Paris, the land. The cotton test. Just look at the program: Carlos Alcaraz (21 years old) and Paula Badosa (26) have been left alone, when the tournament calendar does not even cover the third round yet and there is still a long way to go until the outcome of the 8th and the June 9. Roland Garros, then, portrays the current state of tennis, the Spanish one, which has been showing signs of decline in recent times. Abundance—incidentally, an exceptionality that made everyone uncomfortable—is over. It was confirmed in April that, for the first time in 35 years, Godó did not have any representative in the quarterfinals; and Roland Garros itself warned last year, when the 13 assets distributed in the main draws reflected the lowest record in 33 years; and today, now, insists on highlighting the deficit that was seen coming: for the first time in 29, title drought before landing at Roland Garros.
This edition, 14 tennis players undertook the adventure last Sunday, but there are only two left; Alcaraz, the wonder that makes up everything, and Badosa, a player whose back has relegated her from top-100 and with an uncertain future, as dependent or more on the punctures and how his spinal injury may react than on the game. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, there are players missing from behind. We have always had a lot, and now it is costing more. It saddens me, I would like to know what the solution is or what I could do to help,” the Catalan explained at the beginning of the year in Australia, in a crystal-clear speech that many like to sweeten, but that synthesizes the reality of a representation the decline that (logically) has been losing strength, because a golden era is definitely closing and the relay has not finished taking a differential leap. There are wickers, but the loss of muscle and vigor is evident again. Paris attests.
There is no stage that has brought more joys for Spanish tennis than Roland Garros, the traditional framework for success: from the pioneers Lilí Álvarez (peak in doubles) and Manolo Santana to the Nadal empire, passing through Gimeno, Arantxa, Bruguera, Moyà, Albert Costa, Ferrero and Muguruza. Behind it, a second high-caliber line that reached more or less far, but that guaranteed a continuity that is missed today. When the first week limit has not yet been reached, only two representatives have made the cut; seven eliminations in the initial round (Bouzas, Nadal, Masarova, Sorribes, Carreño, Burillo and Bautista) and five in the second; Nine players competed in the qualifying phase, but only Burillo, 26 years old and debutant on a big stage, made it through. Alcaraz and Badosa walk alone, and the history books offer significant information.
You have to go back to 1983, 41 years, to find such a low number of Spanish tennis players at this point. Then Fernando Luna – beaten by Roger-Vasselin in the round of 16 – and José Higueras – beaten by Mats Wilander in the semi-finals – appeared on the poster. Five years later, Emilio Sánchez Vicario (fourths), Arantxa (fourths) and Conchita (eighths) managed to tie the third round. The splendor would arrive between the nineties and the 2000s, but after the disappointment a decline was faced camouflaged by the rise of Alcaraz. “Well, I also give some information,” Pablo Carreño commented this week. “This year is the one in which there have been the fewest land tournaments, because since the Masters 1,000 are two weeks long, there have been fewer. But it is obvious that we have fewer players, only one seed, and we are not used to that. You can see that fewer and fewer Spaniards are coming out and Carlos covers everything up a bit, because we still have a monster there that covers everything. But it’s a shame, but I don’t really know why it is,” adds the Asturian.
Carreño points to Italy’s momentum – nine players among the strongest one hundred and a finalist in the Billie Jean King Cup – and also refers to investment. “In this world, money rules,” he says. “Perhaps the federation lacks basic work. There is the French one, the Italian one, the British one, the Australian one, the American one…,” Badosa continued in January, in a comparison that is as realistic as it is unfair. While the aforementioned nations enjoy great economic importance, the board that took the federative reins in 2016 (and re-elected in 2021) found itself upon arrival with a safe full of cobwebs and, meanwhile, the most successful generation has been retiring. Nadal’s rope is running out and the Praetorians (Feliciano, Ferrer, Almagro, Carla Suárez…) have stepped aside, or are about to do so (Verdasco (40)); The intermediate batch (Bautista (36), Ramos (35), Carreño (32)) declines due to injuries and Garbiñe Muguruza, the great female asset of the last decade, has voluntarily disappeared from the plane.
Young people continue to appear from behind, but they lack the reasonable cooking point that allows us to determine if they will go in one direction or another. Rincón (21) and Landaluce (18), both US Open champions as juniors, stood out, as did the Basque Ane Mintegi (20), from Wimbledon and today the 555th in the world. And on a more discreet level, the projects of Llamas (21), Mérida (19) and the very young Charo Esquiva (16) are evolving. Paradoxically, the launch of an ambitious network of base tournaments by the federation (RFET) has not yet translated into the emergence or establishment of an intermediate representation that prevents the progressive loss of presence, because it requires the long term. There are threats, but there is no power. Davidovich (32nd) does not finish breaking in the majors and Sorribes (43rd) leads the way among the girls after the void left by Garbiñe and the compromised situation of Badosa. The Catalan fights to return to her natural space, but it is a mystery.
And beyond Alcaraz, a regular in the second weeks of the tournaments, an immense consolation, it has been cold lately. The old guard aside, the Murcian seeks support on the journey.
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