Paris draw: Medvedev faces tough opponents at Roland Garros

The draw for the main draw of the French Open Championship, which starts next Sunday, took place in Paris. This tournament will be very difficult for our main stars. Daniil Medvedev has not won a title for more than two years, and the ground is not his favorite surface. Andrey Rublev, despite the help of Marat Safin, cannot achieve zen on the court in any way and has already reached the 17th seed. Mirra Andreeva has slowed down slightly after the shock of the end of winter and the beginning of spring and will have to defend points for last year's semi-final at Roland Garros, which will become an additional source of pressure. Although the draw has spared our 18-year-old star, one might say: neither Sobolenko, Sventek, nor Gauff are in the same quarter of the grid with her.

A pragmatic approach

The men's main favorites are the recent winner of the Masters in Rome, Carlos Alcaraz, who is clearly aiming at the legacy of his great compatriot Rafael Nadal, and world number one Yannick Sinner, who has just served three months for doping. The Italian is still experiencing some problems due to a lack of tournament practice and it is not clear whether he is physically ready for the five-set format. Already in the fourth round, we can witness a duel between Sinner and the second racket of Russia, Andrei Rublev. If, of course, our star player holds out until the end of the first week.

Andrey decided to prepare for Roland Garros in combat mode at the Hamburg tournament, and it's not a fact that it will benefit him. Rublev's opponents in Paris, starting from the third round, are very serious. Although, as we know, this tennis player can beat anyone, including Sinner, or he can lose to a qualifier in the very first match.

Roman titles: how Russians perform at the Italian Open

Medvedev, Khachanov, Andreeva and Schneider continue to fight, Rublev and Kudermetova have left the Eternal City

Daniil Medvedev, the main hope of Russian men's tennis, has recently been encouraging with philosophical interviews and a pragmatic approach to his performances. Meanwhile, the Russian first racket is outside the top 10 for the first time in a long time, and as a result, it's a very heavy grid literally from the opening match. His first opponent, British Cameron Norrie— reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in the past. He's not having the brightest streak in his career right now, but he's quite capable of giving a fight. Next, Daniil can probably expect stubborn Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, then Frenchman Yugo Umber, and finally, in the fourth round, the great and terrible Novak Djokovic. The 38-year-old Serb has recently gone off the winning track, took a break to solve family problems, but now he's back and, it seems, is still very cool. To get to Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals, Medvedev will have to try very hard.

On the other hand, the minimum program for Daniel at this tournament is the fourth round to defend last year's points, and this is more than realistic. And in general, almost all the leaders of the men's tour, with the exception of Alcaraz and Sinner, have been performing extremely unstably lately. The same Zverev or Stefanos Tsitsipas no longer pull at the title of kings or even marquises of the soil. Therefore, there will almost certainly be surprises at the upcoming Roland Garros. And why not make a pleasant sensation in such a situation for Medvedev or Karen Khachanov, who can be expected in the quarterfinals by two—time finalist and shadow favorite of the French major, Norwegian Kasper Ruud.

Anniversary Tournament

There are a lot of girls from Russia in the main draw again, and if we count our former Varvara Gracheva, Daria Kasatkina, Elina Avanesyan, Yulia Putintseva and Elena Rybakina, then there are almost two dozen. But only a few of this team are capable of reaching the second week. It is clear that the main hopes here are for Mirra Andreeva, who made a splash a year ago by beating Arina Sobolenko in the quarterfinals. Now our young star will be able to meet with the first racket of the planet only in the final. However, there are many serious obstacles on the way to it, starting with Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals. In general, Mirra is still going through the dirt season without any special feats, and if she wants to keep her place in the top ten, it's time to add.

Synchronized exit: Andreeva, Schneider and Medvedev continue the battle for the trophy

Many top Russian tennis players have reached the second week of the prestigious tennis tournament in Madrid.

Of course, we hope for the success of other Russians, in particular Diana Schneider. However, if he and Mirra claim the doubles title (and this is more than realistic), at some point they will have to choose whether to play every day or get the opportunity to recover before important singles matches in the second week of the tournament. Of course, we cannot discount the other seeded Russians, as well as Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who, taking into account the junior Slams, will play in Paris for the 20th time. However, Nastya has the most difficult opponent at the start — Olympic champion and clay specialist Zheng Qingwen from China. Perhaps only Kamilla Rakhimova will have a harder time in the first round, as she will have to beat Arina Sobolenko.

The Belarusian, despite her recent defeat by Zheng in Rome, remains the main favorite. But last year's champion, Iga Sventek, is in deep crisis: not a single title after the autumn doping disqualification and departure from the top 4 of the WTA rankings.… All this is very confusing for fans of polka. Of course, no one doubts that this athlete on clay is capable of remaining among the top masters, but the psychological state of the former first racket of the world inspires doubts. Therefore, the main rival of Sobolenko should be considered the second seed Coco Gauff, and the winner of the "thousandth" in Rome, Jasmine Paolini. The latter reached the finals in Paris last year, and then won the Olympic Doubles Competition on the same courts.