The 2024 French Open is complete, and we now look back at the tournament that was. On the mens side we witnessed a changing of the guard, Rafa played potentially his last Roland Garros while Alcaraz managed to secure his maiden title here in Paris. We saw Iga Swiatek absolutely dominate the field this year, she is officially the new queen of clay and continued to break records throughout the tournament.
Men’s Final – Zverev v Alcaraz
Carlitos defeated Zverev in a thrilling five set battle to win the Roland Garros title. Zverev put up a great fight, but the brutality and physical nature of Carlos game was too much for the German over the four-hour match.
The Spaniard has become the youngest player to win a grand slam on three different surface types, another incredible stat to add to his resume. After taking out Tsitsipas and Sinner on his way to the final, Carlos absolutely deserved to win the French Open this year. He has every shot in the book within his repertoire, he’s exciting to watch and is genuinely a nice guy off the court. I have a feeling this won’t be his last Roland Garros title, he is a Spaniard using a Babolat Aero after all.
Women’s Final – Swiatek v Paolini
Iga Swiatek has clearly proven that she is a generational talent. Her ability to move the ball around a clay court with spin is simply unmatched as she proved over the past two weeks. Although Paolini managed to break Swiatek early in the first set, Iga quickly responded and from 1-2 down went on to win 11 of the next 12 games. Her movement on the clay coupled with her groundstroke pace and spin were frankly on another level in that final. Another deserving Roland Garros champion and future hall of famer.
Ranking Changes
Jannik Sinner has become the new world number on the ATP tour ranks, he’s had an incredible start to 2024 and is going to be a contender in all of the slams this year. In other news we see Alex De Minaur jump back into the world’s top 10 at number 9, whilst Novak drops to number 3 after his withdrawal from the quarter finals this year. In the WTA tour rankings Iga Swiatek maintains the number 1 spot while Coco rises to number 2 in the world. Roland Garros finalist Jasmine Paolini jumps 8 spots to number 7 after an incredible run at Roland Garros this year.
What’s next?
Looking towards the grass court season now, in around three weeks we will head to SW19 for the Wimbledon championships. On the women’s side look out for some big hitters like Sabalenka and Gauff, while on the mens tour Sinner, Alcaraz and Zverev are going to be the players to beat. However, depending on Novak’s recovery from his unfortunate meniscus tear, the Serbian may still be a force on the grass this year. Grass is probably Novak’s best surface at the moment, his ability to change the direction and hit flat winners at end range is still at the absolute highest level.Â
So, what an epic Roland Garros we had this year. But the big question is, will Rafa be back next year? I guess you never know…
