Honey, we’re gonna need more Sun Bum this week in Paris. Oh and make sure Jimmy brings a hat. He’s already half way to becoming a lobster.

It was so hot during Casper Ruud’s first round match yesterday that he could hardly walk in the fourth set. He said it felt like heat stroke after the match, which he won in a gutsy 5-set performance.

While Ruud advances to the second round, I wouldn’t put a single dollar on the two-time finalist to win the tournament now.

Why? Because of Sinner.

Because clay is the most physically taxing surface in tennis. The points are longer, which means more sprinting, stopping, swinging, and long bwehhhhhhh grunting. That compounds across seven matches over two weeks, which makes Roland Garros the hardest slam to win physically.

It truly is survival of the fittest.

This is why, when heading into week two, I put a ton of stock into players who were lucky enough to be efficient in the early rounds. Every minute they didn’t spend on court compared to their opponent matters a ton at the volume of points you’re playing at Slams.

Ruud just played five sets, in heat stroke conditions, on day one. That's a big withdrawal from the energy ATM.

Ruud gets a much needed off day. But the "off day" at a Grand Slam is not what that sounds like. There are interviews. There are content segments the tournament wants you for. Your racket sponsor has a fan meet-and-greet. All of that requires you to be on your feet, be mentally "on," and spend energy you were supposed to be recovering.

Then there's the question of whether you even hit a ball. You probably should — you don't want to lose feel between matches. But hitting means warming up, hitting balls, and cooling down. Suddenly your rest day is a three-hour ordeal. In 90-degree Paris heat.

None of this kills a player individually. But it stacks.

Fans watch a big second-week match and wonder why someone who looked so clean in round one suddenly seems half a step slow. The answer usually isn't one thing — it's the five-setter in round one, the sponsor obligation on day three, the extra set they played when they should've closed it out, the sleep they didn't quite get in a hotel room on the other side of the world.

That's the real match at Roland Garros. The one nobody's tracking on the scoreboard.

Who was the last French woman to hoist the Roland Garros Singles trophy?

A. Marion Bartoli

B. Caroline Garcia

C. Amélie Mauresmo

D. Mary Pierce

Find out at the bottom!

Slams Novak Djokovic has played in his career.

On Sunday, the game’s resident unc broke the three-way tie for most Slams played between him, Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez. He also tied Richard Gasquet for the most appearances at Roland Garros at 22.

Djokovic also added to his record of 76 consecutive first-round Slam wins. His streak was in jeopardy after he dropped the first set to Mpetshi Perricard on Sunday, but in classic Djoker fashion, he toughed out a win in four.

After the match:

“It was a good match to be part of, three hours, just what the doctor ordered, at age 39. Here we go.”

As I was doing research for today’s trivia question, I learned that Rene Lacoste was No. 1 in the world exactly 100 years ago. While I normally snooze during history class, I’m actually amazed by the brand’s longevity. Amazed to think that a clothing brand has remained relevant for so long, has endured through depressions and recessions, still makes tennis clothing, and still has the same Crocodile logo. I love that.

So why a Crocodile?

“In 1923, an American journalist from Boston began to nickname 19-year-old tennis prodigy René Lacoste, "the Crocodile", as to reflect his ferocious on-court determination whilst subtly referring to an unusual bet that Lacoste made to his team captain Allan Muhr, that he must buy him a crocodile-skinned suitcase if he wins the next match.

The bet was lost but the nickname stayed, and in 1927 American stylist Robert George depicted drawings and sketches of crocodiles to his friend Lacoste, who then embroidered one of them to his white blazer that he wore before every match.” (Wikipedia)

Now that you know the brand’s touching origin story, would you like to buy a $120 t-shirt?

This would be one helluva player: Simon IQ, Monfils speed/hands/shotmaking, Tsonga serve and forehand, Gasquet backhand.

The thing is, he already exists. His name?

Roger Federer 😆

Some of the best tennis content I found on the internet this week…

😳 How mad would you be if your doubles partner did this to you?

🥹 Gael Monfils on if he’s happy with his career

🎾 A fantastic warm up drill that’s great for your footwork and volleys

D. Mary Pierce

Pierce was the last French woman to win Roland Garros, claiming the title in 2000. Surprisingly, there’s only 1 WTA player in the Top 100 right now, so Pierce might be holding onto her title for quite a while longer.