I watched zero tennis today, but some of the scores tell me a lot.

Zverev, no matter who he is playing in these early rounds, going 1 1 and 2 is splendid tennis at this stage. He needs to take a nap and wake-up in the QF. A match like today works quite well for his continued confidence and momentum. Nice too that he took last week off, unlike Thiem who had to dig himself out of a hole in the Lyon final; well done, but does he come into Paris a bit played-out? Good start from Sascha.

Nice work from Pouille, as well. He has under-performed all year; I can’t imagine any of us have much expectation for this Frenchman, but nice work taking care of the tall, young and talented Medvedev in fairly easy straights.

Dimitrov and Nishikori also advance in straights, which, again, is a welcomed sight for these camps, not having to go too deep in R1.

Monfils is through in four, but looks like some people’s dark horse Verdasco (that’s the mainstream media for you, folks) survived in five, as did Goffin, who had a difficult first match with talented Haase. I have spoken often of my fondness for the Dutchman’s tennis. Down two sets, the Belgian went 4 1 and 0 to remind Haase who exactly he’s playing.

I’ll catch-up on some highlights of these matches, but certainly the tele will be on tomorrow early for my Roland Garros espresso tennis.

Nadal v his lucky loser are in action along with Djokovic, Wawrinka, Thiem, Tsitsipas, among several matches to complete the first round.

I hope to catch some of the Jaziri v Youzhny match, for some reason. The former has some decent clay chops and the veteran’s tennis rarely disappoints. Like a Kohlschrieber, who plays Coric actually, which is another interesting match.

Looking forward to cutting my teeth, indeed. Enjoy and talk to you soon.

Wanted to add this. Sure this is from Friday, but I just watched and have to remind myself — more than any of you — how great of listen is Rafa Nadal.

PS
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