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"The level is very high right now and you can lose against anyone," said third-seeded Spaniard after her second-round win.
By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, May 26, 2022

Family and friends encourage Paula Badosa to calm down and embrace her inner couch potato off court.

Rublev: ATP Has Toxic Relationship with Wimbledon

On court, an energized Badosa looks like a woman going places.

The third-seeded Spaniard sped through eight of the last nine points defeating dangerous Kaja Juvan 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to advance to the Roland Garros third round for the third time in as many appearances.

Battling through a tough three-setter against Juvan, who was coming off the Strasbourg final last weekend, Badosa showed a third-set burst. She won three of the final three six games at love.

"I mean, these kind of matches give you a lot of confidence that I'm already like competitive again, fighting until the last point," Badosa said. "That's very important for me, because maybe I was struggling a little bit on that.

"Sometimes I don't want to complain or be that emotional on court, but sometimes I need it to give everything and to push myself. Yeah, today I think I was back on that competitive spirit, and I'm very happy about that."

It's a joy for Badosa to extend her Roland Garros journey given six of the Top 10 women's seeds failed to reach round three.

Seed survival 😅@paulabadosa makes her escape, shutting down Juvan 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to claim a spot in the third round#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/KAuoWDtX3U

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 26, 2022

When Badosa looks at the Top 10-seeded competitive casualties of the clay—second-seeded defending champion, Barbora Krejcikova, Maria Sakkari, Anett Kontaveit, Ons Jabeur, Karolina Pliskova and compatriot Garbine Muguruza—she says the upsets are unsurprising due to the depth of the women's game.

"In this case, I'm more like, Okay, pay attention, because anything can happen. You saw it today," Badosa said. "Today I had to fight a lot to win the match.

"I think the level is very high right now and you can lose against anyone. There are surprises but they don't surprise me because I'm on tour so I know what you can find on court. Yeah, there has been a lot of surprises."

Then again six of the last 11 women's Grand Slam champions were maiden major winners, including Krejcikova in Paris last June and Emma Raducanu, who became the first qualifier in history to win a singles Slam at the US Open. 

Given what we've seen so far, Badosa expects the unexpected to continue.

"Yeah, the surprises are coming and coming, and it's going to be always like that, because the level has raised a lot," the 2021 Indian Wells champion.

The lone Spanish woman left standing has a shot to regain the world No. 2 ranking with a repeat run to the quarterfinals.

Currently at No. 3 in the live rankings, Badosa will face a familiar face, Veronika Kudermetova, for a spot in the round of 16.

The 29th-seeded Kudermetova has beaten Badosa in three of five meetings, but the Spaniard has swept both of their 2022 meetings, in Madrid and Indian Wells.

Badosa is focusing on being more positive under pressure, and of course, to keep moving.

"What I'm trying to improve is to be kind to myself and always send these positive messages no matter what. It's something I'm really working on and that I did very well the first round," Badosa said. "Today I think I had very tough moments, and even though that I was maybe a little bit stressed,

"I was sending positive messages to myself. So I'm really happy about that, that I'm improving on that aspect. For me, that's more important than a win."

Photo credit: Getty

Richard Gasquet said he plans to play on with his career, and Gilles Simon will bid for his 500th win tonight in Paris. By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday May 26, 2022

This week we witnessed the end of the brilliant career of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Roland-Garros, the legendary Frenchman finishing his loss to Casper Ruud in tears after his body let him down yet again. But a victory later on Tuesday by Gilles Simon, and words by Richard Gasquet have softened the blow some.

For this excellent generation of French men's tennis, it ain't over til it's over.

Gasquet and Simon, part of a generation of French players that also features Tsonga and Gael Monfils, have shown us that this generation has not finished winning matches on the circuit.

Gasquet, who was ousted by Sebastian Korda in straight sets last night in Paris, says he plans to be back at Roland-Garros next year, if his body – and ranking – permits it.

“I'll do my best to be there next year. I'm not sure about that, but we never know what can happen in tennis,” Gasquet, who owns 574 lifetime wins, said on Wednesday. “But I really feel like playing and I've won quite a few matches this year since the beginning of the season and I'm still in the top 100 so I'll try and keep playing until the end.”

Even so, 35-year-old Gasquet (ranked 70) is already looking forward to a career as a commentator.

“I'm really focused on my tournament, but I really like commenting on matches, so I'm really interested in how one can comment during matches,” he said, when asked of the fact that he plans to commentate for French TV during the second week. “So it's an experience, I take it as an experience, I'll see how it goes and I would like to see how it works and, you know, it doesn't stop me from practicing and/or preparing for other tournaments, but we'll see how it goes on TV or on air and, you know, I still enjoy watching tennis, so it will be a pleasure for me to do that.”

36-year-old Simon, meanwhile, will bid for his 500th career win on Thursday on Court Philippe Chatrier, against American Steve Johnson.

At his age, it’s getting harder and harder to expect to win.

“It was a crazy match, an unexpected win,” the World No.158 said of his five-set victory over Pablo Carreno Busta on Court Simonne-Mathieu on Tuesday. “I was more scared to be ridiculous today than hoping I would win this match.”

Meanwhile Tsonga, who plans to play doubles with Gasquet today if his body lets him, will be watching his compatriots from the sidelines as their careers wind down.

“For me, all the way was nice. All the way was, you know, good to live. Even the sad moment, even the difficult moment,” Tsonga said. “I spent so many good moments, and I think the most important for me was to live this with people around me and be able to share the sadness sometimes, the happiness.

“Yeah, what I will remember for sure, it's all the relationships I had with people around. Yeah, that's what will stay.”