Pick of the Day: Alize Cornet vs. Zheng Qinwen, Roland Garros

While Rafael Nadal's potential farewell is making all the headlines, one player is definitely calling it a career at Roland Garros: Alize Cornet. The 34-year-old has fallen out of the Top 100, and her best tennis is clearly behind her. And with Cornet being a wild-card entrant, she was always going to have a tough opening-round matchup. In this case, it’s world No. 8 and 2024 Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen.

While this match will present all sorts of challenges for Cornet, I do like the Frenchwoman to cover a massive game spread.

Zheng has world-class power from the baseline, which is why she is such a dangerous player on hard courts. And the 21-year-old actually has a higher win percentage on clay than she does hard courts. However, Zheng has played only 33 WTA-level matches on the dirt, and I still think of her as a bit of a one-dimensional player right now. She is capable of going big on her serve, and she has huge power from the forehand and backhand wings. But Zheng wants to end points very quickly, so she swings with purpose early and often. Winning at Roland Garros requires a little more variety than that, which is why I think Cornet can push her.

Cornet might not be close to the player she was back when she was world No. 11, but we’re talking about a player that is 121-109 on clay in her career. She’s just a natural when it comes to competing on the dirt, where her ability to hit with heavy topspin is very valuable. She’s going to try and get the ball up on Zheng to make her uncomfortable, and she’ll also do a good job of redirecting her pace. Cornet has been one of the better counter punchers on tour for most of her career, and there’s no venue that rewards that style of play like this one.

I also think Cornet is going to get a nice boost from playing this match on Court Philippe-Chatrier. We won’t see Nadal-like support for Cornet here, but the crowd will have her back wholeheartedly, and that should help her reach another level. And if the added adrenaline helps her pick up some easy holds, I just can’t see this turning into a severely lopsided match. Zheng could also get a little tight in an atmosphere like this.

Pick: Cornet +6.5 Games (-125)