After a rollercoaster opening day at Roland Garros, Day 2 will be all about managing expectations as second seed Daniil Medvedev and eighth seed Roger Federer start their campaigns in Paris.
Roland Garros will be only Federer’s third tournament of the year, and he was sidelined for most of the abbreviated 2020 season after two knee surgeries. Federer will start against Denis Istomin on Court Philippe Chatrier, and the former champion is determined to take things one match at a time.
“I’m just realistic that I know I will not win the French and whoever thought I would or could win it is wrong,” Federer said two weeks ago in Geneva. “Of course, crazier things might have happened, but I’m not so sure in the past 50 years at the French Open somebody just rocked up at 40 years old being out for a year and a half and [went] on to just win.”
It wouldn’t be the first time that Federer has defied expectations, though, and the former World No. 1 also has one of the best clay-court credentials of anyone on the ATP Tour to fall back on. Federer is third on the all-time list for the most match wins at Roland Garros with 70, only trailing 13-time winner Rafael Nadal (100) and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic (74).
Federer also owns a confidence-boosting 7-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head lead over Istomin, though they will be contesting their first meeting on clay on Monday.
When the Roland Garros singles draw was unveiled, tennis fans immediately homed in on the mouthwatering first-round encounter between second seed Medvedev and Alexander Bublik.
Second seed Medvedev, who is seeking his first win in Paris in his fifth appearance, has struggled to translate his world-beating hard-court game onto the terre-battue. But the signs are there that the Russian might be close to figuring out the right formula.
He finally broke his duck with his first victory at the Mutua Madrid Open last month (1-3), reaching the third round there for the first time. After arriving in Paris, Medvedev also issued an ominous warning in his pre-tournament presser: he’s been practising on clay, but feeling as good as he does on hard courts.
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“I have to say, my first practice [was] yesterday [and] I was playing amazing so far,” he said. “I mean, I didn't feel that it was clay. I was playing like on hard courts, and hopefully [I can] have some expectations. [The] most important thing is to play good.
“[I will face] a player that also doesn't like clay, but again, he will like the conditions here. I really like the conditions here so far, and [I am] looking forward to making a great tournament, to be honest.”
Medvedev will take a 1-0 lead in the FedEx ATP Head2Head record into his match against World No. 37 Bublik, a player with a similarly entertaining and unorthodox style of play as the Russian.
#NextGenATP Italians Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti lead the youth charge on Day 2. The 19-year-olds both arrived in Paris high on confidence after recording some of the best results of their career in the build-up to the year’s second Grand Slam tournament.
Sinner will take on Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert as they kick off the day’s action on Court Suzanne Lenglen. It will be the pair’s second meeting, with Sinner owning the 1-0 FedEx Head2Head advantage after claiming a comfortable win on the indoor hard-courts of Cologne last year.
The 18th seeded Italian, who reached the quarter-finals here last year, has continued to impress after reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Miami (l. Hurkacz). He posted a semi-final run in Barcelona (l. Tsitsipas) and it took Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal to defeat him in the second rounds of Monte-Carlo and Rome, respectively.
Musetti will face 2016 Roland Garros quarter-finalist David Goffin, the 13th seed, for the first time on Court 14. The Italian, who reached the semi-finals in Lyon (l. Tsitsipas) a few weeks ago, will be making his debut at this event.
Also on tap on Monday, Casper Ruud could be in for a big test against Frenchman Benoit Paire in their first-round encounter. Ruud, who lifted his second ATP Tour trophy in Geneva two weeks ago, is sitting at a new career-high World No. 16 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and seeded 15th, his highest position at a Grand Slam to date.
Click here for the full Day 2 Order Of Play.
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