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Welcome back to the French Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On Day 11 of Roland Garros 2024, there were breaks of serve galore, semifinals surprises, and doubles lessons for single players.
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Do breaks of serve always mean worse matches?
If you’re a fan of players holding serve, I’m afraid Wednesday’s day session on Court Phillippe-Chatrier was not for you.
In total there were 26 breaks of serve in the six singles sets played, at an average of four breaks per set. First Jasmine Paolini and Elena Rybakina produced 12 in their match, before Mirra Andreeva and Aryna Sabalenka went even further with 14.
But does the frequent dropping of serve necessarily equate to a low-quality match? It shouldn’t necessarily — given that serving is only one part of what the players are doing — it’s just that it often does.
Rybakina struggled with her serve, just like everybody else. (Alain Jocard / AFP via Getty Images)
Both of Wednesday’s matches were pretty error-strewn, very tense affairs, which is not a surprise given what was at stake, as well as Sabalenka’s illness, which will have affected Andreeva too, just for psychological rather than physical reasons.
Part of the reason why frequent service breaks feel like a downer is because how much holding serve provides a platform for a player, and so feeds their sense of self-worth on court. If serving is going well, then the chances are the other parts of tennis will follow, and even if they don’t, there’s the chance to likely force a tie-break.
It’s also quite rare to be returning brilliantly but then serving poorly, which is why matches like Wednesday’s, with that many breaks, rarely come about because of brilliant returning from both players, or at least are rarely perceived that way.
GO DEEPER
Can anyone beat Jannik Sinner?
A tale of two draws, and four semifinals?
Wednesday dawned with visions of a pretty flashy set of semifinals in the women’s draw of the French Open.
Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, Nos. 1 and 3 in the world, were already through and set to play the first semifinal on Thursday afternoon. Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, Nos. 2 and 4, were heavy favorites in their quarterfinals against Mirra Andreeva and Jasmine Paolini.
Andreeva is a Grand Slam finalist in waiting, just not quite yet; Paolini is dangerous and has a good game for clay courts, but has never been inside the top 10. Neither of them had ever reached even a Grand Slam quarterfinal before, while Rybakina, Sabalenka and Swiatek had been the best players of the clay court swing, alongside Danielle Collins.
It was going to be the first time in 32 years that the top four seeds had made the Roland Garros semifinals, with no joy since 1992 when Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario made up the quartet.
Monica Seles receives the French Open trophy after beating Steffi Graf in 1992. (Jean-Loup Gautreau / AFP)
So much for that.
Rybakina came out flat. Sabalenka came out sick. Both lost in three sets to the upstarts. By nightfall, the women’s semifinals were looking a lot like the men’s. One match worthy of a final with Swiatek taking on Gauff, and another big opportunity in waiting. On Friday, Jannik Sinner, the new world No. 1, will take on Carlos Alcaraz, who became the first post-“Big Four” world No. 1 in 2022. Casper Ruud will take on Alexander Zverev in the other semifinal.
In the women’s draw, as goes singles, so goes doubles
On Wednesday, Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini both qualified for the the doubles semifinals, in addition to their singles exploits. Mirra Andreeva was scheduled to play a doubles match after she defeated Aryna Sabalenka, but she opted not to follow the lead of Paolini and Gauff, who both headed for doubles after their quarterfinal wins.
With less than 24 hours to recover before taking on Paolini, Andreeva told her partner Vera Zvonareva that she needed to rest.
Singles stars from John McEnroe, to Serena Williams, to Gauff, have long preached the gospel of doubles for staying fresh on off days and sharpening their reflexes.
“For me, it’s as important as singles, because if you enter in a competition, in my opinion, you have to finish,” said Paolini, who is playing with Sara Errani, another Italian.
Plus, she got to win two quarterfinals in one afternoon. “The perfect day,” she said.
Wednesday’s results
- Jasmine Paolini (12) def. Elena Rybakina (4), 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
- Mirra Andreeva def. Aryna Sabalenka (2), 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4
- Alexander Zverev (4) def. Alexander de Minaur (11), 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-4
Thursday’s order of play
- Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Coco Gauff (3)
- Jasmine Paolini (12) vs. Mirra Andreeva
Tell us what you noticed on the 11th day as things continue…
(Top photo of Jasmine Paolini: Alain Jocard / AFP via Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton for The Athletic)
