will nevertheless be the favourite. If he had lost the final against Gilles Simon in Lyon, he would have arrived in a different, more modest mood. But that’s fine.
For Alexander Zverev anyway. The only difficulty against Ricardas Berankis was to keep the concentration on medium level, everything else: a class difference. Zverev did not make Suzanne Lenglen quake, the tension moment was too low. However, the 21-year-old, who will now enjoy at least a day’s break, emphasised once again in his press conference that he has nothing against a Davis Cup-like atmosphere.
Match of the day: Philipp Kohlschreiber against Borna Coric (CRO). This game really deserves a bigger place than Court 6 (third match after 11:00 a.m., in our live ticker) – after all, Kohlschreiber and Coric already faced each other in an ATP final last year, in Marrakech. Kohlschreiber trained with Joao Sousa on Sunday, coach Lars Uebel made a satisfied impression. Coric has been in Paris since Wednesday, he has a good memory against German opponents at Grand Slam tournaments: Last year the Croatian defeated Alexander Zverev in New York.
Upset Alert: Andrea Petkovic (GER) v Kristina Mladenovic (FRA/29). Crazy, isn’t it? The hostess, who eliminated defending champion Garbine Muguruza last year, would appear to be a huge favourite against Petkovic. But far from it: The Darmstadt native has won all four matches so far. And at the beginning of this year in Melbourne against Petra Kvitova, they set an example.
The German-speaking glasses: Andreas Haider-Maurer enters the race against Karen Khachanov as an outsider (11:00 am on court 12). Peter Gojowczyk is the taster for Philipp Kohlschreiber on Court 6: Laura Siegemund is not without a chance against Coco Vandewghe, Tatjana Maria must have one of her better days against Kirsten Flipkens.
Employee of the previous day: Elina Svitolina. One of the favourites started into her match against Ajla Tomljanovic, but still reached the second round. Which didn’t stop Svitolina from taking another training session on court 16 right after her performance. Focus: offensive play.
Awareness of the day: Small omissions are not immediately punished. So if you have not brought your professional headgear with you to Roland Garros, you can of course purchase one on site. That the searcher then actually meets the great Babsi Schett in the store of one of the outfitters: a big hit. Also because one learns that the Tyrolean tennis goddess will complete the Grand Slam this year, with Mats Wilander in Wimbledon for Eurosport will bring its own broadcast to the start.