D10 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, MAY 23 , 2022
BY HOWARD FENDRICHparis — It all used to come so
easily for Dominic Thiem on a
tennis court — his powerful fore-
hand, his elegant backhand, his
hit-which-shot-when calcula-
tions, all fine-tuned to the point
of a U.S. Open title and three
other Grand Slam final appear-
ances, including two at Roland
Garros.
Nowadays, even though the
pain from last year’s torn tendon
in his right wrist is no longer
there, the strokes and, most dis-
concertingly, the wherewithal are
not what they once were, to the
extent that his first-round exit at
the French Open on Sunday was
his 10th consecutive loss.
The situation has become dire
enough that Thiem, a 28-year-old
Austrian once ranked third but
now 194th, acknowledged after
being beaten, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, by
Hugo Dellien that perhaps it’s
time for him to head to the lower-
level Challenger Tour to get a win
and gain some confidence.
After lamenting his forehand,
his backhand and a too-low first-
serve percentage, Thiem got to
the bigger issue: “Sometimes, I do
really stupid decisions during the
rally, drop shots or down-the-line
[groundstrokes] at the wrong mo-
ment.... Then, for example,
there was one game today where I
did four or five forehand return
mistakes in a row, where I’m
thinking, ‘What the heck is hap-
pening?’ ”
His quick departure was not
the only noteworthy develop-
ment on a cloudy, occasionally
drizzly Day 1 at the year’s second
major tennis tournament.
Carlos Alcaraz, the 19-year-old
from Spain who is seeded sixth
and a popular pick to win his first
Grand Slam trophy, advanced just
as cleanly and quickly as expected
against “lucky loser” Juan Ignacio
Londero, 6-4, 6-2, 6-0, in the day’s
last match at Court Philippe Cha-
trier. Another teen, 18-year-old
American Coco Gauff, also moved
on, beating Canadian qualifier
Rebecca Marino, 7-5, 6-0.
Given Thiem’s troubles — sure,
he was the runner-up to Rafael
Nadal in Paris in 2018 and 2019
and to Novak Djokovic at the
Australian Open in 2020, but his
last victory came in May 2021 —
there were other results that
probably were more surprising.
Chiefly in that category would
be No. 6 seed Ons Jabeur’s 3-6, 7-6
(7-4), 7-5 loss to 56th-ranked Mag-
da Linette of Poland.
Jabeur, a Tunisian who is the
first Arab woman to win a WTA
title and first to reach a Grand
Slam quarterfinal, acknowl-
edged: “I was expecting myself to
go far in this tournament.”
As were others. That’s because
Jabeur began the day with a
tour-leading 17 wins on clay this
season. She took the title at the
Madrid Open and reached the
final of the Italian Open.
Another top-10 women’s seed
— and the 2016 champion here —
was sent home when Spain’s
Garbiñe Muguruza lost, 2-6, 6-3,
6-4, to 46th-ranked Kaia Kanepi
of Estonia.
Avoiding that sort of result was
the men’s No. 9 seed, Felix Auger-
Aliassime, who took care of two
missing items on his résumé in
one afternoon: He picked up a
French Open victory for the first
time in three tries, and he won a
match after dropping the open-
ing two sets.
The 20-year-old Canadian
came back to eliminate Juan Pab-
lo Varillas, a qualifier from Peru
making his Grand Slam debut, by
a score of 2-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
Other winners included 2017
U.S. Open champion and 2018
French Open runner-up Sloane
Stephens, No. 23 Jil Teichmann
and No. 26 Sorana Cirstea among
the women and No. 3 Alexander
Zverev, No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov,
No. 23 John Isner and No. 26
Botic Van de Zandschulp among
the men.
Dellien, a Bolivian ranked
87th, entered his contest against
Thiem with a 2-7 career record in
Grand Slam matches. But from
the get-go, he was able to hold his
own in lengthy baseline exchang-
es.
“Today, he wasn’t at his top
level of the past, but I still needed
to beat him,” Dellien said. “It’s an
important step in my career.”
— Associated PressFRENCH OPEN
Bewildered Thiem still
has no answers on Day 1 BY LIZ CLARKE
paris — The French Open got
underway Sunday, dodging pass-
ing showers and, for the most
part, controversy that marred the
Australian Open and threatens to
embroil Wimbledon.
In welcoming all players re-
gardless of coronavirus vaccina-
tion status, the French Open is
giving Novak Djokovic, the
world’s top-ranked player and the
defending champion here, the
opportunity to contest his first
major of the season after he was
deported on the eve of the Aus-
tralian Open because he’s not
vaccinated. With a victory at Ro-
land Garros, Djokovic would tie
Rafael Nadal’s men’s record of
21 Grand Slam singles titles.
Also competing in Paris are
players from Russia and Belarus,
including second-ranked Daniil
Medvedev on the men’s side and
seventh-ranked Aryna Sabalenka
among the women, despite their
countries’ invasion of Ukraine.
Russians and Belarusians will be
banished from Wimbledon, but
they won’t be the only players
paying a price for the All England
Club’s policy.
In a sharp rebuke to what they
viewed as discrimination, the
men’s and women’s pro tours
announced Friday that they
would withhold ranking points
from all Wimbledon competitors
this year. Short of a boycott, it was
the most powerful weapon the
ATP and WTA had to voice their
discontent.
But in denying players the
ability to earn ranking points,
which are based largely on
whether they successfully “de-
fend” points earned during the
same event in the previous year,
the withholding of Wimbledon
points will fall more harshly on
those who performed best — such
as Djokovic, Wimbledon’s 2021
victor.
Switching from hard court to
clay and then to grass to contest
the season’s first three majors in a
six-month span demands fine ad-
justments in footwork and tactics
as well as intense focus. This year,
keeping up with the rapid-fire
volleys of the sport’s latest con-
troversy added to that challenge
amid deeply held differences over
what constitutes fair play duringa global crisis.
Though Wimbledon doesn’t
begin until June 27, the issues of
access and ranking points hung
in the air Sunday at Roland Gar-
ros. American Sloane Stephens,
the 2017 U.S. Open champion,
said she fully supported the
WTA’s decision.
“We worked really hard to try
to make sure that everyone had a
fair opportunity to play [at Wim-
bledon], and at the end of the day
that’s not what happened,” she
said of the WTA after she ad-
vanced to the second round.
She voiced empathy for players
such as 2021 Wimbledon finalist
Karolina Pliskova, who won’t be
able to benefit from those points.
“I wish she could defend those
points, but I think when you look
at the principles and what our
tour stands for, discrimination
will never be tolerated,” Stephens
said. “That’s exactly what’s hap-
pening. You have to stand behind
your principles and what the tour
stands for.”
England’s Cameron Norrie toldthe Guardian that he suspected
some players might skip Wimble-
don if denied the chance to earn
ranking points. Grigor Dimitrov
of Bulgaria, for one, said he prob-
ably will play.
“I love the grass, so I think
despite the situation, I’m still
thinking of doing it,” said the
18th-seeded Dimitrov, who ad-
vanced in straight sets. “Listen,
it’s a tough go from whatever
perspective you see it. For me
personally, it’s just tough.... A lot
of players in the locker room
speak of always having that equal
field and all that. But, listen,
those are the circumstances.”
Russia’s Karen Khachanov
bristled when asked about the
topic following his first-round
victory.
“I said already many times I
was sad that this decision was
taken by Wimbledon and that I
was not allowed to compete,” said
Khachanov, a 2021 Wimbledon
quarterfinalist. “... It’s a special
tournament for all of us. At the
end of the day, we are profession-al athletes.... We put effort every
day in what we do and basically
want to work, in a sense.
“I would lie to you if I said the
whole situation doesn’t affect me.
So at the end of the day, ATP, you
know, did this decision. They
wanted to show, you know, sup-
port in a way that there is no
discrimination on tour. And at
the end of the day, I just take it as
whatever our governing bodies
decide. I don’t want to be into
debates if I agree or not agree.
The decision is taken.”
Poland’s Magda Linette, who
scored the day’s biggest upset by
ousting sixth-ranked Ons Jabeur
of Tunisia, said she is trying to
keep her focus on this tourna-
ment.
“Obviously it’s going to affect
me in some way. But I try not to
really focus on it too much, and
it’s Roland Garros right now,” she
said. “I’m here; I just had a really
tough match. I’d rather try to take
it week by week and not really
think about if Wimbledon will be
less appealing.”Wimbledon drama reaches Roland GarrosFrench Open welcomes all, but players can’t escape talk of the b an, loss of ranking pointsTHOMAS SAMSON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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