How The Mighty Have Fallen-essentiallysports.com

Dominic Thiem sent another star packing out of this year’s Roland Garros. Upsets are bound to happen in any major competition and after 11 days of grueling tennis, the French Open has also given a fair share of shocking defeats. But which one of them was the most surprising for you? Read on.

Kerber suffers a shocker

Angelique Kerber became the first female top seed player to lose in the opening round of RG in the open era. She fell victim to the 40 seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, losing 2-6 2-6. It was also the second consecutive first round exit of the German from the tournament.

“I need matches. I need matches where I can start playing and feeling my tennis. Winning matches,” she said prior to Sunday’s loss.

Thiem demolishes Novak

Dominic Thiem produced some scintillating tennis in his straight sets win over the defending champion Novak Djokovic in Wednesday’s QF. Thiem who had never beaten Novak before in five attempts, took control as the match went on and muscled Novak 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-0. His next opponent is Rafael Nadal.

“It’s amazing how difficult it is to go deep in a grand slam because you have to play the best guys round after round and it’s not getting easier on Friday,” Thiem said, referring to Nadal.

NextGen star falls to veteran

Alexander Zverev showed a little of his form that led him to the title win in Rome, in his first round match against Fernando Verdasco. The 33 y/o Spaniard played consistent tennis to win 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-2.

“I played absolute s— made the difference,” said Zverev. “It’s quite simple.”

After breaking two rackets in the final two sets, Zverev in his post match conference added “I lost a match, but pretty much everybody loses a match every single week they play. I should be concerned the way I played and the way I performed, but it’s nothing to be tragic about.”

Elder Williams falters

10 seed Venus Williams lost to some inspired tennis from the 30 seed Timea Bacsinszky. Wiliams was expected to make it deep into the tournament as she has been on a decent run over the past few years and the women section looked rather weak due to the absence of her younger sister. Bacsinszky, however, had other plans, sending Williams out in three sets 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

 Muguruza bites the dust

Garbine Muguruza was sent packing by the local favorite Kristina Mladenovic and was apparently upset over how the crowd treated her. Mladenovic’s 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win, was buoyed by the support of the French crowd. Muguruza thought that the audience was a bit tough for her.

“I understand, I just think that they should be a little bit more respectful. The chair umpire has to always calm the crowd down.”