Roland Garros Recap 2024

Good morning. Do you smell that? It’s the sweet earthy scent of fresh cut grass at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London. The club is busy making sure every blade of grass is the same height for Wimbledon in 3 weeks. But before we get there, let’s recap a fantastic two weeks at Roland Garros.

— Daniel

ATP

Winning on every surface? Check

We need to order a DNA test. Why? Because I’m pretty convinced Carlos Alcaraz is actually Nadal’s son, or he’s not from this planet. The 21 year old Spaniard won his first Roland Garros on Sunday, defeating Alexander Zverev in a five set marathon over four hours. With this win, Alcaraz became the youngest ever to win a grand slam on each surface, jumped to World No. 2, and passed $30 million in career prize money. Not a bad day at the office, no?

Looking ahead, as the reigning Wimbledon champion, Carlos has some major points to defend this year. With the tournament just three weeks away, he’ll have to adjust his game to grass quickly, which he did surprisingly well last year.

Trivia

Only a handful of players have ever won both singles and doubles at the same grand slam event. Who was the last player to do so?*

A. Monica Seles

B. Pete Sampras

C. Rod Laver

D. Serena Williams

Bonus: And at which grand slam?

Find out at the bottom!

WTA

Three peat

If there’s any time during her career to buy a lottery ticket, now might be a good time for Iga Swiatek. The 23 year old won her third Roland Garros in a row (fourth overall), joining legends Monica Seles and Justine Henin as the only women in the Open era to 3-peat in Paris. That’s not to say that she’s been getting lucky, but rather that I wouldn’t be surprised if she hit the jack pot too given that all she can do is win (read in DJ Khaled voice). This year, she has more titles than losses (5-4), has an overall record of 45-4, and is 8-1 against top 10 opponents. Damn.

While many of Iga’s matches in Paris were blow outs, her tournament still had drama. Namely, she was a single point away from getting knocked out by Naomi Osaka early in the tournament. At least this year she didn’t drop her trophy’s lid like last year.

News & Memes

• “And there’s another reason why I’m here, summed up in two words. Beer Pong.” Roger Federer gave a hilarious, yet insightful commencement speech at Dartmouth this past Sunday. It’s worth a listen.

• Although he didn’t win the tournament, Jannik Sinner became World No. 1 during Roland Garros since Djokovic did not make it to the finals. Jannik’s phone call to Italy delivering the news was short and sweet

  • On that note, see what Alcaraz had to say after he found at the Jannick became World No. 1

• Novak Djokovic had knee surgery on a torn meniscus, the reason for his withdrawal from his quarterfinal match at Roland Garros. It is unknown what his recovery time looks like, and more importantly, what his strategy is moving forward to maximize the tail end of his career.

• LA native and UCLA commit Kaylan Bigun took the junior Roland Garros title, the first time an American has won the junior title since Tommy Paul back in 2015

Thanks for reading!

DP 🤠

Answer: D. Serena Williams at the 2016 Wimbledon, which her sister Venus!

*Thanks to reader (and friend) Gram Leahy for this excellent trivia question.