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.”