« Roland Garros » 2025: Year First of the New Era after Rafael Nadal
At 12:00 Bulgarian time in Paris today starts the 124th edition of Roland Garros – the second for the season a Grand Slam tournament in tennis.
Not only today’s matches, but all the total 899 Red Courts meetings at the French Open Championship will remain in the shadow of a great champion, whose refusal has marked the history of the tournament in the last 20 years.
Yes, it’s about Rafael Nadal. The French are sophisticated connoisseurs of history, so they could not miss to organize a special ceremony for one of the brightest personalities in the 124-year history of their tournament. Nadal will attend « Philip Shatrie » this afternoon and after the end of the program matches will become a protagonist of Roland Garros for the one last time – the French Tennis Federation has prepared a special exhibition dedicated to the Matadora, at which the visitors will be broadcast, and the next 2 weeks will be able to enjoy the next 2 weeks, and Roland Garros star since 2005, when he won his first title in Paris, until his last match on May 27 last year in the first round against Alexander Zverev.
With its 14 titles and a balance of 112 wins and only 4 Roland Garros losses, Nadal marked not only the history of France’s discovered, but also tennis at all. His withdrawal last November leaves a huge gap in the red calendar and for the first time in 20 years he makes the forecast who will triumph in Paris complicated.
| At first glance, it would be most logical to see in the men’s final on June 8 against each other last year’s champion Carlos Alcaras (Isp) and world rankings in the world rankings Janik Sinner (IT). |
Just a week ago, the two played a final in Rome, which marked the return of the Italian after the 3-month punishment for doping, and showed that it was difficult for anyone to rest in the red this season. The Spaniard won with 7: 6 (7: 5), 6: 1, requesting that he was ready to defend his title at Roland Garros. In the quarterfinals in Rome, however, Syner blunted the Norwegian Casper Ruud (2-time finalist in Paris) with 6: 0, 6: 1, which hinted that the 3-month absence did not affect him much and would not need much time to find his optimal rhythm. There was a contrasting semi-final against the best American Red-Tommy Paul, in which Syner lost 1: 6 the first set, but then switched to his usual 6th speed and won with 6: 0, 6: 3.
Photo Gales: Rafael Nadal – A career for the story of tennis
Tommy Paul is one of the candidates for throwing a bomb, although he was set at # 12 and will have to face No. 7 Kasper Ruud at the semifinal, and then he waits for Alcaras in the quarterfinals. Paul showed a stable form in Rome and certainly seemed more serious candidate to serve a sensation than his compatriot Tyler Fritz ( # 4). However, in this part of the scheme, there is also an always dangerous in the red Italian such as Lorenzo Museums (No. 8).
At the top of the scheme, the big question is what will the 24-time winner of the Grand Slam Novak Djokovic. Until last night, hardly anyone had seriously put the 38-year-old Serb in the bills, who had no earned set in the red this season before choosing the small tournament in Geneva (ATP 250) to prepare for Roland Garros.
| In Switzerland, the Serb not only found his shape, but also won the tournament with a dramatic victory in the final over Hubert Hurkach, literally crying the Polish giant. |
And now suddenly his dropping out in the first rounds in Paris began to seem almost impossible. Rather, will I beat in these matches or fatigue? Since as close to his best game, Djokovic is still 38 and a potential quarterfinals with Alexander Zverev, and then the semifinals against Syner stand as an insurmountable barrier, against the 25th Grand Slam title, would be tantamount to the feat.
In this part of the scheme is Grigor Dimitrov (№16). The best Bulgarian tennis player dropped out in the second round in Rome, but did enter the world video exchange with her new friend, Assa Gonzalez, as well as her attractive performances during training in Paris.
The Mexican actress follows him inseparably even in training sessions in the French capital on the eve of Roland Garros, and is yet to see inspiration or distraction will be for 34-year-old Dimitrov this connection.
According to the program, the Bulgarian started on Monday or Tuesday against the number 106 American Ethan Quinn.
Grigor Dimitrov fails to overcome the Novak Djokovic Brotherly Syndrome
In women, the situation is even more difficult to predict. Iga Schwontek has won the last 3 Roland Garros editions and feels at home in Paris, but her form after the June 2024 triumph has dropped dramatically and her season is a real nightmare.
| However, the Polish woman somehow manages to isolate it from the problems as she stepped into a glue in the French capital, and an additional incentive for her is the fact that she could become the first tennis player in the era with four consecutive wins in the tournament. |
Not that the lot helped her a lot – Schwontek was placed at # 5 and in the second round she is about to meet with Emma Radukanu, and at the semifinal, one of her nightmares has been waiting for her lately – Jelena Ostapenko, against which her balance is 0: 6. An additional argument in favor of the thesis that Roland Garros will have a new champion for the first time in 2021 is the performance of Schwongek in the last two red tournaments – 1: 6, 1: 6 from Coco Goff in Madrid and 1: 6, 5: 7 by Daniel Collins in Rome.
Against this background, American Goff ( # 2), a 2022 finalist and last year’s semi -finalist, looks like one of the favorites. In her, the lower part of the scheme is Mira Andreeva ( # 6), which has ambitions for at least for the semifinals with a goff. The career of the Russian is going up upwards and she has already won two ATP 1000 titles this year, and against rivals who are not called Arina Sabalenka or Coco Goff, her balance in 2025 is impressive: 26: 3.
In the upper half of the scheme, besides the leader in the rankings, Sabalenka is another of the potential finalists in women – the Italian Jasmine Paolini, who played a very strong finale against Coco Goff for the title in Rome last week, and is already behind two finals in the Grand Slam last season. There is also Bulgarian participation in women, where Victoria Tomova will face the first round against No. 49 in St. Veronica Kudermetova, against which there are 2 wins in 3 games so far.
The Roland Garros matches in Bulgaria will be able to watch in the programs of Eurosport with the comments of Ivan Czshankov, Nikolay Dragiev, Nikola Ibrishimov, Dimitar Trenev and Emil Evtimov, as well as in MAX.
