Serena Williams pulls out of French Open before Maria Sharapova match

By OlympicTalkJun 4, 2018, 12:55 PM EDT

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Serena Williams withdrew from the French Open with a pectoral muscle injury, minutes before she was expected to take the court to face Maria Sharapova in Monday’s fourth round.

“Right now I can’t actually serve,” Williams said, noting the injury has worsened since she first felt it in her last singles match Saturday. “It’s kind of hard to play when I can’t physically serve.”

Williams said she would get an MRI on Tuesday and “see as many specialists as I can” before determining whether she can play Wimbledon in four weeks.

It’s the second time Williams has withdrawn from singles play in 67 career Grand Slams after retiring during a 1998 Wimbledon third-round match with a calf injury. It’s her first time dealing with this kind of injury.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion won her first three singles matches (and played three doubles matches, including one Sunday) at her first Grand Slam since capturing the 2017 Australian Open title while eight weeks pregnant.

Williams came into Roland Garros having played four WTA Tour matches, all in March, since giving birth to daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. on Sept. 1.

VIDEO: Williams calls Sharapova book ‘100 percent hearsay’

“I’m beyond disappointed,” she said. “I gave up so much from time with my daughter to time with my family. I put everything on the court, you know? All for this moment. So, it’s really difficult to be in this situation.”

Williams was favored against the two-time French Open champion Sharapova, whom Williams has beaten 18 straight times since 2005.

“It’s difficult because I love playing Maria,” Williams said. “It’s a match I always get up for. Her game matches so well against mine.”

Sharapova, seeded 28th at her first French Open since 2015, will play No. 3 Garbine Muguruza or Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko in the quarterfinals.

“I was looking forward to my match against Serena today and am disappointed that she had to withdraw,” Sharapova said in a statement. “I wish her a speedy recovery and hope she returns to the tour soon.”

Also Monday, No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki fell to No. 14 Daria Kasatkina of Russia 7-6 (5), 6-3.

In the men’s fourth round, 10-time champ Rafael Nadal swept 70th-ranked German Maximilian Marterer 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (4), coming back from having his serve broken to open the match.

French Open Quarterfinals
Women
(1) Simona Halep – (12) Angelique Kerber
(3) Garbine Muguruza – (28) Maria Sharapova
Yulia Putintseva – (13) Madison Keys
(10) Sloane Stephens – (14) Daria Kasatkina

Men
(1) Rafael Nadal – (11) Diego Schwartzman
(3) Marin Cilic – (5) Juan Martin del Potro
Marco Cecchinato – (20) Novak Djokovic
(7) Dominic Thiem – (2) Alexander Zverev

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FRENCH OPEN: TV/Stream Schedule | Scores | Men’s Draw (PDF) | Women’s Draw

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"Yeah, I'm beyond disappointed…I put everything on the court, you know. All for this moment."@SerenaWilliams has withdrawn from #RG18. pic.twitter.com/2lxgtFanqS

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 4, 2018

2023 French Open men’s singles draw, scores

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 4:59 PM EDT

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The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They could meet in the semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

All of the American men lost before the fourth round. The last U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals was Andre Agassi in 2003.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek set French Open rematch

By OlympicTalkJun 5, 2023, 3:25 PM EDT

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Coco Gauff swept into the French Open quarterfinals, where she plays Iga Swiatek in a rematch of last year’s final.

Gauff, the sixth seed, beat 100th-ranked Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5, 6-2 in the fourth round. She next plays the top seed Swiatek, who later Monday advanced after 66th-ranked Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko retired down 5-1 after taking a medical timeout due to illness.

Gauff earned a 37th consecutive win over a player ranked outside the top 50, dating to February 2022. She hasn’t faced a player in the world top 60 in four matches at Roland Garros, but the degree of difficulty ratchets up in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Swiatek won all 12 sets she’s played against Gauff, who at 19 is the only teenager in the top 49 in the world. Gauff said last week that there’s no point in revisiting last year’s final — a 6-1, 6-3 affair — but said Monday that she should rewatch that match because they haven’t met on clay since.

“I don’t want to make the final my biggest accomplishment,” she said. “Since last year I have been wanting to play her, especially at this tournament. I figured that it was going to happen, because I figured I was going to do well, and she was going to do well.

“The way my career has gone so far, if I see a level, and if I’m not quite there at that level, I know I have to improve, and I feel like you don’t really know what you have to improve on until you see that level.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Also Monday, No. 7 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia dispatched 36th-ranked American Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-1, breaking all eight of Pera’s service games.

Jabeur, runner-up at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year, has now reached the quarterfinals of all four majors.

Jabeur next faces 14th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia, who won 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5 over Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, who played on a protected ranking of 68. Haddad Maia became the second Brazilian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open Era (since 1968) after Maria Bueno, who won seven majors from 1959-1966.

Pera, a 28 year-old born in Croatia, was the oldest U.S. singles player to make the fourth round of a major for the first time since Jill Craybas at 2005 Wimbledon. Her defeat left Gauff as the lone American singles player remaining out of the 35 entered in the main draws.

The last American to win a major singles title was Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought matches the longest in history (since 1877) for American men and women combined.

In the men’s draw, 2022 French Open runner-up Casper Ruud reached the quarterfinals by beating 35th-ranked Chilean Nicolas Jarry 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5. He’ll next play sixth seed Holger Rune of Denmark, a 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7) winner over 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.

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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

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