Salut à tout le monde et bienvenue à Roland-Garros 2025 – 12ème jour!
Et quelle journee nous attend! Yes, it’s true we’ve only two singles matches, a reality tinged with sadness – the tournament is nearly over – but when they’re as good as the two soon to get under way, they’re more than suffisamment.
First up, Iga Swiatek, the three-time defending champion, continues her bid for the first four-peat in the women’s game. Though she’s had a difficult year, she’s settled right back in at her home from home and the way she’s been playing, it’ll take something significant to stop her.
But Aryna Sabalenka, her opponent this afternoon, is that and plenty, a bristling, bouncing obelisk of cartoonish power and creativity. Though clay is not a natural a surface for her – she doesn’t move as well as Swiatek – she is more than capable of overriding that disadvantage. Mike Tyson famously said that “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth,” and a match against Sabalenka is the tennis equivalent of climbing into the ring with him on the other side.
And if that wasn’t enough, following them on to court are Coco Gauff and Loïs Boisson – the first wild card to reach the semis in the open era. Gauff has somehow been around for 30 years despite being only 21, her athleticism, temperament and backhand giving her a decent shot of adding to the one grand slam title she’s won so far.
But to prevail here, she’ll need to play much, much better than she did yesterday, her match with Madison Keys setting a new mark for the gap between level of players and standard of play. Moreover, in Boisson, she faces an all-round talent, apparently fully formed, and fully absorbed in the joyous in the process of announcing itself to the world – in front of a home crowd. She will feel like she can’t lose – and the same goes for us. On y va!
Play: 2pm BST