Germany’s Angelique Kerber reacts during her first round match against Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova in Paris May 28, 2017.
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She has struggled this year, withdrawing from the Madrid Open with a thigh injury and going down in straight sets to qualifier Anna Kontaveit in Rome.
The loss opens up the French Open to others such as Simona Halep.
In January she had her Australian Open title defence ended when she lost to Coco Vandeweghe in the fourth round. “It was a tough first round”, said Kerber of the Russian.
Express takes a look at talking points from the opening day of French Open.
“I know that I have to be ready 100% from the first match”, said Kerber, who recently regained the world’s top ranking from Serena Williams.
“I mean, on clay I’m really not feeling so good, especially on my movement, because, I don’t know, I can not slide so good”, Kerber said.
“I’m happy with the game, of course, but I mean, it wasn’t really about the game today”.
Assessing her struggle to move effectively, the beaten top seed said: “I was trying it as good as I can in my practice sessions, but I’m not feeling so good on this clay when I have to move on the sides and then coming back”.
The French Open is still the only Grand Slam tournament without a roof ” there are plans to have a retractable cover above the main stadium in a few years ” and things did not go well last year.
“Of course I’m disappointed that the clay court season was not so good”. I don’t know. Normally I can move very well, but on clay it’s always a little bit different and hard for me.
“For the first time in nine years at Roland Garros, I played my singles on (Court) Philippe Chatrier”, Makarova said on-court after the one hour, 22-minute match.
“Yes, I wanted to come back not just to play”. Her hand is still not back at full strength, but she has assured her doctors that she will withdraw if pain emerges after playing. The 31st-seeded Vinci, most famous for ending Serena Williams’ hopes of a calendar year Grand Slam by beating her in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows in 2015, lost to Rio Olympics gold medallist Monica Puig 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
The 27-year-old dropped her racket when she sealed her win and held her head in her hands, her eyes filling with tears while her support team wearing T-shirts marked “Courage, Belief, Pojd (Come on! in Czech)” celebrated wildly. That the loss in itself wasn’t surprising speaks volumes about her form.
She will now face either Bethanie Mattek-Sands or Evgeniya Rodina in the second round, and will fancy her chances of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 2012. She has been impressive in the clay court this season, playing some sublime tennis and defeating top stars as well. In the end a comfortable second-set tie-break was enough for the No10 seed to progress to the second round with a 6-4, 7-6 win.
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Kerber lost in the first round at Roland Garros previous year when she was seeded third behind Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska.
