The 27-year-old Katie Boulter was pretty decent over the past eight years, but she wasn’t able to beat the very good players, consistently. Well this year, she began to be more aggressive, and also, with some extra shots. On Sunday, she won Rothesay Open, Nottingham, beating Emma Raducanu and Karolina Pliskova. It was difficult that week with a lot of rain, but on the grass, she stood in there,  and she rarely did not collapse.

“To come out here and play some seriously good tennis and get over the line, I’m not entirely sure how I did it in the end. But I’ve gone back-to-back and I’m super proud of myself,” Boulter said.

That was in England, and in February in San Diego, the United States, Boulter’s won it on the hardcourts. She has become very consistent and flatted it out. Her first serve is hard, and she can hit it into the corners. She has beat a number of solid players, but she has yet to beat any of the top 10s competitors this year. Maybe she can rise again, as this week, she will be in Birmingham. 

That was a stringy match when Liudmila Samsonova beat the Canadian Bianca Andreescu 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the final at Libema Open in the Netherlands. 

The Russian Samsonova has had a so-so year, but when she is really on, she can out-hitter. Even last year in Beijing, she reached into the final at a huge event, and she beat Petra Kvitova, Jelena Ostapenko and Elena  Rybakina, before she lost against the No. 1, Iga Swiatek. That was darn, good. 

On Sunday, the No. 15 Samsonova was battling, all the time. She had to, as in the semis, she bashed over Ekaterina Alexandrova, and in the final, she slammed over Andreescu. As she once said, “I think [the mental] was the part where I had more difficulties, to play all the weeks on the same level. I think I had the tennis level, I had the physical level already, but I didn’t have the mental level to do it consistently,” Samsonova said. 

Andreescu lost, and in third set, she had to take  an off-court medical timeout. Then she was done. However, she was very pleased. 

“For me, this is definitely a step forward,” Andreescu said. “I’ve been through a lot for quite some time, especially the last 10 months. This is just my second tournament back. Obviously it’s upsetting, but I know there are good things coming for me.” 

Eventually, the very good players finally understand how to figure out on the clay.

Up until this year, the Australian Alex de Minaur looked very good on the hard courts, but in the slow surfaces on the dirt, he could be very impatient. But now de Minaur became committed, and two days ago, he stunned to beat Daniil Medvedev in four sets. He has yet to reach the semis at the Grand Slams. In January, he won the United Cup in the hard courts, beating Alexander Zverev in the final. Now his confidence is high there, which is good, as over the past two months, he wasn’t great yet, but he was pretty solid.  

“Well, I screamed, ‘I love the clay. I love it here. I can’t get enough,’” De Minaur said, who has to face Alexander Zverev in Roland Garros. “I’m pretty happy, (I’m) not going to lie. (I) managed to beat a quality opponent in a Grand Slam fourth round, which is one of the goals that I had been setting for myself to go deeper at these events. I’m very proud of myself.”

De Minaur is ready to win another match, but Zverev has beaten de Minaur seven times, and lost just two. In Paris, Zverev won a very close match, twice, in the five setter. At times, he can back off, but when he has to, he can swing away, deep, and close to the lines. Zverev  will not be nervous, yet, but de Minaur might panic when it is super close.

“They gave me a lot of slack for me complaining all these years of my level on the clay, but now it looks like it’s one of my best slam results. It looks like I’ve converted myself into a clay specialist,” de Minaur said.

Zverev beat de Minaur at Indian Wells in March. So he will do it again, but maybe not in five setters. The German will collapse. Perhaps.

Aryna Sabalenka is playing very solid, even better, as she will rake the ball. She has to face the 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who is so quick. The Russian Andreeva can slam the ball, especially with her hard backhand. Her forehand is pretty good, but she has a lot of work to do over the years. Sabalenka is now much more calm in the Slams, and her serve has improved a lot. Her forehand and her backhand are terrific, and now she can change it up, more. The Belarusian  Sabalenka  will win it in two, tough sets.

When Elena Rybakina is on, it looks like that she can win another Grand Slam, like she did at the 2022 at Wimbledon. But that is on the grass, so with the clay, you have to be patient and really set it up. At Roland Garros,  Rybakina is attacking early, and she is more thoughtful. But at times, she can become very frustrated.

She has to face against Jasmine Paolini who has a good year, and while she isn’t very tall, she can run for a very long time. She is fast, and she can move forward, and try to put it away.  The Italian Paolini has played for 10 years,  and while she has played much better, but  Rybakina will pound her and win in in straight sets.

This might be the last time that Alize Cornet will play Roland Garros in 2024, because the Frenchwoman has said that she will retire at the end of the year. Last year in the summer, she did say that she could stop at the end of 2023, but she kept going. Oh well, but she has lost a lot of matches. It is time to go, very soon.

On Tuesday, early, Cornet will face against  the No. 7 Qinwen Zheng, who has had a fine year. Cornet can be extremely  consistent, and she can nail her backhand, but her forehand is decent, but not great. She is very quick, and she can mix it up, but she can also hit it to short.  In 2009, she came close to reach into the top 10, yet she couldn’t, but that was good enough. She has never gone into the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, and to do that, she would have to play 100 percent, as Zheng is rising, fast. However, Cornet will have a small chance to win it, and  grind her.

“Roland, you have seen me take my first steps, grow, win, lose, curse, fire myself up, but above all, leave your court with nothing left to give. You have brought me tears of joy, stress and despair,” Cornet said. “ But all too rarely have you brought me peace of mind. You’re far too intense for that. And so am I.”

American Madison Keys just won a tournament, so now perhaps she can go deep again. She can get hurt, a lot, so she will pull out, but when she is feeling really good, then she can smash the ball, with her forehand and her backhand. She will face against Renata Zarazua, who is from Mexico City. She has had some decent matches this year, but not against the top 20 players. Keys did reach into the semis at the 2018 French Open, but then she could not out hit Sloane Stephens.

Taylor Fritz has had a good, solid on clay, reaching the final at Munich, Germany, and  also, going somewhat deep in Madrid and Rome. The American can be very intense, on court, but also, he can hit some wild shots.  He will have to play against Federico Coria in the first round, as the Argentine can hit his backhand into the corners. Fritz has to be smart.

At that point will Alex de Minaur win a gigantic event at the Slams? The Aussie has done it at the other events, and de Minaur can dominate it, and push forward. However, he can be confused, when he is trying to do some stylish, shots. He can, once and a while, and he did win at Acapulco, but he did not reach into the finals again, or even very deep. He will try over as he has to play the young American man,
Alex Michelsen. They played each other in Los Cabos in February on the hardcourts, and the 19-year-old Michelsen won. He must have played amazing, but after that, he has only won six matches, and more losses. However, Michelsen knew that he will stay for a long time.

“I feel like after I won my first couple of rounds in Australia I was like, ‘Wow, I’m a professional. Wow, I’m pretty good.’ So I think that was my big like, ‘Aha!’ moment for sure.”