(Paris) The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, 5th in the world, opened the doors of the 3rd round of Roland-Garros quite easily after a victory in three rounds on Wednesday during a 4th day marked by the reframing of the Minister of Sports after the Djokovic’s messages on Kosovo.
The introduction of the Greek had been sluggish in the first round, hooked by the Czech Jiri Vesely, a player ranked beyond the 400th place in the world, and suddenly certain doubts had appeared.
But Tsitsipas put things in order on Wednesday by getting out of a match without any problem which had everything from a trap typical of the Parisian tournament against a Spanish player, never a good draw on the ochre.
Certainly Roberto Carballes, 57th player in the world, is not strictly speaking a clay court specialist, but his victory in Marrakech in April made him a client to be feared.
In the end, Tsitsipas adapted perfectly well, refocusing during the second set tiebreaker, the only time he was really hooked, to deliver a much more convincing performance than his first round (6-3, 7-6, 6-2).
“During a Grand Slam, there is no plan. Things happen to you and you have to react and adapt,” explained Tsitsipas, when asked about this noticeable development between his first two rounds.
The obstacle was therefore cleared without concern for Tsitsipas, thus signing his 20th victory at Roland-Garros, but whose ambition this season does not correspond with his results on earth, with only one semi-final in Rome as his best performance.
American Jessica Pegula, 3rd in the world, only had to pocket one set in 37 minutes before her opponent Camila Giorgi (37th) threw in the towel, visibly injured, to advance to the 3rd round.
It took a little longer for the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, former 3rd in the world player who fell to 192nd place after giving birth to a daughter in October, to get rid of the Australian Storm Hunter (204th), 2- 6, 6-3, 6-1.
But the most impressive blow of the day is to the credit of the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who denounced on France 2 the message of Djokovic Monday on Kosovo, “the heart of Serbia”.
“It’s not appropriate,” said the minister as northern Kosovo has been the scene for several days of clashes between members of the international force led by NATO (KFOR) and Serb demonstrators.
“This shouldn’t happen again,” she said, calling the message “militant” and “very political.”
The Serb, world No.3 and big favorite of the tournament with Carlos Alcaraz, is due to play Wednesday night against the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
Asked to comment on the expression of political positions during this Grand Slam tournament, such as those of Ukrainian athletes since the Russian invasion of their country, the minister stressed that she did not put “the two subjects on the same level”.
“We live in a free world, so why not give your opinion?” “, Elina Svitolina said after her victory at a press conference.
