Next-gen rivals set for showdown

'Cash is king'

This year's French Open is staging evening sessions for the first time under a broadcast agreement with streaming giant Amazon.

"It was without a doubt the match of the day but Roland Garros preferred Amazon to people," said Medvedev.

He compared the situation to the Formula 1 world championship when the 2020 Australian Grand Prix was set to take place in Melbourne even though there had been a COVID-19 outbreak in the paddock.

The race was eventually canceled.

"Yesterday I started the third season of (Netflix documentary series) Drive to Survive and there's an episode called 'Cash Is King'," added Medvedev. "They were in Australia ready to race, and they asked Lewis Hamilton what he thinks about racing in the conditions the world was in right now, and he said, 'I don't know what we are doing here'.

"And so they asked him, 'Why do you think they make you race?', and he said, 'Cash is king'. It was the same here."

Tsitsipas' take?

He called it "a very millennial shot".

Tsitsipas now has the most wins on the ATP Tour this season (38) and won clay-court titles at Monte Carlo and Lyon.

Zverev was broken three times in the opening set against Davidovich Fokina, but never faced so much as one break point the rest of the way.

Zverev began this French Open in the worst way possible: He lost the initial two sets he played against qualifier Oscar Otte. But Zverev hasn't dropped a set since, reeling off 15 in a row.

"After the first round, it kind of started to go very smoothly," Zverev said. "I'm happy about that."

Agencies