Back from our first trip to Roland-Garros, here is part 2 of our RG mid-tournament wrap, this one focusing on the tennis we saw, the happenings on-site, and how the chaotic first week played out more broadly. What’s it like to watch a tournament unfold in person while it’s already being branded online as chaotic and/or horrible? Well, sometimes your priority is just your next water refill. We’ll tell you about players we sought out (Swiatek, Rybakina, Medvedev, Vacherot, Jodar, Tiafoe, and more). We’ll take you through the experience of watching Naomi Osaka’s walkout and the surreal collapse of Jannik Sinner as it unfolded on Chatrier. As we always do, we’ll dip into the messier moments, like the Korpatsch-Wang dust-up, the monumental PR stumbles of Rafa Jodar, and Vallejo’s misogynistic bag-fumbling. What a week in Paris; it promises to get weirder before the fortnight is out.     

1:00 Nothing new under the sun: Wang pulls a Hingis ’99

7:10 She’s taking it! Oh – actually, no, sorry

15:25 Iga Swiatek out to Kostyuk

23:10 Telling stories about players and matches we saw: Vacherot, Rybakina, Keys, and more 

38:35 Rafa Jodar exonerated, sort of

46:50 Naomi’s debut on Lenglen

50:40 James, are you happy to be in Paris? 

62:35 Being in Chatrier for the Sinner upset 

73:10 Are we all amateur geneticists now? 

80:45 These f—ing tarpaulins and Lacoste bollards!

85:25 Wrapping up the draw as it stands