56 2GM Tuesday May 24 2022 | the times
SportFrench Open
5
It was particularly pleasing for
Raducanu that her body held up
towards the end of this long clay-court
encounter. After a year of various
niggles, from a stiff back to a sore hip, it
came as a relief that she overcame the
physical challenge on the most gruel-
ling surface of them all.
“Physically I think I was really good
out there,” Raducanu said. “I lasted the
whole three sets. I was also thinking I’m
going to outcompete her.
“I think that it is definitely improving.
Last week I was doing a lot in the gym,
a lot before practice, after practice, just
keeping all the muscles fired up. It’s
something I haven’t really done before,players I have spoken to are against it. It
will still remove the fervour from the
tournament. At Wimbledon, I imagine
they are not going to let it go like that.
The prize money will not be the same as
expected, it will be reduced.
“I had decided initially to not play
Wimbledon before saying to myself:
‘No, it is still a grand slam, you are going
to go’ and I signed up for the grass-court
tournaments. But I think I won’t go.”
When it was put to him that Wimble-
don would still count as a grand-slam
tournament this year, Pouille, the world
No 162, said: “It is not just about whoDay 3
Live coverage of
matches, including world
No 2 Daniil Medvedev
against Facundo Bagnis,
live on Eurosport
from 10amRaducanu was overpowered for muchbanned Russian and Belarusian
players. Osaka will consider playing on
grass at the Berlin Open, a warm-up
tournament that starts on June 13 and is
still offering points, but believes it is
likely that she will then head home to
the US to prepare for the American
hard-court swing.
“The decision is kind of affecting my
mentality going into grass. I’m not 100
per cent sure if I’m going to go there,”
Osaka, 24, said. “I would love to go just
to get some experience on the grass
court, but like at the same time, for me
— I don’t want to say it is pointless, no
pun intended — but I’m the type of
player that gets motivated seeing my
ranking go up and stuff like that. I think
the intention [of the tours’ decision] was
really good, but the execution is kind of
all over the place.
“I feel like if I play Wimbledon with-
out points, it’s more like an exhibition. I
know this isn’t true, right? But my brain
just feels that way. Whenever I think
something is like an exhibition, I just
can’t go at it 100 per cent.”
Formerly the world No 1, Osaka is
now ranked No 38 after a long break
‘Wimbledon just feels like an exhibition to me now’
last year for mental health reasons. She
is not normally at her best on a grass
court, having gone no further than the
third round at Wimbledon. Yesterday
she bowed out in the first round of the
French Open, losing 7-5, 6-4 to
Amanda Anisimova of the US.
The backlash against the ranking-
points decision has intensified with
each day that has passed since the tours’
announcement on Friday, which over-
shadowed the build-up to the French
Open. It is hard to find many players
who are in agreement with the move to
retaliate against Wimbledon for ban-
ning Russian and Belarusian competi-
tors after the invasion of Ukraine, with
Lucas Pouille, the former world No 10,
adding his voice to the growing dissent.
“I was in no way associated with this
decision which I do not agree with,”
Pouille, 28, told L’Equipe. “I understand
the frustration of the Russian players
and the injustice of it, I know they have
nothing to do with it, but now there is
an injustice for 240 players instead of 12.
“We can’t all pay the consequences. I
do not know how the players are going
to react. It was never a unanimous deci-
sion, that I know. We don’t even know if
there was a vote. In any case, all thewins. Anyone who comes out of quali-
fying and wins three rounds, they could
have got into the top 100 with that
result. Yes, you will find yourself with a
nice cheque, but with nothing to
validate the sporting performance.”
Rafael Nadal, a member of the ATP
player council, preferred to take a
neutral position when asked for his
thoughts on the removal of points. It is
unlikely that he will give Wimbledon a
miss given that a grand-slam title is on
offer; he is seeking to end his career as
the greatest male player of all time.
“I respect and understand
Wimbledon’s position without a doubt,”
Nadal said. “But on the other hand I un-
derstand and I respect too that the ATP
is protecting their members.”
Novak Djokovic confirmed that he
will appear at Wimbledon to defend his
title but reiterated his stance against
the decision by the All England Club to
ban players from Russia and Belarus.
“Wimbledon is still Wimbledon,” the
world No 1 said. “I never looked at it for
points or prize money. But I’m happy to
see that the ATP and the players
[council] decided to show Wimbledon
that when you make a wrong decision,
there are consequences.”continued from back
Osaka’s ranking has plunged to No 38On paper it seemed a generous draw for
Emma Raducanu, on her French
Open debut, to be pitted against the 17-
year-old world No 184. In reality it
proved to be a thorough test of her
nerve and fitness as she withstood a
big-hitting barrage from Linda Nosko-
va to prevail in an enthralling first-
round battle on the third main court at
Roland Garros.
Raducanu, 19, is renowned for her
power, even taking aback the world
No 1, Iga Swiatek, with the pace of her
shots during a match in Stuttgart last
month, but she was given a taste of her
own medicine at times yesterday.
Ferocious groundstrokes were hit at
will by the fearless Noskova during the
first two sets, before a sudden
collapse allowed
Raducanu to fight
back for a 6-7
(4-7), 7-5, 6-1 win
in two hours
and 37 minutes.
“It was an
absolute bat-
tle,” Raducanu
said. “Linda was
playing some
amazing tennis
and she came out
there firing. She
was all over me
and killing me. It
was really chal-
lenging to hold
on. I’m really
proud of the
way I fought.”
Raducanu survives debut
test of nerve and fitness
Raducanu admitted before the tour-
nament that she had come close to
withdrawing because of a back injury,
and she occasionally looked a step short
in cold and heavy conditions on Court
Simonne-Mathieu. Noskova, on the
other hand, came in with confidence,
having already won three matches in
qualifying at a venue where she
claimed the junior title last year.
After recovering the early break,
Noskova pulled level with a stunning
backhand down the line for 4-4. It
kickstarted a series of blistering win-
ners that forced a tie-break and she
won four straight points from 4-3 down
to take the set. The easy power off both
her forehand and backhand was
something to behold and she produced
a total of 48 winners to Raducanu’s 24
during the match.
Raducanu looked in deep trouble
during the second set and was twice a
break down before Noskova suddenly
lost her composure. Raducanu
pounced, bringing up set points against
serve at 6-5 and converting the
fourth with a deft drop shot.
The pivotal moment in
the deciding set came
when Raducanu broke for
3-1. Using a variation of
height on her groundstrokes
to disrupt the rhythm of
Noskova, she controlled the
rallies to seal a hard-fought
win. It sets up a second-
round meeting with
Aliaksandra Sasnov-
ich, the world No 47
from Belarus,
tomorrow.
“I have no expec-
tations here,”
Raducanu said. “I
fought hard to be
in the second
round and I am
just looking for-
ward to trying
to stay here
as long as
possible.”training through tournaments. I am
pretty pleased with how I was out there
physically, and I feel really good.”
Billed in British tennis circles as
“Manic Monday”, with all five singles
players in action, it was a dismal after-
noon for the other two representatives
in the women’s draw. Harriet Dart took
62 minutes to merely win one game
before going down 6-0, 6-2 to Italy’s
Martina Trevisan, while Heather
Watson slumped to a 6-3, 6-3 defeat by
the 19-year-old French wild card Elsa
Jacquemot.
Thankfully the British men had no
such issues. Dan Evans marked his
32nd birthday with his first ever French
Open win, seeing off the Argentinian
clay-court expert Francisco Cerundolo
7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4. He celebrated by
mimicking a golf swing after watching
some of the final-round action from the
US PGA Championship the previous
night.
“I stayed up too late,” Evans said. “I
didn’t watch all of it, but my missus was
hassling me to sleep, as they do. I
wanted to watch some more, but I was
up early. I basically missed one of the
best endings ever, so I was a bit gone
this morning.”
Cameron Norrie was given a stiff test
in the early stages of his opening match
against France’s Manuel Guinard, 26.
He battled through a gruelling first set
lasting 73 minutes, before pulling away
for a 7-5, 6-2, 6-0 win in two hours and
17 minutes. It was the British No 1’s fifth
consecutive victory after his triumph at
the Lyon Open last week.
“I’m really enjoying playing at this
level,” Norrie, 26, said. “I’m not a
guy that’s going to come out, just blast
guys off the court and win easy. I’m
going to take time grinding the guy
down. I have to use my legs a lot, other-
wise I have no shot with these guys. I
have to do it the hard way and I man-
aged to do that.
“It feels really good to win. It would
be the first time I’ve made the second
week of a slam and I’d like to tick
that box.”Linda Noskova (Cz) 7751
Emma Raducanu (GB, No 12) 64 76Stuart Fraser
Tennis Correspondent, Paris
How the five Brits in action
fared on manic MondayCameron Norrie
(World No 11)
bt Manuel Guinard
(Fr, 146)
7-5, 6-2, 6-0 in
2hr 17minDan Evans (32)
bt Francisco
Cerundolo (Arg, 45)
7-6, 6-4, 6-4 in
2hr 41minHarriet Dart (111)
lost to Martina
Trevisan (It, 59)
6-0, 6-2 in 1hr 25minHeather Watson
(103)
lost to Elsa
Jacquemot (Fr, 215)
6-3, 6-3 in 1hr 45minEmma Raducanu
(12)
bt Linda Noskova
(Cz, 184)
6-7, 7-5, 6-1 in
2hr 37minNoskova, 17,
won the
French Open
junior title
last year