Rafael Nadal
Thursday, May 26, 2016
2nd Round Top Half
Featured matches
No. 1 Novak Djokovic (SRB) v (Q) Steve Darcis (BEL)
No. 4 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v Facundo Bagnis (ARG)
No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
No. 7 Tomas Berdych (CZE) v Malek Jaziri (TUN)
No. 11 David Ferrer (ESP) v Juan Monaco (ARG)
No. 12 David Goffin (BEL) v (Q) Carlos Berlocq (ARG)
No. 13 Dominic Thiem (AUT) v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)
No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)
Novak Djokovic is bidding for his 50th Roland Garros match-win today when he meets Steve Darcis on Court Suzanne Lenglen. The Serb, who is looking to add a first Roland Garros title to his Grand Slam trophy collection, is hoping to avoid becoming the first Top seed to lose in the 2nd round here since Andre Agassi in 2000.
9-time champion Rafael Nadal is also looking to achieve a match-win milestone today. He is hoping to become just the 8th man in history to win 200 Grand Slam matches when he takes on Facundo Bagnis on Court Philippe Chatrier. The Spaniard has lost just once before to a player ranked as low as No. 99 Bagnis on clay, when he was defeated by No. 113 Olivier Mutis at 2004 Palermo.
Malek Jaziri, who faces Tomas Berdych on Court Suzanne Lenglen, is bidding to become the first Tunisian man to reach the 3rd round here in the Open Era. The last time a Tunisian man reached the 3rd round here was in 1963 when Mustafa Belkhodjia reached that stage.
There are 5 Frenchmen in action today, all hoping to join Jeremy Chardy, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon in the 3rd round. 12 Frenchmen reached the 2nd round here from the 16 who started in the men’s main draw – the 3rd highest number of Frenchmen to reach the 2nd round at Roland Garros in the Open Era after 1971, when there were 14, and 2012, when there 13. The highest number of Frenchmen to reach the 3rd round here is 8 in 1971.
18 of the 27 men aged 30 or over through to the 2nd round here from the 51 to start the main draw are in action today. It is the 2nd highest number of men aged over 30 to reach the 2nd round at a Grand Slam in the Open Era after the 1977 Australian Open – when 29 over 30s reached the 2nd round.
1 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v (Q) STEVE DARCIS (BEL)
Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 2-0
2008 Rome-1000 Clay (O) R32 Djokovic 64 60
2015 Miami-1000 Hard (O) R32 Djokovic 60 75
A 3rd career meeting between the 2 players, whose only meeting on clay came 8 years ago. Djokovic has never dropped a set against Darcis and has recorded a bagel in each of their 2 previous meetings.
Djokovic has not lost to a player ranked as low as No. 161 Darcis at Tour-level since he retired with illness after losing the first set 64 against No. 319 Filip Krajinovic in the quarterfinals at 2010 Belgrade. The lowest-ranked player to defeat Djokovic at a Grand Slam is No. 75 Marat Safin in the 2nd round at 2008 Wimbledon.
DJOKOVIC v DARCIS
29 Age 32
1 ATP Ranking 161
64 Titles 2
215-34 Career Grand Slam Record 10-23
49-11 Roland Garros Record 4-7
724-149 Career Record 88-98
171-43 Career Record – Clay 32-32
38-3 2016 Record 1-2
10-2 2016 Record – Clay 1-0
27-8 Career Five-Set Record 1-7
4 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
200-112 Career Tiebreak Record 52-35
12-2 2016 Tiebreak Record 0-0
DJOKOVIC is bidding to record his 50th match-win at Roland Garros.
Djokovic is looking to win Roland Garros and become just the 8th man in history to complete the career Grand Slam after Andre Agassi, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Roger Federer, Rod Laver, Rafael Nadal and Fred Perry (see Preview page 1).
Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam title that Djokovic has not won. He has won titles at the Australian Open in 2008 (d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga), 2011 (d. Andy Murray), 2012 (d. Nadal), 2013 (d. Murray), 2015 (d. Murray) and 2016
(d. Murray), Wimbledon in 2011 (d. Nadal), 2014 (d. Federer) and 2015 (d. Federer) and the US Open in 2011
(d. Nadal) and 2015 (d. Federer).
Djokovic advanced to the 2nd round after defeating Yen-Hsun Lu 64 61 61 in the 1st round on Tuesday.
Djokovic is bidding to avoid becoming the first Top seed to lose in the 2nd round here since Andre Agassi in 2000.
Djokovic is bidding to extend his 46-match winning streak against qualifiers at Tour-level. He has not lost to a qualifier at Tour-level since falling to Kevin Anderson at 2008 Miami-1000. Djokovic has a 14-0 win-loss record against qualifiers at the Grand Slams and a 4-0 win-loss record against qualifiers at Roland Garros.
Last year here Djokovic reached his 3rd Roland Garros final (l. Stan Wawrinka 46 64 63 64). He also reached the final here in 2012 and 2014, losing to Nadal on both occasions. Djokovic is making his 12th straight appearance at Roland Garros and his 46th consecutive appearance at a major.
Djokovic has played 3 clay court events in the lead up to this year’s Roland Garros. He won the title at Madrid-1000 (d. Murray), reached the final at Rome-1000 (l. Murray) and lost in the 2nd round at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Jiri Vesely) – his earliest Tour-level defeat since losing to Grigor Dimitrov in the 2nd round at 2013 Madrid-1000.
Djokovic has won 5 titles so far this year. As well as winning at Madrid, he won Doha (d. Nadal), the Australian Open, Indian Wells-1000 (d. Milos Raonic) and Miami-1000 (d. Kei Nishikori) – to extend his streak of winning at least two titles every year since winning his first at 2006 Amersfoort (d. Nicolas Massu).
12 of Djokovic’s 64 career singles titles have come on clay, compared with 49 on hard court and 3 on grass.
Djokovic won his 2 singles rubbers to help Serbia defeat Kazakhstan 3-2 in March and reach the Davis Cup Serbia will play Great Britain in Belgrade on 15-17 July.
Djokovic is coached by 3-time Roland Garros semifinalist Boris Becker. He has also been coached by Marian Vajda since June 2006. His wider team includes physios Miljan Amanovic and Gebhard Phil-Gritsch.
Qualifier DARCIS is bidding to reach the 3rd round here and equal his best Grand Slam result.
Darcis recorded his first match-win at Roland Garros since 2011 after defeating qualifier Marsel Ilhan 63 64 60 in the 1st round.
Darcis’ best Grand Slam result is reaching the 3rd round as a qualifier here in 2011 (l. Gael Monfils). This is his 8th Roland Garros appearance and his 25th Grand Slam overall.
Darcis defeated Nikola Milojevic (SRB) 36 61 62, Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) 63 63 and Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 62 62 in the 3 rounds of qualifying here. It was the 3rd time he has qualified for Roland Garros in 5 attempts, having also qualified here in 2011 and 2013.
Darcis is through to the 2nd round at a Grand Slam for the 9th time in 25 appearances at the majors. This is his 3rd appearance in the 2nd round at Roland Garros. Last year here he lost to Simone Bolelli in the 1st round.
Darcis is bidding to record back-to-back match-wins at Tour-level for the first time since he reached the quarterfinals at 2015 Bastad (l. Pablo Cuevas).
Darcis is contesting just his 5th tournament of 2016 He fell in the 1st round at both the Australian Open
(l. Guido Pella) and Montpellier (l. Dustin Brown). He gave a walkover due to a wrist injury in the 2nd round at Rotterdam qualifying and missed 3 months of the season from February-May. He returned at the Bordeaux Challenger (FRA) where he reached the quarterfinals (l. Bjorn Fratangelo) – his only clay court appearance at any level this season prior to coming here.
Darcis’ career-best clay court result is winning the title at 2007 Amersfoort (d. Werner Eschauer). As a qualifier ranked No. 297 he defeated Werner Eschauer to win his first career title. He had not won a Tour-level match prior to this event.
Darcis reached a career-high ranking of No. 44 in May 2008. He started 2016 at No. 86 but plays here at No. 161.
Darcis is on a 5-match losing streak in 5 set matches. His only 5-set match-win came against Dmitry Tursunov at the 2011 US Open. He has a 1-7 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
Darcis is playing a No. 1-ranked opponent for the 2nd time. His only other meeting with a No. 1 came against today’s opponent at 2015 Miami-1000. The highest-ranked player Darcis has defeated is No. 5 Rafael Nadal at 2013 Wimbledon.
Darcis is coached by Juan Francisco Spina.
4 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v FACUNDO BAGNIS (ARG)
Head-to-head: first meeting
NADAL v BAGNIS
29* Age 26
5 ATP Ranking 99
69 Titles 0
199-30 Career Grand Slam Record 2-3
71-2 Roland Garros Record 2-1
795-168 Career Record 9-17
364-34 Career Record – Clay 9-15
28-8 2016 Record 4-6
20-4 2016 Record – Clay 4-6
17-7 Career Five-Set Record 1-0
3 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 0
196-128 Career Tiebreak Record 3-5
4-9 2016 Tiebreak Record 2-2
*Turns 30 on 3 June
9-time champion NADAL is looking to become just the 8th man in history to win 200 Grand Slam matches. The leading all-time performers are as follows:
Most Grand Slam match-wins (all-time)
Rank
Player
Win-loss
1
2
Roger Federer
Jimmy Connors
302-50
233-49
3
Andre Agassi
224-53
4
5
Ivan Lendl
Roy Emerson
222-49
217-48
6
7
8
Novak Djokovic
Pete Sampras
Rafael Nadal
215-34
203-38
199-30
9
10
Stefan Edberg
Ken Rosewall
178-47
171-34
Note: active players in bold. (Through 2016 Roland Garros 1st round)
Nadal is bidding to become the first player in the Open Era – and only the 2nd player in history – to win 10 titles at any Grand Slam event. Margaret Court is the only player in history to have won 10 or more titles at one Grand Slam event, winning the Australian Open on 11 occasions between 1960 and 1973 [see Preview page 2].
Nadal is bidding to further extend the record he set at 2013 Roland Garros for the most men’s Grand Slam titles at any one event. He won the title here in 2005-08 and 2010-14. He is the only man in history to have won 5 titles in a row at Roland Garros.
Nadal reached the 2nd round here for the 12th straight year after defeating Sam Groth 61 61 61 in one hour 20 minutes on Tuesday.
Nadal has only once lost to a player ranked as low as No. 99 today’s opponent on clay at 2004 Palermo when he was defeated by No. 113 Olivier Mutis. The last time he lost to a player ranked this low at a Grand Slam was at 2015 Wimbledon when he lost to No. 102 Dustin Brown.
Last year here, Nadal fell to Novak Djokovic 75 63 61 in the quarterfinals, ending his 39-match winning streak at Roland Garros.
Nadal’s only losses here came in the round of 16 in 2009 (l. Robin Soderling) and in the quarterfinals in 2015
(l. Djokovic). His only defeats in 96 best of 5-set matches on clay.
Nadal is the leading performer in Roland Garros history. He has a 71-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros, ahead of Roger Federer (65-16) and Guillermo Vilas (58-17) [see Preview page 4]. This is Nadal’s 12th successive Roland Garros and his 45th appearance at a major.
Nadal is one of only 3 players to have won multiple clay court titles this year along with Pablo Cuevas and Dominic Thiem. He won both Monte Carlo-1000 (d. Gael Monfils) and Barcelona (d. Kei Nishikori) for the 9th time.
Since winning his first title at 2004 Sopot, Nadal has suffered just 25 defeats on clay – 4 of which have come this year. It is only the 2nd time he has suffered 4 or more clay defeats in a season since 2003. He lost in the semifinals at Buenos Aires (l. Thiem), Rio de Janeiro (l. Pablo Cuevas) and Madrid-1000 (l. Andy Murray) and fell to Djokovic in the quarterfinals at Rome-1000.
Nadal is bidding to win his 50th career clay court title at Roland Garros. By winning the title at Barcelona, he equalled Guillermo Vilas’ Open Era record for the most career clay court titles with 49.
Nadal is 2nd in the list for the most Tour-level clay court matches won this year. He has a 20-4 win-loss record on clay in 2016, behind Thiem (21-5).
Nadal has been coached by his uncle Toni since the age of 4.
Lefthander BAGNIS is bidding to reach the 3rd round at a Grand Slam for the first time. He defeated qualifier Kenny de Schepper 60 62 76(2) in the 1st round.
This is Bagnis’ 2nd Roland Garros appearance. He also reached the 2nd round on his Grand Slam debut here as a qualifier in 2014 (l. Ernests Gulbis). He defeated Julien Benneteau 61 62 16 36 1816 in the 1st round to equal the record for the longest 5th set (in terms of games) at Roland Garros. It was also the first time he had defeated a Top 50 ranked player and is his only 5 set match to date.
This is Bagnis’ 4th Grand Slam appearance. As well as reaching the 2nd round at 2014 Roland Garros, he lost in the 1st round as a qualifier at the 2014 US Open (l. Philipp Kohlschreiber) and as a direct acceptance at 2015 Wimbledon (l. Nikoloz Basilashvili). He failed to qualify here in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015.
Bagnis has played solely on clay in 2016. His best results are winning the Challenger titles at Buenos Aires (ARG) (d. Arthur de Greef), Rio de Janeiro (BRA) (d. Guilherme Clezar) and Santiago (CHI) (d. Rogerio Dutra Silva). He reached a career-high ranking of No. 89 in April and plays here at No. 99.
Bagnis is bidding to record back-to-back match-wins at Tour-level for just the 2nd time in his career. The only time he has recorded back-to-back Tour-level victories is in reaching the quarterfinals at 2016 Marrakech (l. Albert Montanes).
Bagnis recorded the best win of his career when defeating No. 36 Joao Sousa in the 2nd round at 2016 Marrakech. He has a 2-7 win-loss record against players in the Top 50 overall, with both of those wins coming on clay.
Bagnis is one of 5 Argentine men through to the 2nd round at this year’s Roland Garros. The last time Argentina had multiple representation in the 3rd round at a Grand Slam was at 2013 Wimbledon when Juan Monaco reached the 3rd round and Juan Martin del Potro recorded a semifinal finish. The last time it happened here was in 2012, when 4 reached this stage.
Bagnis was a member of the South American 16 & Under Team in Europe in 2006, funded by the Grand Slam Development Fund.
Bagnis is coached by Martin Vassallo Arguello, who reached the round of 16 here in 2006. His physical trainer is Cristian Elsseser. He trains in Buenos Aires.
6 JO-WILFRIED TSONGA (FRA) v MARCOS BAGHDATIS (CYP)
Head-to-head: Tsonga leads 6-0
2004 Cordoba Challenger Qualifying Hard (O) R32 Baghdatis 64 63
2011 Rome-1000 Clay (O) R64 Tsonga 63 62
2012 Dubai Hard (O) R32 Tsonga 76(2) 64
2012 Shanghai-1000 Hard (O) R16 Tsonga 62 76(2)
2012 Stockholm Hard (I) SF Tsonga 64 46 5-2 ret (left groin)
2014 Miami-1000 Hard (O) R32 Tsonga 46 76(6) 75
2016 Australian Open Hard (O) R128 Tsonga 64 46 64 62
A 2nd round clash between 2 former Grand Slam finalists. Both players achieved their best Grand Slam result at the Australian Open – Tsonga finished as runner-up there in 2008; Baghdatis in 2006.
This is the 2nd consecutive Grand Slam meeting between the 2 players, with Tsonga winning their first Grand Slam meeting earlier this year at the Australian Open.
Tsonga and Baghdatis are 2 of the 27 men aged 30 or over through to the 2nd round here from the 51 to start the main draw. It is the 2nd highest number of men aged over 30 to reach the 2nd round at a Grand Slam in the Open Era after the 1977 Australian Open – when 29 over 30s reached the 2nd round.
TSONGA v BAGHDATIS
31 Age 30
7 ATP Ranking 39
12 Titles 4
99-32 Career Grand Slam Record 58-42
26-8 Roland Garros Record 10-10
367-171 Career Record 324-226
76-42 Career Record – Clay 51-46
16-8 2016 Record 15-8
7-4 2016 Record – Clay 3-3
13-7 Career Five-Set Record 16-7
2 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 3
171-124 Career Tiebreak Record 133-101
6-5 2016 Tiebreak Record 6-1
TSONGA is bidding to record his 100th Grand Slam match-win today.
If he wins today, Tsonga will become the 3rd Frenchman in history to record 100 Grand Slam match-wins after Jean Borotra (103) and Henri Cochet (102).
Tsonga is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the 8th consecutive year. He advanced to the 2nd round after defeating qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff 63 64 64 in the 1st round.
In 8 previous appearances at Roland Garros, Tsonga has lost before the 3rd round just once – falling in the 1st round on his Grand Slam debut as a wild card in 2005 (l. Andy Roddick). This is his 9th appearance at Roland Garros and his 33rd Grand Slam overall.
Last year here Tsonga equalled his best Roland Garros performance by reaching the semifinals (l. Stan Wawrinka). Having also reached the semifinals here in 2013 (l. David Ferrer), he became the 2nd Frenchman in the Open Era to reach multiple semifinals at Roland Garros after Henri Leconte, who reached the last 4 here in 1986, 1988 and 1992.
Tsonga’s best Grand Slam result is finishing runner-up at the 2008 Australian Open (l. Novak Djokovic). Unseeded he defeated three Top 10 players en route to the final.
Tsonga warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the semifinals at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Gael Monfils) and the 3rd round at Madrid-1000 (l. Milos Raonic) (following a 1st round bye). Also on clay in 2016 he reached the quarterfinals at Buenos Aires (l. Nicolas Almagro) and the 1st round at Rio de Janeiro (l. Thiago Monteiro). He was leading Frank Dancevic 76(7) when the Canadian retired in the dead 5th rubber of the Davis Cup 1st round in Guadeloupe. Tsonga withdrew from Estoril with a knee injury and Rome-1000 with an adductor strain.
Tsonga’s semifinal finish in Monte Carlo is his best performance so far in 2016. He has also reached the semifinals at Auckland (l. Roberto Bautista Agut), the quarterfinals at Indian Wells-1000 (l. Djokovic) and the round of 16 at the Australian Open (l. Kei Nishikori).
Tsonga has won 12 career singles titles, all of them coming on hard courts – most recently at 2015 Metz (d. Gilles Simon).
Tsonga was a successful junior. He won the 2003 US Open boys’ title (d. today’s opponent) and reached the semifinals at the Australian Open (l. today’s opponent), Roland Garros (l. Brian Baker) and Wimbledon (l. Florin Mergea) the same year. As a result he finished the year No. 2 in the ITF Junior World Rankings.
Tsonga is one of 12 Frenchmen to reach the 2nd round here from the 16 who started in the men’s main draw – the 3rd highest number of Frenchmen to reach the 2nd round at Roland Garros in the Open Era after 1971, when there were 14, and 2012, when there 13. The highest number of Frenchmen to reach the 3rd round here is 8 in 1971.
Tsonga is coached by Thierry Ascione, who reached the 2nd round here in 2007.
BAGHDATIS is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the first time since 2010.
Baghdatis advanced to the 2nd round here for the 7th time after defeating Gilles Muller 75 64 61 in the 1st round.
Last year here Baghdatis reached the 2nd round (l. Damir Dzumhur). His best result here is reaching the round of 16 in 2007 (l. Igor Andreev). This is his 11th Roland Garros appearance.
Baghdatis’ best Grand Slam performance is finishing runner-up unseeded at the 2006 Australian Open. He defeated 3 Top 10 players before losing to Roger Federer in the final. This is his 43rd Grand Slam appearance overall.
On clay in 2016 Baghdatis reached the quarterfinals at Houston (l. Jack Sock) – the only time he has recorded back-to-back Tour-level match-wins on clay since he reached the quarterfinals at 2012 Munich. He fell in the 1st round at Bucharest (l. Marco Cecchinato) and Madrid-1000 (l. Gilles Simon).
Baghdatis’ best result in 2016 is finishing runner-up at Dubai (l. Stan Wawrinka). He also reached the quarterfinals as a wild card at Montpellier (l. Richard Gasquet) and the 2nd round at both Rotterdam
(l. Martin Klizan) and Miami-1000 (l. Nick Kyrgios).
Baghdatis has lost 12 of his last 13 matches against Top 10 opposition – with his only win in that time coming against No. 7 David Ferrer at 2015 Nottingham. He is on an 8-match losing streak against Top 10 opposition at the Grand Slams, having not defeated a Top 10 player at a major since he defeated No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko at 2007 Wimbledon. The highest-ranked player he has defeated at Roland Garros is No. 25 Ivo Karlovic in 2015.
Baghdatis is a former Top 10 player. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 8 on 21 August 2006. He plays here at No. 39.
Baghdatis has not lost a Davis Cup singles rubber since 2003. He won 4 singles matches at the Europe Zone Group III event in Tallinn, Estonia in March to extend his winning streak to 36 – surpassing Bjorn Borg (33 straight wins) and setting a new Davis Cup record for consecutive wins.
Baghdatis was a member of the ITF Touring Team (funded by the Grand Slam Development Fund) to the 1999 Orange Bowl.
Baghdatis is coached by Dejan Vojnovic.
7 TOMAS BERDYCH (CZE) v MALEK JAZIRI (TUN)
Head-to-head: first meeting
Berdych and Jaziri are 2 of the 27 men aged 30 or over through to the 2nd round here from the 51 to start the main draw. It is the 2nd highest number of men aged over 30 to reach the 2nd round at a Grand Slam in the Open Era after the 1977 Australian Open – when 29 over 30s reached the 2nd round.
BERDYCH v JAZIRI
30 Age 32
8 ATP Ranking 72
12 Titles 0
122-50 Career Grand Slam Record 6-10
21-12 Roland Garros Record 2-2
562-293 Career Record 58-66
145-80 Career Record – Clay 24-13
20-10 2016 Record 6-9
4-3 2016 Record – Clay 4-2
19-8 Career Five-Set Record 4-6
2 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
188-155 Career Tiebreak Record 15-25
6-4 2016 Tiebreak Record 2-7
BERDYCH is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the 6th time having defeated Vasek Pospisil 63 62 61 in the 1st round. He is contesting his 13th straight Roland Garros. Last year here he fell to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round of 16.
Berdych’s best result here came in 2010 when he broke through to his first Grand Slam semifinal
(l. Robin Soderling). His best result at a major is finishing runner-up at 2010 Wimbledon. He defeated No. 1 Roger Federer in the quarterfinals and No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, before losing to No. 2 Rafael Nadal 63 75 64 in the final.
Berdych warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the quarterfinals at Madrid-1000 (l. Andy Murray). He also reached the 3rd round at Rome-1000, losing 60 60 to David Goffin – it was the first time he had suffered a double bagel at Tour, Challenger or Futures level. He lost his opening match at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Damir Dzumhur) after receiving a 1st round bye.
Berdych’s defeat to No. 99 Dzumhur at 2016 Monte Carlo-1000 was his most recent defeat to a player ranked as low as No. 72 today’s opponent. The last time he lost to a player ranked as low as today’s opponent at a Grand Slam was at 2013 Roland Garros when he was defeated by No. 109 Gael Monfils in 5-sets in the 1st round.
Berdych has a 1-5 five-set win-loss record at Roland Garros but has a 19-8 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
2 of Berdych’s 12 career singles titles have come on clay – as a teenager at 2004 Palermo (d. Filippo Volandri) and at 2009 Munich (d. Mikhail Youzhny).
Berdych has been a permanent fixture in the Top 10 since 5 July 2010. He has been seeded at every Grand Slam event he has played since the 2005 US Open and plays here at No. 7 – his lowest seeding at Roland Garros since 2012 when he was also No. 7.
Berdych has played at every Grand Slam event since making his debut at the 2003 US Open. This is his 51st consecutive major, which puts him in 6th place for the most consecutive Grand Slam appearances in the Open Era [see Preview page 8].
Berdych is currently without a coach, having split with Dani Vallverdu following Rome-1000. His fitness coach is Azuz Simcich and his physio is Per Bastholt.
JAZIRI is bidding to reach the 3rd round here and equal his best Grand Slam result.
By reaching the 2nd round here Jaziri has recorded his first Grand Slam match-win since the 2015 Australian Open. He defeated Florian Mayer 64 36 61 62 in the 1st round.
Last year here Jaziri lost to Andrey Kuznetsov in the 1st round. In his only other appearance here he reached the 2nd round in 2012 (l. Marcel Granollers). He failed to qualify here in 2013 and 2014. This is his 3rd Roland Garros appearance and his 11th Grand Slam overall.
Jaziri’s best Grand Slam result is a 3rd round finish at the 2015 Australian Open (l. Nick Kyrgios). He became the 2nd Tunisian player to reach that stage at a Grand Slam after Mustapha Belkhodjia (1961, 1963 Roland Garros, 1961 Wimbledon).
Prior to coming here Jaziri reached the quarterfinals at Barcelona (l. Benoit Paire). He lost in the 1st round at Munich (l. Alexander Zverev) and failed to qualify for Rome-1000. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 64 following his Barcelona result and plays here at No. 72.
In 2016 Jaziri has won 2 Challenger titles on hard court at Guadalajara (MEX) (d. Stephane Robert) and Le Gosier (GUD) (d. Stefan Kozlov). He lost in the 1st round at the Australian Open (l. Tommy Robredo).
Jaziri is looking for his first victory over a Top 10 player on his 5th attempt. The highest ranked player he has defeated is No. 22 Viktor Troicki at 2015 Winston-Salem.
Jaziri entered the men’s doubles here as an alternate with Mikhail Elgin, losing to Julian Knowle/Florian Mayer 62 61 in the 1st round.
Jaziri has played on Tunisia’s Davis Cup team since 2000 and has a 26-14 record in singles making him the joint most successful Davis Cup singles player for Tunisia together with Walid Jallali.
Jaziri was a member of the 1998 African 14 & Under ITF Touring Team in Europe, funded by the Grand Slam Development Fund. He was awarded a GSDF travel grant in 2001 and 2002 to play junior world ranking events. He didn’t contest any junior Grand Slams.
Jaziri’s first son, Malek, was born earlier this month.
Jaziri is coached by Dejan Petrovic.
11 DAVID FERRER (ESP) v JUAN MONACO (ARG)
Head-to-head: tied 4-4
2004 Kitzbuhel Clay (O) R32 Monaco 63 64
2005 Stuttgart Clay (O) R32 Monaco 64 62
2007 AMS Miami Hard (O) R64 Ferrer 62 62
2009 Madrid-1000 Clay (O) R32 Monaco 64 64
2009 Hamburg Clay (O) R16 Ferrer 46 75 62
2011 Acapulco Clay (O) QF Ferrer 26 75 62
2011 Valencia Hard (O) SF Monaco 75 16 63
2015 Rio de Janeiro Clay (O) QF Ferrer 63 46 62
A 9th meeting for the 2 players but their first at a Grand Slam. They have split their previous clay court meetings 3-3, but Ferrer has won their 3 most recent clay court encounters.
Ferrer and Monaco are 2 of the 27 men aged 30 or over through to the 2nd round here from the 51 to start the men’s main draw. It is the 2nd highest number of men aged over 30 to reach the 2nd round at a Grand Slam in the Open Era after the 1977 Australian Open – when 29 over 30s reached the 2nd round.
FERRER v MONACO
34 Age 32
11 ATP Ranking 92
26 Titles 9
135-52 Career Grand Slam Record 30-41
41-13 Roland Garros Record 13-12
676-321 Career Record 336-259
314-123 Career Record – Clay 236-137
19-10 2016 Record 11-5
11-5 2016 Record – Clay 10-3
20-11 Career Five-Set Record 5-9
4 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 2
152-133 Career Tiebreak Record 95-108
5-2 2016 Tiebreak Record 0-4
2013 Roland Garros runner-up FERRER is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the 12th straight year. He defeated Evgeny Donskoy 61 62 60 in the 1st round.
This is Ferrer’s 14th consecutive appearance at Roland Garros and 53rd Grand Slam overall. His run of 50 consecutive Grand Slam appearances came to an end when he missed 2015 Wimbledon with an elbow injury.
Last year here Ferrer reached the quarterfinals, losing to Andy Murray 76(4) 62 57 61.
Ferrer’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the final here in 2013, when he lost to Rafael Nadal 63 62 63. He set an Open Era record for most appearances at a major before reaching the final (42).
On clay in 2016, Ferrer reached the semifinals at Buenos Aires (l. Nicolas Almagro) and Geneva (l. Marin Cilic) and the quarterfinals at Rio de Janeiro (l. Dominic Thiem). He fell in the 3rd round at Madrid-1000 (l. Tomas Berdych) and Rome-1000 (l. Lucas Pouille), subsequently dropping out of the Top 10 for the first time since October 2010. He plays here at No. 11.
Also in 2016, Ferrer reached the semifinals at Auckland (l. Jack Sock) and the quarterfinals at the Australian Open
(l. Murray).
Ferrer plays here seeded No. 11 – his lowest Grand Slam seeding since he was seeded No. 17 at the 2010 Australian Open.
Ferrer has won 26 career singles titles, most recently at 2015 Vienna (d. Steve Johnson). 12 of his 26 titles have come on clay with his most recent clay title coming at 2015 Rio de Janeiro. This is the first time he has entered Roland Garros without winning a clay court title since 2009.
Ferrer is coached by Francisco Fogues.
MONACO is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the first time since 2012. He defeated Denis Istomin 36 64 63 75 in the 1st round.
Last year here Monaco reached the 2nd round. He defeated compatriot Federico Delbonis in 5 sets in the 1st round before losing to Teymuraz Gabashvili. Monaco has a 5-9 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall and has won 3 of the 5 five set matches he has contested at Roland Garros.
Monaco’s best Roland Garros – and Grand Slam – result is reaching the round of 16 at Roland Garros in 2007
(l. Guillermo Canas) and 2012 (l. Rafael Nadal) and at the US Open in 2007 (l. Novak Djokovic) and 2011 (l. Roger Federer). This is Monaco’s 13th appearance at Roland Garros and his 42nd Grand Slam overall.
Monaco underwent surgery on his right wrist in August 2015 and was out for 6 months, returning at 2016 Buenos Aires. His best result this year is winning the title at Houston (d. Jack Sock). The only other occasion he has recorded back-to-back match-wins this year is at Rome-1000, where he lost to Lucas Pouille in the quarterfinals.
Monaco has won his last 2 matches against Top 20 opposition having defeated No. 19 Kevin Anderson and No. 4 Stan Wawrinka at Rome-1000. He has a 39-89 win-loss record against Top 20 players overall.
Monaco reached a career-high ranking of No. 10 in July 2012 after winning the title at Hamburg (d. Tommy Haas). He has won 9 career titles, most recently at 2016 Houston. He plays here ranked No. 92.
Clay is Monaco’s most successful surface. 236 of his 336 Tour-level match-wins have come on the surface compared to 91 on hard courts, 6 on grass and 3 on carpet. 8 of his 9 career singles titles have also come on clay.
Monaco is one of 5 Argentine men through to the 2nd round at this year’s Roland Garros. The last time Argentina had multiple representation in the 3rd round at a Grand Slam was at 2013 Wimbledon when Juan Monaco reached the 3rd round and Juan Martin del Potro recorded a semifinal finish. The last time it happened here was in 2012, when 4 men reached this stage.
Monaco was a member of the ITF/Grand Slam 16 & Under South American Team in Europe in 2000 funded by the Grand Slam Development Fund.
Monaco is coached by Diego Junqueira and Mariano Zabaleta.
12 DAVID GOFFIN (BEL) v (Q) CARLOS BERLOCQ (ARG)
Head-to-head: first meeting
GOFFIN v BERLOCQ
25 Age 33
13 ATP Ranking 126
2 Titles 2
19-15 Career Grand Slam Record 9-28
6-4 Roland Garros Record 5-8
116-89 Career Record 118-160
34-25 Career Record – Clay 88-92
23-10 2016 Record 1-2
9-4 2016 Record – Clay 1-2
6-3 Career Five-Set Record 3-4
1 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
35-36 Career Tiebreak Record 44-51
7-6 2016 Tiebreak Record 0-0
GOFFIN is bidding to reach the 3rd round here for the 3rd time. He defeated wild card Gregoire Barrere 63 63 64 in the 1st round on Tuesday.
Goffin has not lost to a player ranked as low as No. 126 today’s opponent since 2014 Casablanca, when he was defeated by No. 273 Roberto Carballes Baena. The lowest ranked player to defeat him at a Grand Slam is No. 78 Marcos Baghdatis at the 2015 Australian Open.
Last year here Goffin reached the 3rd round as No. 17 seed, falling to Jeremy Chardy in straight sets. He is making his 5th consecutive appearance at Roland Garros and his 16th appearance at a Grand Slam event.
Goffin’s best Grand Slam performance is reaching the round of 16 on 3 occasions – on his Grand Slam debut here in 2012 (l. Roger Federer), at 2015 Wimbledon (l. Stan Wawrinka) and at the 2016 Australian Open (l. Federer). This year, he became the first Belgian to reach the last 16 at the Australian Open since Olivier Rochus in 2005.
At 2012 Roland Garros, Goffin became the first lucky loser to reach the round of 16 at a Grand Slam since countryman Dick Norman reached that stage at 1995 Wimbledon and just the 8th lucky loser to reach the round of 16 at a Grand Slam in the Open Era.
Goffin’s best clay court result is winning the title as a wild card at 2014 Kitzbuhel (d. Dominic Thiem). He has since also won a hard court title – at 2014 Metz (d. Joao Sousa).
Goffin has a 4-1 win-loss record in 5-set matches on clay and a 6-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall. He won both of the 5-set matches he has played here – defeating Radek Stepanek and Arnaud Clement in 5 sets en route to the last 16 in 2012.
Goffin warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the quarterfinals at Munich (l. Alexander Zverev) and Rome-1000 (l. Andy Murray) and the 3rd round at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Marcel Granollers). He fell in the 1st round at Madrid-1000 (l. Lucas Pouille).
At Rome-1000, Goffin became the first player at Tour, Challenger or Futures level to inflict a 60 60 defeat on Tomas Berdych after beating the Czech in the 3rd round. It was the first time he had won a match 60 60 at Tour-level and only the 3rd 60 60 victory of his career at Tour, Challenger of Futures level – having recorded the scoreline in defeating Nicola Ghedin in qualifying at the 2009 Todi Challenger and Christoph Lessiak in qualifying at the 2010 Rabat Challenger. All 3 of his 60 60 triumphs at Tour, Challenger or Futures level have come on clay.
Goffin’s best results in 2016 are reaching the semifinals at back-to-back Masters-1000 events at Indian Wells
(l. Milos Raonic) and Miami (l. Novak Djokovic). He reached a career-high ranking of No. 13 after reaching the semifinals at Miami-1000 and plays here at No. 13.
Goffin plays here as No. 12 seed – his highest Grand Slam seeding.
Goffin was taught to play tennis by his father, who is a tennis coach at the Barchon Club in Liege.
Goffin is coached by Thierry van Cleemput.
Qualifier BERLOCQ is bidding to reach the 3rd round at a Grand Slam for the first time. He defeated Paolo Lorenzi 63 60 62 in the 1st round.
Last year here Berlocq defeated Illya Marchenko in 5 sets in the 1st round before losing to Richard Gasquet in 5 sets in the 2nd round. He has a 3-4 win-loss record in 5 set matches overall. This is his 9th appearance here and his 29th appearance at a major overall.
By reaching the 2nd round here, Berlocq has equalled his best Grand Slam result. He reached the 2nd round at Roland Garros in 2007 (l. Potito Starace), 2011 (l. Lukasz Kubot), 2014 (l. Gasquet) and 2015, the US Open in 2011 (l. Novak Djokovic) and 2013 (l. Roger Federer) and the Australian Open in 2012 (l. Ivo Karlovic) and 2013
(l. Kei Nishikori).
Berlocq defeated Alejandro Falla (COL) 64 64, Arthur de Greef (BEL) 63 57 97 and Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ) 62 64 in the 3 rounds of qualifying. It was the first time he had attempted to qualify for a Grand Slam since he failed to qualify here in 2010.
Berlocq is bidding to record back-to-back Tour-level match-wins for the first time since 2015 Buenos Aires. He played a limited schedule in 2015 and did not start his 2016 singles season until Miami-1000 (where he lost in qualifying) due to a right adductor injury.
Berlocq’s best result in 2016 is reaching the final at the Aix En Provence Challenger (l. Thiago Monteiro). He also reached the quarterfinals at the Heilbronn Challenger (GER) (l. Jozef Kovalik). His 1st round victory here over Lorenzi was his first Tour-level match-win of the year, having fallen in the 1st round as a qualifier at both Houston and Istanbul and failed to qualify at Miami-1000.
Berlocq is a former Top 40 player, having reached a career-high ranking of No. 37 in March 2012, but plays here ranked No. 126.
Clay is Berlocq’s best surface. 88 of his 118 Tour-level match-wins have come on the surface as well as both of his career singles titles. He won the titles at 2013 Bastad (d. Fernando Verdasco) and 2014 Oerias (d. Tomas Berdych).
Berlocq is one of 5 Argentine men through to the 2nd round at this year’s Roland Garros. The last time Argentina had multiple representation in the 3rd round at a Grand Slam was at 2013 Wimbledon when Juan Monaco reached the 3rd round and Juan Martin del Potro recorded a semifinal finish. The last time it happened here was in 2012, when 4 reached this stage.
Berlocq was a member of the South American 16 & under Team to Europe in 1999, funded by the Grand Slam Development Fund.
Berlocq is coached by Francisco Yunis, who reached the 3rd round here in 1987. His fitness trainers are Horacio Anselmi and Hernan Rojas.
13 DOMINIC THIEM (AUT) v GUILLERMO GARCIA-LOPEZ (ESP)
Head-to-head: first meeting
THIEM v GARCIA-LOPEZ
22 Age 32*
15 ATP Ranking 51
6 Titles 5
12-9 Career Grand Slam Record 39-46
3-2 Roland Garros Record 10-12
101-68 Career Record 264-290
55-23 Career Record – Clay 120-115
37-10 2016 Record 16-15
21-5 2016 Record – Clay 10-7
2-2 Career Five-Set Record 8-6
1 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
43-41 Career Tiebreak Record 103-115
13-7 2016 Tiebreak Record 11-4
*Garcia-Lopez turns 33 on 4 June
THIEM is bidding to become the first Austrian man to reach the 3rd round here since Jurgen Melzer reached the semifinals here in 2010. Only 3 Austrian men in the Open Era have reached the 3rd round at Roland Garros – Thomas Muster (1987-88, 1990, 1993-1998), Stefan Koubek (1999, 2004) and Melzer (2005, 2008-10).
Thiem advanced to the 2nd round here for the 3rd straight year after defeating Inigo Cervantes 36 62 75 61 in the 1st round.
By reaching the 2nd round here, Thiem has equalled his best Roland Garros result. He also reached the 2nd round on his debut here in 2014 (d. Paul-Henri Mathieu. l. Rafael Nadal) and in 2015 (d. Aljaz Bedene, l. Pablo Cuevas).
Thiem’s best Grand Slam result is reaching the round of 16 on his US Open de