Roland Garros without Rafael Nadal after 19 years

The French Open (Roland Garros) will take place without Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, who has won the tournament 14 times for the first time since 2004.

Roland Garros, one of the four most important tournaments of the tennis season along with the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, will be staged for the 122nd time this year from May 28 to June 11. The main table matches of the French Open, the second Grand Slam tournament of the season, which was first held in 1891, will begin tomorrow at 12:00 CEST in the capital city of Paris.

But Roland Garros 2023 will be bittersweet for tennis fans. Because the living legend of the tournament, Nadal, will not be able to play in Paris after 19 years because of his injury. Nadal has 14 championships, including last year at Roland Garros, where he was unable to participate in 2004 due to injury and joined for the first time in 2005.

Nadal, 36, whose statue stands on the campus that hosts the French Open, has been unable to play tennis for more than 4 months due to a left hip injury. Sharing the record for the male tennis player who won the most Grand Slam tournaments with 22 championships with Novak Djokovic, Nadal fell to 15th in the world rankings after his injury.

The 3 meter high statue of Rafael Nadal was made by the artist Jordi Diez Fernandez.

NO MORE 5 SEEDS

Matteo Berrettini (world number 20), Pablo Carreño (21), Marin Cilic (22) and Nick Kyrgios (25), as well as Nadal in the men’s, will not be able to compete in the French Open due to injury.

Paula Badosa, 29th in the women’s world ranking, will also miss the tournament due to her injury.

REWARD INCREASED BY 12 PERCENT

The total prize money distributed at the 2023 French Open increased by 12.3% compared to the previous year and reached 49.6 million euros (approximately 1 billion lira).

The men’s and women’s singles champions, who received 2.2 million euros last year, will receive 2.3 million euros (approximately 49.3 million lira) in 2023.

ALCARAZ, 20 years old, pursuing his dream

Carlos Alcaraz, the youngest male tennis player to win his first career Grand Slam title at the 2022 US Open, dreams of winning the French Open in the absence of his idol Nadal.

Carlos Alcaraz.

Coming to a happy ending at major clay court season tournaments Barcelona Open and Madrid Masters this year, Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic, who won 2 trophies at Roland Garros, as well as Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, Andrey Rublev, who came to the organization in shape.

The 20-year-old Alcaraz (seeded 1) was drawn by 2021 finalists Stefanos Tsitsipas (5), Felix Auger-Aliassime (10), Lorenzo Musetti (17) in the same main draw quarter, Djokovic (3) , Rublev (7), Karen Khachanov (11) and Hubert Hurkacz (13) in the same half of the main table.

Medvedev (2), Rune (6), Jannik Sinner (8), Taylor Fritz (9) and Frances Tiafoe (12) stand out in the other half of the main draw, which includes last year’s finalist Casper Ruud (4).

SWIATEK WANTS TO PROTECT THE NUMBER 1

After the 2023 Australian Open, where she won her first Grand Slam title with Iga Swiatek, who has been at the top of the women’s world rankings since April last year, Aryna Sabalenka will be on the court for both the cup and the title. number 1. .

Iga Swiatek

Sabalenka will become the new world number 1 on June 12 if Swiatek, who won the French Open in 2020 and 2022, fails to reach the quarterfinals.

Celebrating her 22nd birthday on May 31, Swiatek needs the semifinals if Sabalenka reaches the round of 16 and quarterfinals, the final if Sabalenka reaches the semifinals, and the championship if Sabalenka reaches the final to stay on top.

In the round of 16, 2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova (seeded 13), and in the quarterfinals, Swiatek, who will likely match last year’s runner-up Coco Gauff (6) or Veronika Kudermetova (11), also leads Rome Open champion Elena Rybakina in the first half of the main draw (11).4), Oz Jabeur (7) and Petra Kvitova (10).

Jessica Pegula (3), Caroline Garcia (5), Maria Sakkari (8), Daria Kasatkina (9) and 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko (17) stand out among Sabalenka’s (2) competitors en route to the final.

ROLAND GARROS HISTORY

Only national male tennis players were accepted to participate in the tournament, which was first held in 1891 under the name “Championship of France”. Mixed doubles in 1902 and women’s doubles in 1907 were added to the French Championships in 1897, where women also began to compete.

The tournament, in which international participants have also competed since 1925, became the first Grand Slam in which tennis players competed in 1968, which was described as the “open period” in which professional and amateur players were allowed to meet. . Until the construction of the “Roland Garros” field, which gave its name to the tournament, in 1928, the championship was played on the “Stade Français” and “Racing Club de France” fields.

The French Tennis Federation decided to build a new court for the rematch of French tennis players Jacques Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and Rene Lacoste, who won the Davis Cup in 1927 on American soil, to be held in Paris a year later.

The land of the “Porte d’Auteuil” belonging to the shareholders of the “Stade Français” was considered suitable for the new court. The only condition for the court to be built was that it bear the name of the Roland Garros driver, one of the famous ex-members of the “Stade Français”. Roland Garros left his mark on aviation history as the first person to cross the Mediterranean by plane on September 23, 1913.

Serving as the center court for the tournament since it was built in 1928, Philippe Chatrier’s capacity increased to 15,225 after renovation began in 2019. As a result of work completed in 2020, a retractable roof system was added to the court.

LAND TERRAIN DIFFERENCE

The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament to be played on clay courts.

The clay court causes the ball to slow down and rise higher off the ground than on hard or grass pitches. With this feature, the court allows you to experience long rallies and closes the weakness of tennis players who cannot use a very strong serve.

Simona Aleppo.

For this reason, tennis players like John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Angelique Kerber, who have won many Grand Slam championships in their career, could not win this tournament.

THE ‘BEST OF THE FRENCH OPEN

At the French Open, where the names with the most championships were the Spanish Rafael Nadal in the men’s singles and the American Chris Evert in the women’s singles, some of the records achieved since 1925, when international participation was allowed, are the following:

MORE SINGLES CHAMPIONS

Men:

• Rafael Nadal (Spain) – 14 times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022)
• Björn Borg (Sweden) – 6 (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981)

Women:

• Chris Evert (USA) – 7 (1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986)
• Steffi Graf (Germany) – 6 (1987, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999)

MORE PROFITS IN A TIME

Men:

• Rafael Nadal (Spain) (2010-14) – 5 times
• Björn Borg (Sweden) (1978-81), Rafael Nadal (Spain) (2005-08 and 2017-20) – 4

Women:

*Helen Wills (USA) (1928-30), *Hilde Sperling (Denmark) (1935-37), Monica Seles (USA) (1990-92), Justine Henin (Belgium) (2005-07 ) – 3

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

MOST WINS IN A SERIES

• Men: Rafael Nadal (Spain) – 39 victories (2010-2015)
• Women: Chris Evert (USA) – 29 wins (1974-1981)

ROLAND GARROS WINNERS IN THE LAST 10 YEARS

MEN:

• 2013 – Rafael Nadal (Spain)
• 2014 – Rafael Nadal (Spain)
• 2015 – Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)
• 2016 – Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
• 2017 – Rafael Nadal (Spain)
• 2018 – Rafael Nadal (Spain)
• 2019 – Rafael Nadal (Spain)
• 2020 – Rafael Nadal (Spain)
• 2021 – Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
• 2022 – Rafael Nadal (Spain)

WOMEN:

• 2013 – Serena Williams (United States)
• 2014 – Maria Sharapova (Russia)
• 2015 – Serena Williams (United States)
• 2016 – Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain)
• 2017 – Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia)
• 2018 – Simona Aleppo (Romania)
• 2019 – Ashleigh Barty (Australia)
• 2020 – Iga Swiatek (Poland)
• 2021 – Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic)
• 2022 – Iga Swiatek (Poland)

YOUNGEST WINNERS

• Men: Michael Chang (USA) – 17 years, 3 months (1989)
• Women: Monica Seles (United States) – 16 years, 6 months (1990)

OLDER WINNERS

• Men: Rafael Nadal (Spain) – 36 years, 2 days (2022)
• Women: *Zsuzsa Kormoczy (Hungary) – 33 years, 9 months (1958)

UNBREAKED WINNERS

• Men: *Marcel Bernard (France) (1946), Mats Wilander (Sweden) (1982), Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) (1997), Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) (2004)
• Women: *Margaret Scriven (Great Britain) (1933), Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) (2017), Iga Swiatek (Poland) (2020), Barbora Krejcikova (Czech) (2021)
• NOTE: *Including championships won before the open period (professional tennis players were allowed to play against amateur players in 1968).

(AA)