At some point this weekend, a man and a woman are going to have to do something they have never done.
They are going to have to seize the biggest opportunity of their tennis lives, and close out a match to win a Grand Slam title.
One of Mirra Andreeva and Maja Chwalińska, and one of Alexander Zverev and Flavio Cobolli, will do it. The same player, and perhaps their opponent too, may pass up one, two, or several opportunities along the way.
At the French Open, that task has gotten the better of the best. Decades from now, Jannik Sinner may still have last year’s men’s final playing behind his eyes. The Italian world No. 1 saw a two-set lead and three championship points slip away against his nearest rival, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.
Tommy Paul of the U.S. did not convert two match points in the fourth set of the third round, and lost in five to Norway’s Casper Ruud. Paul’s compatriot, Frances Tiafoe, was two service breaks up, and then two points from the finish line, in the fourth set of his fourth-round match against Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi.
The link below explains how players try to combat all-consuming nerves in a bid to close out a Grand Slam final.
