Rollin' in the deep at Roland Garros: A look at the unheralded stars of the French Open

Who will ever forget the Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic 2013 French Open semifinal showdown? Or Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Richard Gasquet? Or Tommy Robredo’s comebacks from two sets down in three consecutive matches? With so many amazing five-setters and enthralling matches, plenty of players snagged well-deserved headlines at Roland Garros. But who else really caught your attention at the French Open? The Grandstand has a roundtable discussion, this time focusing on some of the more unheralded stars of the the season’s second Grand Slam.

Josh (The Sixth Set): The players that really impressed me at Roland Garros were the unheralded youngsters making their Grand Slam debuts. I’m referring to Nick Kyrgios, Lucas Pouille, and Jiri Vesely. They might not be household names yet, but it’s only a matter of time before the trio of teenagers begins an assault on the rankings. Kyrgios took advantage of a late wild-card entry following the withdrawal of fellow Aussie John Millman due to a shoulder injury. The 2013 Australian Open boys champion stunned Radek Stepanek in straight sets before succumbing to No. 10 seed Marin Cilic in the second round. The French youngster Pouille also prevailed in straights in the first round, defeating American wild card Alex Kuznetsov. Perhaps the one that intrigued me the most, however, was Jiri Vesely. The Czech qualified without losing a set and although he didn’t win a match in the main draw, he demonstrated his great potential in a four-set loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber. With a massive serve and forehand, he reminds me a lot of Jerzy Janowicz in his ability to complement his power with effective drop-shots and a solid slice backhand as well. His lateral movement is also pretty impressive for a guy standing at 6’6″.

Steen (Tennis East Coast): First off Josh, I fully agree with you on Vesely being the best looking young gun of the bunch. He packs a punch and mainly needs to work on his shot selection and some of the more strategic aspects of the game. He has been moving his way up the Challenger circuit and could very well be top 70 by the end of the year (currently No. 106) if he can get a few wild cards or start qualifying for ATP events. I also think he has a game that can do damage on faster courts. Pouille has been a name that has been bouncing around French tennis circles for a while but isn’t super well-known internationally, and Kyrgios is another Aussie import that could do well. I also want to give a shout out to Jack Sock, who surprised basically everyone to qualify and beat Garcia-Lopez in the opening round. Sock has already shown talent on hard courts with that forehand but any time an American player can win on clay at a young age, it is notable. Lastly when it comes to younger players, I think Pablo Carreno Busta deserves more credit than he got for his straight-set loss to Roger Federer on Chatrier in his first career slam main draw. No, he didn’t spoil anyone’s day, but he really has had a tremendous year and I noticed far too many people doubting him because of the immense talent gap between the Big 4 and everyone else. Once he improves his serve, he could easily join the Spanish Armada B team.

Ricky: I definitely agree about PCB. I seriously can’t remember the last time he lost to someone he was supposed to beat (maybe he hasn’t!?!?). It was no surprise that he qualified, but he obviously got a terrible draw against Federer. Still, an experience like that will only help him in the long run, so maybe it wasn’t so terrible after all…. In addition to the youngsters, though, I think it is worth noting a few veterans who were mostly overlooked in Paris. Viktor Troicki had been utterly terrible this year, to the extent that he was in danger of becoming known for one thing and one thing only: his epic explosion last month in Rome. However, the Serb suddenly won three rounds at RG–including over in-form clay-courter Daniel Gimeno-Traver and a straight-set ousting of Cilic. I realize how dreadful Cilic has been of late, but that is still a great win for Troicki. And how about Gilles Simon? The Frenchman had been entirely unspectacular in 2013, but he made some noise at his hometown slam. He came back from at least set down in all three of his wins–he trailed Lleyton Hewitt by two sets, trailed Pablo Cuevas by a set before serving a triple-breadstick, and he trailed Sam Querrey by a set and again by two sets to one. Simon also extended Federer to five, which isn’t exactly a stunner given Federer’s form, but by Simon’s current standards it is a major accomplishment. It will be interesting to see if Troicki–a former world No. 12–and Simon–a former world No. 6–can use this momentum and come anywhere close to getting back to where they once found themselves.

Josh: Good call on Simon, Ricky. The Frenchmen enjoyed a rather successful Roland Garros in comparison to years past. We all know that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the semifinals, but an impressive total of seven Frenchmen advanced to the third round as well, including Gael Monfils and lower seeds Jeremy Chardy, Julien Benneteau, and Benoit Paire. Paire, who received his first career seed at a slam, continued his surprising clay season after a semifinal run in Rome, and despite not having Juan Martin Del Potro in his section, Chardy advanced to the third round at Roland Garros for the first time since 2009. As for Monfils–I am indeed shocked he upset Tomas Berdych and knocked off Ernie Gulbis to reach the third round. La Monf once again demonstrated why he is a force to be reckoned with if he can get his head on straight and play his game. I was particularly impressed with his post-match comments following his first-round encounter with Berdych: “I tried to keep simple thoughts in my head and take it point by point.” While the former world No. 7 eventually ran out of gas against Tommy Robredo, he can hopefully build on the momentum and have a successful rest of the year. Tennis is definitely better off with him at the top of his game. Another player I wanted to mention is Robin Haase, who snapped his tiebreak losing streak at a whopping 17 in a row! The Dutchman won a ‘breaker in the second set of his opening-round match against Kenny De Schepper. It is an unfathomable stat and a record that will most likely stand for quite some time.

Steen: Speaking of some older but otherwise unheralded players, Thiemo De Bakker and Joao Sousa deserve some respect for solid showings. De Bakker, who is 24 now, showed some real signs of talent before dropping way down in the rankings for about a year. Finally on the way back, he played a quality match against Stanislas Wawrinka–losing in four sets and falling just short of a late comeback. Sousa absolutely destroyed Go Soeda (who is terrible on clay but is still a solid Top 100 professional player) prior to a four-set loss to Feliciano Lopez. Also 24 and right back near the Top 100, Sousa followed up his French Open campaign by winning a Challenger title in Furth on Sunday. His ranking has climbed steadily since he turned pro in 2005. Igor Sijsling, a 25-year-old Dutchman, is up at a career-high ranking of 60th now. He used his power game to routine Jurgen Melzer in the first round before falling to Tommy Robredo (who reached the quarterfinals) in five sets. That was one of Robredo’s three comebacks from two sets down. Pablo Cuevas, formerly in the top 50, played his first major tournament match since the 2011 French Open, after which he took more than a year off due to injury. Cuevas beat Adrian Mannarino in five sets before his four-set loss to Simon. It is good to see the Uruguayan back on the courts and with a ranking in the 400s, he will certainly be needing some wild cards and PRs to move back up anytime soon.

Ricky: I can’t believe De Bakker is already 24, but I guess that’s what happens when you disappear for a while. Speaking of surprisingly “old” players, Sock and Ryan Harrison are already in their 20s and John Isner is already 28. Time is ticking for Americans to live up to expectations, but all three accounted themselves relatively well in Paris. Both Harrison and Isner beat clay-court specialists in round one (Andrey Kuznetsov and Carlos Berlocq, respectively) before playing each other in an entertaining five-setter. Isner, of course, went on to save 12 match points against Tommy Haas before losing an even better five-setter to the 35-year-old. Sock qualified for the main draw (beating Facundo Arguello in the process) and took out GGL before running into Haas. While none of those results are earth-shattering, they are way better than what Team USA often musters on the red dirt of Roland Garros. I do not have particularly high hopes for any of these three guys on grass, but hopefully they can parlay this momentum into success during their favorite time of year–the U.S. Open Series.

Steen: The Americans did better, but I still don’t think it is enough to warrant a lot of fanfare. I almost think the American tennis fandom tends to get in the mindset that the top Americans are better than they really are in the grand scheme of things, and it celebrates otherwise average performances when we should be expecting top-tier play. Still, after previously-rough clay seasons from both Isner and Sam Querrey, and a bad start in general from Harrison, it’s good to see them working back in the right direction.

Josh: Great point, Steen. When you take into account the fact that Isner, Querrey, Harrison, and Sock posted a combined 2-9 record on European clay leading up to the French Open, their results at Roland Garros were considerably better than expected. They avoided embarrassment, which is all you can ask of Americans on clay nowadays. In fact, four of the nine Americans in qualifying advanced to the main draw, which is pretty impressive.

Ricky: Alright, let’s wrap it up with our favorite under-the-radar matches of the French Open. Amidst the chaos of the Berdych-Monfils-Gulbis-Robredo section, it’s easy to forget the second-rounder between Monfils and Gulbis. While the encounter eventually fizzled as Gulbis gave out mentally and physically in the fourth set, the first three sets were amazing and the third in particular I thought for sure would go down as the best set of the tournament and maybe the entire year (it would later be surpassed, of course, by the fourth set of Haas-Isner and the fifth set of Nadal-Djokovic). What made it all the more intense was the opportunity before both men, in that they found themselves in Ferrer’s quarter and Federer’s half of the draw–thus making a semifinal or even a final a legitimate possibility. It also had this:

Steen: My under-the-radar match of the tournament was Jarkko Nieminen over Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-2 in the first round. The match got overshadowed by the fact that it was going on the same time as the drama that was Monfils-Berdych, and it was on an outer court…. But for the quality of the ball-striking it was top-notch, the kind of pure tennis those who appreciate the more technical aspects of the game would love. Nieminen continues to grind away results beyond the age of 30, and this was another five-setter for him at a slam (he beat Haas in five sets at the AO). Mathieu, meanwhile overcame an abysmal year thus far and actually played some good tennis. The third-set tiebreak was particularly enthralling.

Josh: For me it was the first-round meeting between Simon and Hewitt. It wasn’t be most riveting tennis you’ll see, but it definitely provided to be one of the most dramatic fifth sets of the fortnight at Roland Garros. Simon ultimately prevailed 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5, but not before squandering a 5-0 lead in the fifth set. The match also featured the two longest rallies of the entire tournament (47 and 43 shots). In the end, it was yet another heartbreaking first-round Grand Slam loss for Rusty, who hasn’t won a match on clay in three years!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ndzZ6_ZYU]