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Episode 35: Roland Garros 2026 Recap & The Grass Court Swing Begins

We're back with a Roland Garros week two recap that had us screaming, crying, and everything in between. Mirra Andreeva claimed her first Grand Slam title at 19, dropping only 17 games in the second week and accepting the trophy in a custom Nike jacket that read "I'd like to thank myself" — because she absolutely should. Meanwhile, qualifier Maja Chwalińska became only the second player in Open Era history to reach a Grand Slam final as a qualifier, jumping from ranked 114 to number 21 overnight, getting a hero's welcome at the Warsaw airport, and somehow almost running out of money for her hotel mid-tournament. Her story — which includes a very public battle with depression in 2021 and a decision to come back to tennis on her own terms — is one of the most moving in recent memory. We also send our love to Hailey Baptiste, who suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in her second round match and has been sharing her recovery journey with breathtaking honesty. On the brighter side, Karolína Siniaková and Taylor Townsend are one US Open title away from a career Grand Slam together, and their post-win press conference might be the most wholesome four minutes of the year.

We then head to the grass court swing, where the palate cleanser we all desperately needed arrived in the form of Serena Williams making her competitive return after 1,375 days away. She and Vicky Mboko upset the third seeds at Queen's Club and reminded us all why tennis is worth watching. We break down Donna Vekic going from lucky loser to champion, the deeply pointed wildcard snub of defending Queen's Club champion Tatjana Maria, Alex Eala's win in Birmingham, and Robin Montgomery winning a WTA title in the Netherlands ranked 484th in the world. Resh also delivers an important journalism moment: a full breakdown of why Wimbledon grass and football grass are about as similar as clay and hard court, and why that actually matters for how the ball behaves.

In our Five Minutes with the 5%, we talk about Flavio Cobolli — the charming, superstitious, emotionally open 24-year-old from Florence who nearly upset Zverev* in a five-set Roland Garros final and who we are officially rooting for. We also address the men's champion, Alexander Zverev*, with a content warning for domestic violence — including why L'Équipe made the deliberate editorial choice not to put him on their front page after his win. We close out with the ongoing prize money fight (Wimbledon just announced a 20% increase, but players say it's not enough), the rumored Serena/Venus mixed doubles pairing with Sinner and Alcaraz at the US Open, and Resh and Stef's ongoing appreciation for women coaching women across tennis, the WNBA, and the NWSL.

Next episode: our Wimbledon preview and thoughts on the Rafa Nadal documentary. See you out there, queens.

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Week 1 of Roland Garros delivered pure unhinged energy, and Resh and Stef were SCREAMING — recording live together in San Francisco for the first time in two years. The biggest WTA story? Clayomi. Naomi Osaka walked out in a Germanier x Nike couture collab ("I look like the Eiffel Tower at night"), made it to the fourth round for the first time in her Roland Garros career, and co-hosted an invite-only Black Party at Soho House Paris with Taylor Townsend. She's serving on and off the court, and the haters (hi, Laura Siegemund) can sit down. Meanwhile, Resh's pick Coco Gauff — the defending champion — lost a gut-punch third-rounder to Potapova, Hailey Baptiste went down with ACL and meniscus injuries at her career peak, and Victoria Mboko broke our hearts in a three-setter against Madison Keys. Also: it sounds like Serena Williams may be coming back to tennis as soon as next week. This is not a drill.

On the men's side, the Chaos Slam claimed its biggest victim when top seed Jannik Sinner — up two sets and 5-1 — melted in the sun and lost to the less known Cerundolo in five. The sun remains undefeated. Bright spots: 21-year-old Stanford data science student Nishesh Basavareddy upset 7-seed Taylor Fritz with cold-blooded drop shots, 17-year-old Moïse Kwame became the youngest player to win a Roland Garros match since 1991 (his prize money is locked in a bank until his 18th birthday, because France), and João Fonseca closed out a five-set win over Djokovic on three straight aces like it was nothing.

We also need to talk about ATP player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, who blamed his loss on female umpire Ana Carvalho — a silver badge professional and one of the best in the world — claiming she lacked the "strength" to handle the crowd. Roland Garros fined him and issued a statement. We revisit the Hurkacz 2024 incident, the Fognini 2017 incident, and note that Roland Garros's allyship would land harder if women's matches were ever scheduled in prime time. Heading into week 2: Sabalenka and Iga are the top contenders (despite the hosts' predictions), the Ukrainian sweep is still mathematically alive, and Naomi faces Sabalenka in what is absolutely must-watch Monday tennis.

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Resh and Stef are BACK and they are UNWELL about clay season — in the best possible way. In this episode, your favorite hosts break down everything that happened between Charleston and Roland-Garros, and honey, there was a LOT.

Elena Rybakina won Stuttgart and finally learned how to drive. Marta Kostyuk did a back handspring after winning the Madrid Open. Hailey Baptiste snapped a racket in half with her bare knee and ascended to icon status. And Elina Svitolina defeated basically every top player alive en route to winning Rome, completing what the tennis world is calling the Ukrainian Sweep of 2026.

Also on the agenda: the Roland-Garros draw is simultaneously a gift and a crime, Coco Gauff is hungry and motivated and we love to see it, and Iga Swiatek has a draw so brutal it would make a lesser player retire on the spot.

Plus: Gael Monfils is retiring and Elina Svitolina wrote a letter about him that will make you sob into your pillow. And Billie Jean King got her bachelor's degree at 82 and shot tennis balls into the crowd. We don't deserve her.

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