Baseline Fast Five: First round facts from Roland Garros

After each round, Baseline will look back at the round that was at Roland Garros.

1

The French Tennis Federation stole the headlines ahead of the French Open with its decision to deny Maria Sharapova’s request for a wild card. Little did the FFT know that one of the players it awarded a qualifying wild card would make bigger headlines.

Maxime Hamou, a 21-year-old Frenchman ranked No. 282, advanced to the main draw where he would lose in straight sets to Pablo Cuevas. But his accreditation to the event was revoked on Tuesday after repeatedly pulling Eurosport’s Maly Thomas close and kissing her during an interview on Monday.

Hamou would later release a statement in French on his Facebook page apologizing for his actions.

Apologizing doesn’t reverse the damage Hamou has done. Thomas, who told the*Huffington Pos*t that, “If it had not been live, I would have punched him," was doing her job. In turn, she was harassed in front of countless people on-site and on live television. The credential removal is a slap on the wrist—Hamou was already eliminated from the tournament.

2

Petra Kvitova’s surgeon, Dr. Radek Kebrle, said that a realistic timeline for her to return after being attacked with a knife at her home last December would be six months.

Just over five months following the attack, Kvitova stepped on Roland Garros’ terre battue and advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Julia Boserup.

The No. 15 seed won just by taking the court, so everything else was a bonus. It is amazing how quickly Kvitova has managed to recover, given the many potential complications she faced:

“I am delighted to welcome Petra back to the Tour and see her compete again,” WTA CEO Steve Simon said in a statement. “Petra is a true champion on and off the court. Her resilience and fighting spirit are beyond admirable.”

Kvitova fell to the always-dangerous Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Wednesday, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), but her work was already done when she played her first point on Sunday.

3

Angelique Kerber needs to make a change, and quickly. The same player who rocketed her way to the top of the rankings last year has completely lost her game.

Clay has never been Kerber’s best surface, and she will remain the No. 1 player in the world unless Karolina Pliskova (final) or Simona Halep (champion) make deep runs at Roland Garros.

But there is no evidence that the left-hander will turn things around anytime soon. Two-time Grand Slam semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova was arguably the worst possible opponent Kerber could have drawn in the opening round, but a 6-2, 6-2 loss is still puzzling. Kerber is now 2-10 against the Top 35 in 2017, without playing a Top 10 opponent.

You don’t just get to the top of the world rankings by accident. She needs to take a step back and figure out what she has to do, whether it's taking a break or making some sort of change to her team.

4

It has not been a good start for the red, white and blue. The Americans and the French have not had as much success as they’d like in the opening round.

The top-ranked American man, Jack Sock, quietly exited in straight sets against Jiri Vesely as the top Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also was bounced by the unknown Renzo Olivo.

A combined six American and French seeds (Sock, Sam Querrey, CoCo Vandeweghe, Lauren Davis, Tsonga and Gilles Simon) have lost thus far, with world No. 14 Kristina Mladenovic barely surviving her encounter with Jennifer Brady.

There is still plenty of tennis to go, with the likes of John Isner, Venus Williams, Madison Keys, Gael Monfils and company still remaining. But if the nations were looking for a quick start, this was not it.

5

While discussing American tennis, kudos to 25th-seeded Steve Johnson for fighting through his first round match against Yuichi Sugita. Nobody would have said a word if the former USC Trojan decided not to travel to Paris just weeks after suddenly losing his father, Steve Sr., who died at the age of 58.

The 27-year-old took to Court 6 and fought through adversity over the course of two days to advance.

“It’s not about tennis right now,” Johnson said after his victory, in his second tournament after his father’s passing.

Whether Johnson wins is irrelevant in the big picture, but he did then take out Borna Coric to advance to the third round. His father was surely watching.

“I’m always happy when I’m on the tennis court teaching, or when I’m out watching Stevie play,” Johnson Sr. said in an interview a year and a half ago. “That’s when I’m happiest.”

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