Six players, six defeats: Brits crash out of singles at French Open as focus turns to grass

After a three-day opening salvo at Roland Garros, there are no Brits left standing. As the clock hit 23:30 local time, under the shadow of Court Suzanne Lenglen amid an ebullient atmosphere on Court 9, Katie Boulter missed out on a first win at the French Open in a tight final-set loss. And she wasn’t the only Brit to experience one of those this week.

On paper, as she embarked on a main draw debut here as the 26th seed, it was a tough draw to be on the end of. Paula Badosa is a former world number two whose ranking has plummeted as a result of a stress fracture in her back putting her out of action for the best part of six months. Two players, in identical violet-coloured outfits, who both play a strikingly similar hard-hitting baseline game.

The rallies, particularly by the end, were lengthy and could have gone either way. Boulter will no doubt want a few rash volleys at the net back and, in hindsight, she didn’t put her opponent to the sword when up a set and 4-2. Yet Badosa did not surrender and, as Boulter smacked one final forehand into the net, it was the Spaniard who let out a gigantic roar as the victor of this two-hour-plus tussle.

It was another case of close but no cigar. Out of six Brits competing in the singles, six have lost. It is the first time since the Covid-altered autumnal French Open of 2020 that there is no British representation in the second round of the singles.

It’s no crisis, it should be said. As well as Dan Evans who lost to 13th seed Holger Rune on Tuesday, two have succumbed as the pre-match formbook would suggest, with Andy Murray and Harriet Dart underdogs against Stan Wawrinka and Linda Noskova. Six entries in the first place is no mean feat and for half of them, the margins were fine. The five-set defeats for lefties Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper will have been disappointing.

Norrie, who scraped a seeding at No 32, had a match point against world number 57 Pavel Kotov from Russia and admitted he was “devastated” after spurning it. For a while now Norrie – who, unusually for a professional British player, came through the US college system – has carried the can at the Slams, with the highlight being a run to the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2022. Yet here, Norrie’s flat groundstrokes are less effective, as he exited at the first round of a major for the first time since the 2022 Australian Open.

As for Draper, he is attempting some fine-tuning. Under new coach Wayne Ferreira – an ex-South African tour-level player, who previously coached American hotshot Frances Tiafoe – he is modifying his serve, which let him down badly in the fifth set on Sunday against Dutch qualifier Jesper De Jong. Nonetheless, coming back from two sets down, it was a match he could have prevailed in at the death and his lack of experience in five-setters showed as he played the longest match of his career at four hours and six minutes.

It’s no secret that Brits struggle at the second Slam of the season. Aside from 2016 finalist Murray, none of the current contingent have made the second week here. Working their way up the rankings, it’s been common for some to skip some of the clay court season to focus on the grass early doors, in a manner not uncommon to Emma Raducanu’s decision to undergo a training block this year. By next week, the lower-level tournament in the Surrey town of Surbiton occupies the interests of most Brits ranked outside the top-100, with the clay-court swing long in the memory.

There’s also the inherent contrast in upbringing on the surface. While the majority of players from Europe and South America predominantly grow up and hone their game on clay, Brits are used to hard courts generally and grass courts for their big moments in the summer. Their styles are consequently more suited to quicker surfaces, as opposed to the gruelling attrition needed on the crushed brick.

On Tuesday, Evans kept in touch early on with Rune, ranked 49 places higher, before being broken in the ninth game of the match, sealing his first-set fate. The Dane is something of an enigma on the tour, with his brash persona matching his fierce groundstrokes on both side. Evans is the polar opposite in his playing style, crafty with his chipped single-handed backhand slice in particular, but as the match progressed under the new roof of Court Suzanne Lenglen – the second-biggest court here at 10,000 capacity – the 34-year-old Briton could not handle Rune’s power.

An opportunity did present itself for Evans as he broke for the first time in the third set, but he was broken straight back and argued with the chair umpire, Jaume Campistol, after he engaged in a conversation with Rune over a line-call. Evans was happy to replay the point, but subsequently lost his serve and his composure.

“Do your job,” he said to the umpire at the change of ends. “You don’t have to have a conversation with him! That’s twice in two games.” He wouldn’t win another game.

Two weeks on from being on the wrong side of an incorrect line call in Rome, Evans said to the press afterwards: “I am fed up with the umpires. Full stop. I felt like I’m on a roll and I was disrupted, but it’s not Rune’s fault if he’s allowed to have a conversation... it’s pretty simple but I think that has to get a bit better.”

Evans will stay in Paris for at least a few more days, as he plays doubles with Murray. The pair look set to play the Olympics together on the same courts, in what could be the three-time Grand Slam champion’s farewell from professional tennis. Boulter, too, is in the doubles with Heather Watson on Wednesday. The rest are all on the Eurostar home, eager no doubt to switch their attention to the exquisitely cut grass beneath their feet.