French Open 2022

[sameerph]

And completes a dominating win.

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,178) d. (9) Yannik Hanfmann (GER,114) 62 62

That is real plesant surprise coming from RamK on clay.

[prashanthm]

Wonderful win for RamK!

[vparam]

[Q1] PR-Yuki Bhambri (IND,624) l. Altug Celigbilek (TUR,183) 36 57

He had his chances in the second set, but couldn't capitalize. It was really ludicrous for him to go into the FO qualies without a clay-court singles match under his belt.

Not really. I had a feeling all along he wanted to be healthy in order to play the Q1 match and be in line for a huge paycheck (EUR 14,000). Honestly, if I had his track record of injuries I would have likely done the same.

[arjun2761]

Not sure that US 15K is a huge paycheck although it is more than he could win in challengers. Relatively, speaking the huge paycheck is in qualifying into the main draw ($60k or more), so it would have made some sense to practice a bit so that he had a chance to win. Hopefully, he'll do that for the other 2 slams...

[prasen9]

What is his record when he was fit at the FO? I think the odds are overwhelming that he would not have made it into the main draw even if he played a few matches. Clay is also gruelling in that the rallies are much longer. His body was perhaps not ready. I think he did the right thing.

[Atithee]

I’m not sure he cares about our analysis.

[Rajiv]

What a golden opportunity for Ram to reach the FQR, when he takes on a 595 ranked 18yr WC in R2.

[PKBasu]

What a fabulous victory over the 9th seed in the qualifiers, which opens up a pretty steady path to the main draw, as his next opponent beat a fellow-wild card to make Q2:

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,178) d. 9-Yannik Hanfmann (GER,114) 63 62

which brings up:

[Q2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND, 178) vs. WC-Sean Cuenin (FRA, 595)

In FQR, the winner of the above match is scheduled to play either 31 year old Marius Copil (ROM, 246) or 20 year old Giulio Zeppieri (ITA, 215). The Italian could be a tough nut, but Copil (with a career-high of 56) last qualified for a Slam main draw in 2019, so he seems to be in a pretty steep decline. Zeppieri has never made it to a Slam main draw (like Ramkumar), but Ramkumar will have the advantage of having been in a Slam FQR before (narrowly missing out at Wimbledon last year). Unexpectedly, Ramkumar looks headed to make his Slam main draw debut in both singles and doubles at this year's French Open (on a surface that he likes least now).

[PKBasu]

What is his record when he was fit at the FO? I think the odds are overwhelming that he would not have made it into the main draw even if he played a few matches. Clay is also gruelling in that the rallies are much longer. His body was perhaps not ready. I think he did the right thing.

Yuki tells himself (and his coaches seem to reinforce it) that he cannot play on clay. But he has made the final of a clay Challenger (Samarkand 2015), and later won a round in the qualifiers at the French Open in 2015. So he isn't completely hopeless on clay, and shouldn't be avoiding it like the plague as he has done this year (singles). He could have given himself a chance to win a round or 2 in the FO qualifiers (and also gain some valuable ATP points) by playing qualifying rounds at a clay Challenger, especially if he was playing doubles there. Saketh, whose singles career is surely well in the past now, at least tried to play some singles. Yuki skipped any chance to.

It is silly to make yourself a one-surface player, as Yuki seems to have done with hard-courts since his junior days. (In 2009, after winning the AO junior singles, he avoided playing both the FO and Wimbledon -- folly on a grand scale, in my opinion -- and that pattern has largely persisted through his career; hard courts are hardest on the knees...).

[Omkara]

And completes a dominating win.

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,178) d. (9) Yannik Hanfmann (GER,114) 62 62

That is real plesant surprise coming from RamK on clay.

He remains a mystery.

[Kumar]

Would not be surprised to see Ram loose his next game? Hopefully he proves me wrong

Still a very good win especially after the season he has had so far in singles.

[prashanthm]

[Q1] Sumit Nagal (IND,348) l. Pedro Cachin (ARG,152) 26 26

A forgettable outing for Sumit as he lost in straight sets...

[PKBasu]

Sumit has had a stop-start return from the hip surgery -- and a comeback that just began 3 weeks ago. It would have been impossible for him to give his best here. Such a pity that he has missed the main part of the clay season this year too.

[PKBasu]

Ramkumar is the fittest of the players we have had in the past decade (since Somdev's retirement, that is), and that is reflected in the results here. I hope he qualifies into the main draw, and can finally start capitalizing on that fitness. This is a golden opportunity, similar to the chance he had at Wimbledon last year. I hope he makes it this time. If he does, he will be on track to be top-100 in singles by the end of the grass season -- and that will ensure a decent pro career for the next 3-5 years. Let's go Ramkumar!!

[sameerph]

Sumit has had a stop-start return from the hip surgery -- and a comeback that just began 3 weeks ago. It would have been impossible for him to give his best here. Such a pity that he has missed the main part of the clay season this year too.

Yes and last week he retired midway thru his match not even able to walk. So, injury does not seem to have fully gone away although did not seem much indication of it in the second set which I watched today. Cachin has of course won 2 challenger titles in Europe on clay in last 3 weeks. So, even fully fit Sumit would have struggled to beat him.

RamK meets 18 year local who reached French open juniors SF last year.

[Q2] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,178) vs. (WC) Sean Cunin (FRA,595)