Medvedev: "Tsitsipas will be the big favorite at Roland Garros if he wins Rome. Along with Djokovic and Alcaraz."

Although Daniil Medvedev no longer dislikes ochre, he is still far from being a surface specialist. The title holder in Rome, it was only logical that he should relinquish his crown on Tuesday. The Russian was dominated by a well-established Tommy Paul (6-1, 6-4) and left Italy. Before putting an end to the part of the season he enjoys least, he'll still have to show up at Roland-Garros hoping to do something interesting there. As a reminder, in 7 appearances at Porte d'Auteuil, the Russian has only got past the first round twice. On both occasions, however, he has reached the second week (quarter-final in 2021 and round of 16 in 2022).

Questioned at the press conference, the Russian player was quick to move on. Acknowledging that he hadn't played well enough to expect anything, he was quick to look ahead to the French Open.

On this subject, he explained that the tournament was more open than ever this year: "I think we should go by the rankings. There's Novak, Jannik, Carlos and then me. After that, who won Monte Carlo? Stefanos. If he wins here, he'll be the big favourite as he'll have won two Masters 1000 on clay this year. There's also Casper (Ruud), who played very well on the surface. But I think that if Novak and Carlos play, they'll have that status too. They love the surface and they can win Grand Slams.

So yes, maybe now it's more open than ever. That's a good thing for me, because normally, at Roland Garros, I don't play very well, so the more open it is, the better it is for me."

One thing is certain: this Roland Garros tournament promises to be far more unpredictable than previous ones.