The most hotly anticipated match of this year’s French Open, the Carlos Alcaraz/Jannik Sinner semifinal, was even at one set apiece this morning when I set off for an IKEA date that couldn’t be broken.
“I wish you were literate and had opposable thumbs,” I told Muriel before bidding her farewell. “Then you could text me updates.”*
When I returned hours later and turned on the Tennis Channel, Norwegian Disney prince Casper Ruud was down two sets to Alexander Zverev. I waited to see who the victor would face in the final, having not checked the score at IKEA or during the lunch that followed, and groaned when the results appeared: Carlitos, a master of thrilling comebacks, had won a five-setter. (Also, this pre-match photo is hilarious.)
If there’s time tomorrow, I’ll watch a replay of everything I missed. Whether they win or lose (unfortunately, Zverev’s gotten the better of Alcaraz lately), this will be a special weekend because my men’s and women’s favorites are both in the finals. At 9 AM EST on Saturday, Iga Świątek will try to make it three in a row, and four overall, at Roland-Garros, with Jasmine Paolini attempting what would be one of the most shocking upsets in recent Grand Slam history.
In the 1988 French Open final, Steffi Graf double-bageled Natasha Zvereva in a match that took barely a half-hour to complete. That’ll be on every commentator’s mind if Świątek, an incredible front-runner, takes an early lead, but I’m not ballsy enough to assume this will be a cakewalk; no one thought too highly of Karolína Muchová’s chances last year and she would’ve won if she hadn’t wilted at the finish line.
By the end of Paolini’s semifinal, teenager Mirra Andreeva cried as she faced her doom. I was sad for her but smiled because Paolini, unheralded at 28, making such quick work of her reminded me of Janis Joplin’s “Get It While You Can.” Whatever the outcome of tomorrow’s match, the 5’4″ Italian (that makes her quite short by tennis standards but tall to me) has endeared herself to late bloomers everywhere, present company included.
* I know this sounds deranged, but I often wish I could call or text Muriel when we’re apart, even though she’d probably use Comic Sans font and mostly send food emoji.