Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie led the way on another impressive day for British tennis on the clay courts of Paris as its two most successful active male players moved into the second round of the French Open.
Norrie took a significant step in his attempts to re-establish himself at the highest level of the ATP tour as he toppled the former world No 1 Daniil Medvedev, seeded 11th, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5 after trailing 3-5 in the final set.
Later, Draper maintained his composure to secure his first career win at the French Open by defeating Mattia Bellucci 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Sonay Kartal, meanwhile, continued her steady rise by beating Erika Andreeva 6-0, 6-2 to win on her main-draw debut.
After victories for Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu and Jacob Fearnley on Monday, this is the first time in the open era that three British men and three women have won first-round matches at Roland Garros and the most British players into the second round since 1973.
“I think it’s great and it shows that we’re not afraid of playing well on the clay,” said Draper. “All of them, [I have] great respect for, they all work really hard and they’re all great players. I’m not surprised, either, to be honest.”
Draper returned to Paris for his third career appearance in a curious position. He continued his incredible rise this year by finally breaking through on clay and he entered Court Suzanne-Lenglen as a top‑five player at a grand slam tournament for the first time but still seeking for his first French Open victory.
Under those circumstances, the early nerves Draper displayed were not surprising. He struggled with his serve from the start and was tentative behind his usually destructive forehand. An explosive, dynamic and wildly entertaining player with ample variety, Bellucci rolled to a 5-1 lead before taking the first set at 6-3 with a sweet underarm serve. Draper, however, remained calm and he was completely dominant by the end of the match. He will next face either Gaël Monfils or Hugo Dellien.
“When I lost the first set, I wasn’t panicking at all because I obviously came out slow, but then I was building my way back into the match in that first set,” said Draper. “Yeah, he’s going to have to play another two sets to beat me.”
Norrie’s victory against Medvedev is one of the best wins at a grand slam tournament of his career. It also marked his first win against Medvedev after losing all four of their previous meetings in straight sets. Norrie had started the match extremely well, pairing his typical discipline, durability and consistency with greater aggression on his forehand.
As the Russian forced himself inside the baseline and began to dictate, Norrie lost control and the match flipped dramatically. Down 3-5 in the fifth set, though, Norrie locked down his game and found his way to an incredible escape, reeling off the final four games of the match to close out an excellent win. In round two, Norrie will face Federico Gomez, a lucky loser.
Afterwards, Norrie described the win as one of the top three of his career. “Outside of Alcaraz, Sinner and Novak, [Medvedev] would be probably the fourth toughest draw for me in terms of matchups and players,” he said. “Extremely good win, especially [considering] my record with him. What’s his ranking, 12 or 11 in the world? In a slam, best‑of-five, beating him in five sets is impressive for me.”
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It is difficult to overstate the significance of this victory for the former British No 1. After the highs of winning the Indian Wells Masters 1000 event in 2021, facing Novak Djokovic in the 2022 Wimbledon semi-finals and climbing to No 8 in the ATP rankings, the past few years have been tough.
Although injuries have played a part, Norrie has struggled even when he has been healthy on court. Two weeks ago, the 29-year-old fell to No 91 in the rankings, his lowest since 2018.
Norrie is an ambitious individual but in order to find his way again, he had to take a step back and detach himself from his intense expectations and simply enjoy tennis again. A turning point came after another easy first-round loss at the Miami Open in March.
“After Miami, I felt I was trying too hard and forcing things too much,” Norrie said. “I took some time, thought about everything in my career and my personal life and I think I was setting expectations too high. I talked to my team, a long meeting, just to try to enjoy the tennis a bit more and look for good moments.
“I started winning straight after that and started watching matches back. I looked a lot more like myself on the court. Why not go and enjoy it, go and play and compete? Looking back after my career, you’re gonna miss competing and miss the tough moments, and I don’t want to regret that.”
