It took Coco Gauff, the No 2 in the world, to end Lois Boisson’s fairytale run at the French Open, disappointing millions of home fans, but the 22-year old wild-card could not muster the same resilience as she had in her previous matches to dent the American’s aggressive and athletic game, and succumbed, 6-1 6-2, in Thursday’s second semi-final on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The post Paris | Gauff ends Boisson’s fairytale run to reach second French final appeared first on Tennis Threads Magazine.
Alexander Bublik after surprising the tennis world, spoke with candor on reaching the Roland-Garros quarterfinals for the first time.
By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Monday, June 2, 2025
Photo Source: Roland-Garros Facebook
The mercurial, crowd-pleasing talents of Alexander Bublik has now earned him worldwide attention after his shock four-set upset win over No. 5 seed Jack Draper to reach the Roland-Garros quarterfinals for the first time in his career.
Bublik, 27, celebrated his unexpected 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory with tears in his eyes as he became the first Kazakhstani man to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in history.
All the emotions 🥹
Savour the moment, Bublik 🙌@rolandgarros #RolandGarros
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 2, 2025
"Sometimes in life there's only one chance, and I had a feeling that that was mine, and I couldn't let it slip," Bublik said in an on-court interview, after an extended standing ovation from the Court Suzanne-Lenglen crowd. "Standing here, it's the best moment of my life, period."
The final game of the match proved pivotal in more ways than one. Draper, still down a service break at 5-4, forced Rublev to serve for the match. Draper battled and held two break points, only to lose out on both. Rublev eventually closed out the game, and the match.
But Rublev admitted later on TNT Sports, if he had lost that game, he would likely have lost the motivation to try and win the match from there.
“I said to myself, if I'm losing that break, it's 7-5 6-2 max (in favor of Draper)," Bublik said. "I'm not gonna fight, because if you have this chance to make your first ever quarterfinal and you blow it. It's your fault. That's how I see it.”
Bublik, known for his unorthodox playing style, including underhand serves and trick shots, and rather cavalier personality, both on and off the court was not expected to be in the mix this fortnight in Paris. Though he’s reached a career high World No. 17, he’s currently ranked at No. 62.
Despite winning four ATP Tour titles in his career, 2025 has been a rough season so far. Before Paris, Bublik was 7-13 on the year.
Yet Bublik must have felt something good was coming for him in Paris after he earned a two sets from behind victory over No. 9 seed Alex de Minaur earlier in the second round. Bublik admitted he contemplated quitting tennis earlier this season after falling to the low 80s ranking wise.
While he previously complained about the clay court swing being too long, this year, he realized he needed to make an effort on the dirt to boost his ranking.
“I was eighty in the world. I was talking to my coach I want to quit tennis because I’m eighty in the world. It feels disgraceful for me,” Bublik said. “So I just said to myself, you have a gift, you gotta use your chances. If I have one, I'm gonna use it.
"I'm just gonna fight. I'm gonna try to play on clay and see how it goes and it worked like this, Because I had no room, you know, to cry. Because if you have room to cry, I always would take the cry, you know.”
Bublik added, “But when you have no options then it's that's how it works.”
Many tennis observers have questioned Bublik’s efforts on-court and off court throughout his career.
While Bublik confirmed he works hard off the court, he’s the first to admit that he prefers a “work/life” balance that includes his family. He can only speak for himself when it comes to determining what’s best for his life and career.
“There is no way around hard work. Don't get me wrong,” Bublik said in his post-match press conference. “I work hard, but on my terms, you know. I do what I'm capable of doing with my body, but I will not push through a knee injury in order to have, you know, a certain chance to win a certain match. So for me, there is no way around hard work. I have been working very hard, and I do work very hard."
Bublik, a proud father, added on TNT he tries to put tennis into perspective
“Tennis is fifty percent of my life, you know I have other part of being a dad, being a friend, which is have the same importance for me as being a tennis player," Bublik said. "So in this percent that I have as a professional athlete, I have to do maximum what my body is capable of.
"I'm not going to put my health on the line. I'm not going to be fighting through injuries. You know, if I have pain, I resign. I say thank you very much. I'm not going there.
"Because I prioritize my health a lot. And if you tell me, Sasha, you gonna win a Slam. But you can't walk at forty. I'm not going to take this. So then I have to work with the tools I have.”
Bublik next faces World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.
The Frenchman praised Draper's game after Thursday night's thriling encounter.
By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday May 30, 2025
Paris – Gael Monfils learned the hard way just how many improvements Jack Draper has made to his game.
The 38-year-old Frenchman threw everything he had at Draper in an epic Paris night session on Thursday, and could only manage to take a set from the 23-year-old menace.
After the match, Monfils said he has immense respect for Draper’s game.
“I love this player,” Monfils said. “I love the way he plays, because he plays a very fast backhand. When Jack was young, he really had the best backhand.
But he's progressed a lot on his forehand now. Now he really produces pure power with his forehand, and he manages to really roll the ball along the line. He's a left-hander who goes very fast along the line. That's not common, and he moves really well on the court.”
Monfils says that in addition to the forehand, Draper is also returning better.
“Where he's really progressed is that he really returns really well,” he said. “He's far from the baseline, and the ball's always in at the right speed, the right course, and he's made a tremendous amount of progress in that regard.
“So a Jack who is feeling very self-confident like that is very difficult to maneuver.”
This is what our sport is all about.
❤️#draper #monfils #rolandgarros pic.twitter.com/OcA0gp0EDb
— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 29, 2025
In a physical encounter on slow clay in night conditions, Draper stayed the course and handled Monfils and the rowdy Parisian crowd. It was more proof that the fifth-ranked Brit is ready for prime time.
“Every point was hard,” Monfils said. “No easy points. He was really returning the balls very well. He really played his game well. Honestly, I couldn't do a lot. I played my forehand down the line. It went out. And he played well after that.”
Not the end result Monfils wanted, but anyone who watched the match knows that Monfils has nothing to hang his head about. To play like that at age 38? Against a peaking power 15 years his junior? Chapeau, Lamonf.
On TNT Chris Eubanks called the second set one of the best sets of tennis he had ever seen.
“A great night. A great match,” Monfils said. “Above all, I was happy, because of course he's feeling very self-confident, but I did manage to, you know, tease him a little bit.”
John McEnroe ranks only reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner ahead of Novak Djokovic as French Open favorites.
By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Saturday, May 25, 2025
Photo credit: Lacoste
Slashing an ace on championship point, Novak Djokovic joined the Century Club in stirring style today.
Two days after celebrating his 38th birthday, Djokovic captured his 100th career championship with a stirring 5-7, 7-6(2), 7-6(2) over Hubert Hurkacz in the Geneva Open final. Djokovic joins fellow icons Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) as the third man in Open Era history to collect 100 career Tour-level titles.
Look for Djokovic to keep the party pumping in Paris, says Hall of Famer John McEnroe.
Continuing his quest for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam crown, Djokovic faces a demanding draw at Roland Garros.
If seeds hold true to form, Djokovic would need to beat 2024 finalist and third seed Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the semifinals and No. 2-seeded reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz to win his third Roland Garros title in the last five years.
Former world No. 1 in singles and doubles McEnroe says Djokovic is the third firm favorite to win this 2025 French Open final behind only the top-seeded Sinner and four-time major champion Alcaraz.
In a TNT Zoom call with the media on Friday to promote the network’s Roland Garros coverage, McEnroe cited four factors for Djokovic as third favorite to win Roland Garros:
*The Serbian superstar owns a 96-16 Roland Garros record, including a streak of 15 straight years where he’s reached quarterfinals or better and he has the best draw of any of the top seeds, says McEnroe.
*If Djokovic advances to the quarterfinals he could face Zverev. McEnroe says he favors the reigning Olympic gold-medal champion over the former gold-medal champion if that match comes off.
*Though Alcaraz is 15-1 in clay this season, Djokovic defeated Alcaraz in their last clay-court clash in the gold-medal match on Roland Garros’ red clay, the Serbian beat the Spaniard in their last major meeting at the Australian Open and he’s one of only two men to defeat the reigning champion on red clay in the last year.
*This is Djokovic’s 21st consecutive French Open appearance and McEnroe says you cannot discount the Grand Slam king’s ability to conjure one more magical run in Paris.
“You don’t count him out until the day [he] retires,” McEnroe said of Djokovic. “He’s got the best draw of anyone to get to there [quarterfinals].
“And the way Zverev is playing—Zverev is not playing with the same confidence until he reached the finals of Australia this year. That [loss to Sinner in the AO final] really hurt him mentally—at least from what I’ve seen. And he doesn’t seem to be playing with the same confidence.
“So I can see the possibility of [Novak] getting there. And whether or not Zverev was there, I don’t think Novak would go in being much of an underdog.
TNT Sports, the exclusive home of live Roland-Garros coverage in the U.S., said it plans to “provide the most comprehensive coverage in the history of the Parisian Grand Slam.”
McEnroe, Jim Courier and Caroline Wozniacki will be among the network’s top analysts with Andre Agassi and Venus Williams also set to contribute to coverage.
It all starts Sunday, May 25, at 5 a.m. ET on TNT, truTV and Max. TNT Sports will deliver nearly 300 hours of programming across TNT and truTV — all originating live from Paris — along with unprecedented streaming coverage on Max and extensive original content available via Bleacher Report and House of Highlights.
Long-time New York Knickerbockers season ticket holder McEnroe, who was courtside at Madison Square Garden on Friday night to see his beloved Knicks fall into an 0-2 hole against the Indiana Pacers, used a basketball analogy to amplify Djokovic’s chances in Paris.
“And who knows with the other guys? What happens if one of them [Sinner or Alcaraz] gets hurt?” McEnroe said. “And I hate to see any athlete get hurt, but [Celtics star] Jayson Tatum went down you never want to see that, but that certainly made it easier for the Knicks to pull out game six.
“So Novak, to me, would still be like the third favorite [to win Roland Garros].”
The mercurial McEnroe who formed one half of the fame Fire & Ice rivalry vs. Iceman and fellow Hall of Famer Bjorn Borg, suggests the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry will continue to command the sport so long as both young superstars remain healthy.
“They will continue to dominate if they are able to stay healthy and I hope they do, obviously we all do,” McEnroe said. “I thought Ben Shelton would be able to step up to [fill] a void… He seems to have leveled off, not enough steps forward.
“it would be nice for us here obviously if we were able to get an American male [to win a Grand Slam title], which has not happened in 20 years. I would think [Rome semifinalist] Tommy Paul would probably have the best shot [of American men] on this surface.”
The biggest tennis news today, May 28, 2025, revolves around the French Open (Roland Garros) in Paris, which is currently underway. Many prominent players were in action for their second-round matches.
Here’s a summary of key results and news:
Men’s Singles:
Women’s Singles:
News:
Tomorrow’s schedule (May 29) at Roland Garros will feature more second-round matches, including Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.
