The French Open's Sweet 16: What have we learned; what can we expect?

Depending on who you are, or where you’re from, we’ve either reached the “business end” of the 2019 French Open, or the “pointy end.” Both terms make sense: Now is when the players make the big bucks; and it’s also when the draws begin to narrow to their, well, pointy ends.

In short, the quarterfinals have arrived; in the U.S., we might call the surviving eight men and women the Sweet 16. Over the tournament’s first 10 days, the men’s and women’s events have been diametrically opposed, and almost perfectly complimentary. The WTA side has been about upstarts and surprises, fresh faces and youthful swagger. The ATP side, meanwhile, has been about old warhorses moving methodically toward a grand second-week demolition derby.

What stood out in the early going, and what can we expect to see now on? Here are four thoughts as we push the reset button in Paris.

For the second time in the space of a year, Novak Djokovic appears to have resurrected himself and his game in a matter of weeks. Last year at Wimbledon, he shrugged off two seasons of injury, introspection and poor form, and won the tournament. This year in Madrid and Rome, and now in Paris, he shook off three months of early exits and sub-par play. While he hasn’t faced any top-level opposition at Roland Garros, Djokovic also hasn’t wasted any time dispatching everyone who has been in his path. The Serb has history to make: A second Djoker Slam, and a 16th major title are there for the taking; if doubt does creep into his head, those achievements might be motivation enough for him to banish it. So far, Djokovic has been so good that he’s hardly been noticed. That will change when he faces Alexander Zverev on Wednesday, but I don’t expect the result to be any different.

Teens Dreaming Big

Tennis’ eternal question can be asked one more time: Is it better to have upsets, and the temporary thrill that comes with them? Or is it better for things to go routinely and even dully in the early rounds, so that your star players are still alive later? The advantage of any dual-gender event is that you can have both, and that has been the case this year at Roland Garros. While the 30-something legends on the men’s side have encountered little resistance in their march forward, the women’s draw was upended by a group of fearless teens.

Amanda Anisimova, a 17-year-old from New Jersey, has smoothly and coolly reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal without dropping a set. Sofia Kenin, a 20-year-old Floridian, played with defiant moxie to knock off Serena Williams. Iga Swiatek of Poland turned 18 during the tournament and showed off a killer forehand and a leaping backhand, before crashing back to earth on Monday against Simona Halep. And 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova has had hands of gold as she has finessed her way to the quarterfinals. It’s good to have familiar faces, but it’s also good to have new blood. If we stop thinking about the tours as separate entities, and just think about tennis as a single dual-gender sport, we can have both.

At this point, that would seem to be the attitude that the ATP’s younger generation should take. Thus far, the best of them—Zverev, Stefano Tsitsipas, and Dominic Thiem—haven’t been able to overthrow the ATP’s established stars. But they have joined them in the tour’s ruling class. On Monday, Thiem sent one 30-something, Gael Monfils, packing; Zverev did the same to another, Fabio Fognini; and so did a third Next Genner, Karen Khachanov, who out-bludgeoned Juan Martin del Potro in four sets. Last November, when the hard-hitting, 23-year-old Russian beat Djokovic for the Bercy title, he seemed destined to begin challenging for major titles, or at least more Masters titles. That’s not how it went over the first five months of 2019. Coming to Paris, Khachanov was still ranked No. 11, but he was also saddled with a 10-12 record and eight first-round losses on the year. Now he’s back where he belongs: In the quarterfinals of a major, trading bloodthirsty ground strokes with Thiem on Wednesday. That’s about as much as a young ATP player can hope for these days.

Winning Where They Shouldn’t

While seeds have been falling in the women’s draw, No. 8 Ash Barty and No. 14 Madison Keys are still standing—maybe a little taller than they were at the start of the tournament. The Aussie and the American have been touted as potential major-title winners, and for good reason. No one hits as hard as Keys, and few players can match Barty for athletic versatility. It’s just that neither of those two attributes have traditionally been associated with French Open champions. Many of us have imagined Keys and Barty going deep, or lifting trophies, at the other three Slams, but not so much in Paris. Of course, power players can win at Roland Garros; just ask Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Jelena Ostapenko. And all-courters can do it, too; just ask Federer. For either Keys and Barty, the road will end next round, when they face each other in the quarterfinals. But don’t be surprised if the winner goes on to bigger things. By now, on the women’s side, there’s no such thing as a surprise in Paris.