Our
Daily Dose of Social Media hits Friday with finals weekend upon us at the 2024 French Open set to conclude in Paris. Our latest look at some of the moments over the last 24 hours features some of the moments you might have missed.
Casper Ruud,
Mirra Andreeva, Amelie Mauresmo and Jannik Sinner feature on the latest Daily Dose of Social Media in some of the moments you may have missed.
Classy Casper Ruud shows off incredible touch with 20 shot rally
Casper Ruud was dumped out of the French Open in the semi-finals at the hands of
Alexander Zverev who saw off the Norwegian who had a great opening set against the German.
The German though rallied and came back to win 3-1 in the end with Ruud keeling over on a multitude of occasions and seemingly suffering with a stomach bug. With Sabalenka also looking a bit worse for wear, it could be a stomach bug going round.
It is a shame for Ruud who reached the last two finals and blew Zverev away last year. But certainly it is the year that Zverev won't be denied at the French Open as he moves through. But he showed a deft touch with a 20 shot rally which can be seen below. Certainly one to show a flourish, he did so in this clash despite being defeated.
Carrot spell cast as Alcaraz goes for match point
A theme of Jannik Sinner's run at the top of the game has been the Carota Boys who follow him around with carrot costumes on due to his ginger hair. One fan in the stands was spotted with a good luck charm today. Albeit it didn't work.
That being a carrot that a fan used to cast a spell on Carlos Alcaraz hilariously. Manifesting Alcaraz to lose the match point, he did go on to win. But a good try from the fan of Sinner. The Italian will now look ahead to the grass court season as the new World No.1.
He has ascended to new heights during Roland Garros. But instead it is one Carlos Alcaraz who will face off against Alexander Zverev for the title. Either Alcaraz adds to his Grand Slam haul or Zverev takes his first on Sunday.
Andreeva marvels at hologram interview
Yesterday Mirra Andreeva lost out in the semi-finals of the 2024 French Open with Iga Swiatek now facing off against Jasmine Paolini on Saturday afternoon. But she left with a hilarious moment.
Barbara Schett interviews players not in the Eurosport studio and instead they are brought in as holograms. Andreeva was put in place by the director and she marvelled and looked like a rabbit in the headlights at the piece of kit.
Despite it not looking like they were in the same room, both said that it was like being together as Andreeva had eyes full of wonder. Some kind of light relief amid the exit for Andreeva and a pretty hilarious video.
Andreescu laughs at Swiatek question
Bianca Andreescu was left laughing at a question quipped in the press conference in the semi-finals of the 2024 French Open with the World No.1 facing off against Jasmine Paolini.
Asked how she would describe her comfort and confidence on clay, Swiatek looked blankly at the journalist as if they asked a stupid question. She said simply just 'high'. Whilst she will go for a fourth Roland Garros title this weekend. Andreescu made her own return in Paris and impressed during said return only losing to eventual finalist Jasmine Paolini.
Shame brought on French Open inequality
With the French Open coming to an end, the inferiority and contempt that the WTA stars have been kept in during this tournament has been highlighted further.
During the tournament, it sits at 11-0 in favour of men's matches and is the first year in a number of years that there has not been even one women's night session match. Even back then it brought shame on the tournament for not featuring the women.
But a tweet today and an article that followed by Stuart Fraser shed light further on the lack of equality. He said it brings shame on the French Open. In the previous two years, it was 9-1 in favour of the men. Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said last year that they can do better. But nowadays it is even worse. Many including in the column linked below have seen the issues that have taken place and how it stunts the growth of women's tennis.
Excuses are often given including Novak Djokovic and others still being around who take precedence, Iga Swiatek not wanting to play night sessions. But as Fraser also said they do have a say to snub Swiatek's requests for instance. "The shorter best-of-three set format is cited as the main reason but it’s just not good enough that organisers found no way to accommodate women in this flawed one-match prime-time product. They also don’t have to repeatedly accept Iga Swiatek’s daytime requests," he said. Certainly a storm not going away for a tournament which is also ran by a female.
Zverev reaches settlement for abuse trial
Alexander Zverev had a pretty good day personally certainly in his mind no matter what fans may think. He won his semi-final for the first time at the 2024 French Open.
As well as that during this morning, he had his domestic abuse trial settled with his ex-girlfriend Brenda Patea which was done so supposedly due to the strain it is taking on their daughter. But aside from details of the settlement, Patea won't get a penny from the trial with no admission of guilt either from the World No.4 as he heads towards potentially claiming his maiden Grand Slam title.
Zverev pays a monetary payment of 200,000 euros in return for the case being dropped. 150,000 euros will go to the state and 50,000 euros to charity. As a result, it won't go to his ex-girlfriend.