Upholding the spirit of sportsmanship in an individual sport like tennis is rare. Even so, when it’s on the Grand Slam stage. However, Donna Vekic did not shy away from showing sportsmanship in the second-round match between Naomi Osaka and Donna Vekic at the 2026 French Open, even when the scores weren’t in her favor.

In the very first game of the match, with the score 30-15 in Osaka’s favor, one of the Japanese players’ serves was called out by the line judge. The call looked contentious, so the chair umpire came down to adjudicate it, as there is no Electronic Line Calling (ELC) at Roland Garros. The umpire concurred with the line judge’s call, calling the serve out in favor of Vekic. However, what followed was quite interesting: Vekic approached the umpire, telling her she believed the serve had landed in, and asked Osaka to be given back her first serve. With the score as it was, a first serve helped the Japanese player, as a second-serve situation would have given Vekic more scope to attack in the very first game of the match.

The correction didn’t swing the point as the Croatian won the point anyway, tying it 30-30. However, she took the opening game to deuce and had a break point as well, and one wonders whether there would have been any change had she had a crack at an extra second serve.

Showing gestures of sportsmanship at a big stage of a Grand Slam is a credit to any player, and the French Open saw one such instance last year as well. The match in question was the fourth-round match between Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton. In a tight match, Alcaraz made an amazing reflexive volley at the net, winning the point with raw athleticism.

Everyone in the stadium was up, cheering on the point, but the Spaniard went up to the chair umpire, asking the point to be given back to the American, as his hand was not in contact with the racket when the volley was made. Neither Shelton nor the umpire had noticed it, but being the true champion he is, Alcaraz gave the point back.

What makes these moments even more special is that clay-court tennis operates on thin margins of error, and one point can make a huge difference on the surface, often determining the match’s outcome. That was the case in the match between Osaka and Vekic as well, with the former World No.1 taking the victory.

Naomi Osaka Matches Her Career-Best Performance at Roland Garros with R2 win

With the win over Donna Vekic in the second round, Naomi Osaka reached the third round on the Parisian clay, matching her best-ever result at the competition. Even though she has a stellar hard-court record, Osaka has a poor win ratio on clay. Third round is the best she has achieved at the French Open, not having made it past the second round in Paris since 2019. In her defense, the Japanese player had some tough losses as well, including one against Iga Swiatek in 2024, followed by one against Paula Badosa last year.

This time around, Osaka started strong, winning her first round match against Laura Siegemund in straight sets. However, the match against Vekic was anything but routine. Osaka got broken twice in the first set, but the 16th seed got the breaks back and saved three set points in the 12th game to take the set to a tiebreak. That is when the four-time Major champion showed her class, raising her level and winning the tiebreak with a dominant 7-1 scoreline.

It was difficult for both players to hold serve, and the return games were key in the match, as is expected in clay-court tennis. Osaka got the better of her opponent, being the better player at the pressure points, saving 7 of the 10 break points she faced on her serve while converting 4 of the 11 break-point opportunities on her opponent’s serve.

However, it does not get easy for Osaka in the tournament, as she will now face 17th-seeded Iva Jovic in the third round, and should she go past that, there is a high possibility of a match against the top seed and World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round, with the Belarusian already having beaten Osaka twice this season.