Paris (AFP)

Sad day Tuesday at Roland Garros: the sky itself shed cold tears as the French, starting with Kristina Mladenovic who lost after seeming to gain the upper hand, left the tournament one after the other.

No problem, however, for Novak Djokovic (world No. 1) who played against the Swede Mikael Ymer (80th) 6-0, 6-2, 6-3.

"My goal is greater: my ambition is to fight for the title," he warned with a smile, in front of the very rarefied audience of the Philippe-Chatrier court.

In case of a title on October 11, the Serbian would become the first player of the Open era, and only the third in history, after Australians Rod Laver and Roy Emerson, to offer themselves at least twice each the four trophies. of the Grand Slam.

In the camp of the French, of the first four in contention Tuesday, only Fiona Ferro reached the second round.

Because, in addition to Mladenovic, Ugo Humbert and Harold Mayot were eliminated from the start, like twelve other players since Sunday.

Gilles Simon still had to try his luck against Denis Shapovalov, just like Grégoire Barrère against Grigor Dimitrov, Richard Gasquet against Roberto Bautista, Pauline Parmentier against Veronika Kudermetova, Quentin Halys against Marcos Giron and Harmony Tan against Daria Kasatkina.

When it rained at the start of the afternoon, all the courts were covered, and only the roof of the Philippe-Chatrier allowed the game to unfold ... all eyes on Mladenovic and his German opponent Laura Siegemund.

- Arbitration error -

The Frenchwoman, 44th in the world, had not appeared in the tournament since her second round of the US Open against the Russian Varvara Gracheva (102nd), her physical and psychological collapse, and the psychodrama that followed.

She was leading 6-1, 5-1 serve to follow and looked to be heading for an easy win.

But despite four match points at 5-2, she lost 1-6, 7-6, 6-0.

In the process, she confessed how much the health bubble weighed on her, especially since she had been placed under reinforced surveillance after being declared a contact case of Benoît Paire.

The latter had himself been excluded from the tournament for testing positive for coronavirus before the start of the competition.

This time in Paris, everything started very well again for the Frenchwoman who easily broke away 5-1 in the first set and got a set point.

But the referee did not see that Mladenovic's ball had bounced twice in Siegemund's court - who was careful not to say so - and the round continued.

"I think the chair umpire is the only person on center court who hasn't seen him ... You can call it the turning point of the game. I don't know what the outcome would have been without it, but yeah, it was necessarily a key point, "commented the Frenchwoman.

Mladenovic still got six set points, but failed to convert a single one.

So much so that it was the German (66th) who concluded the first round with her first set point, having lined up six games in a row.

- "Philosopher" -

With a hollow face, the Frenchwoman then conceded her serve in the second set, leaving Siegemund to lead 5-3, serve for the match and win 7-5, 6-3.

However, unlike New York, Mladenovic has gained height instead of sinking.

"I can't help it, so I'm going to try to be a philosopher and tell myself that if it has to happen, it has to happen in 2020, because seriously, it's a hell of a year ", commented the Frenchwoman.

"Honestly, if all the bad spells can happen in 2020, so much the better, then we are out of the way, and move on."

Also eliminated in the 1st round of the Australian Open by Karolina Pliskova, Mladenovic has never gone beyond the second round in ten tournaments this year.

Pliskova (4th), she conceded the opening round of her Parisian tournament before winning 6-7 (9/11), 6-2, 6-4 against the Egyptian Mayar Sherif (172nd).

es-pyv-dep-ig / dlo

© 2020 AFP