Whoever branded Roland Garros as “Couture On Clay”, has clearly never been. The French Open is no catwalk, nor cakewalk. It ‘s the most physically grueling and unpredictable of all four Slams, synonymous with bad injuries and major upsets: 16th Seed Grigor Dimitrov, one of the fittest on Tour, retired injured at two sets up, in his opener, versus American, Ethan Quinn.
Former No 1, Daniil Medvedev and former Finalists, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Karolina Muchova- not to mention Top 10, Alex De Minaur were all exiting turnstiles come Round 2, at the hand of rank outsiders.
Tsitsipas’ loss to Italian qualifier, Matteo Gigante, 6-4,5-7,6-2,6-4, being the most significant, in that it shone a spotlight on yet another emerging, aggressive Next Gen. As for leading Next Gen star, teenage…