Tennis is for losers. For women and men who don’t let themselves be discouraged by foreseeable defeats week in and week out, but instead chase their title dreams again at the next opportunity. For professionals who throw themselves into a Grand Slam tournament four times a year full of hope and expectation, where they will fail with a probability of 99.2 percent. Just like in Paris, where the highlight of the clay court season began on Sunday. And where it is already certain that of the 128 women and men who qualified for the main fields of Roland Garros, 127 will leave the place as losers.
The Greek Maria Sakkari, who won five matches in Paris in 2021 and then lost in the semifinals after a 7: 9 in the third set against the later tournament winner Barbora Krejčíková, is one of those who win more games on the professional tour over the year than lose. But her feeling is different: “You lose every week, you have to erase it and start again from scratch.” At the French Open, she experienced the defeat in the first round. The Greek lost to Karolina Muchova from the Czech Republic on Sunday.
