Category Sports News

French Open 2025

Dates: 25 May-8 June Venue: Roland Garros

Seeing a Briton in a big clay-court final – and their name not being Andy Murray – is still not something we are used to.

Jack Draper’s recent run to the Madrid Open final, where he lost in three close sets to Casper Ruud, was the backbone of an impressive clay-court swing for the British number one.

But the French Open has historically not been synonymous with British singles success.

Andy Murray reached the 2016 final, but Sue Barker was Britain’s last singles champion in the French capital back in 1976.

Last year all six Britons who competed in the singles went out in the first round – the third time that has happened this century.

At the time, Dan Evans said he and his compatriots were “in the best spot” on clay for “a long time”- and he may actually have had a point.

Clay is a slower surface than grass, which means more rallies, more sliding and more running.

Take Iga Swiatek, for example. The four-time French Open champion is an outstanding mover. Her speed allows her to cover the court as efficiently as possible and recover quickly enough to help tee up her aggressive forehand.

Fitness is one of the reasons Draper has had success on the clay – a surface he did not have much experience or joy on before this year.

Draper retired injured on his French Open senior debut two years ago and later lamented being “the guy who’s injured a lot” after retiring from three successive Grand Slam matches.

But bringing in team members focused on fitness – Draper has hired physio Shane Annun and fitness trainer Matt Little, both former members of Murray’s team – has paid off.

Draper went through three successive five-set matches at the Australian Open and has been a constant presence on the tour since then.

After reaching the Madrid final, Draper went straight to Rome for the Italian Open.

When you think of 14-time champion Rafael Nadal holding court at the French Open, it is his forehand that comes to mind; leaping into mid-air, left arm crossed across his chest, straight after lassoing a forehand winner across the clay.

Nadal’s lefty forehand was a weapon on all courts, but clay was where it really shone. The grip and follow-through, that whip across the body, allowed him to hit with heavy top spin – a key skill on clay.

Adding more spin to the ball makes it bounce higher and pushes an opponent further back behind the baseline. The player will likely have to take the ball on the rise, meaning it is harder to control, particularly if they are shorter.

“Nadal knows how to manipulate the angles to get people out of position,” Michael Chang, champion at Roland Garros in 1989, previously told BBC Sport.

“He is very aggressive, although patient when he needs to be, but for the most part if the shot is there he is taking it and going for it.

It has been a decent clay-court swing for the British singles players.

Sliding is key on clay, in order to stop a player falling behind in a rally. By being able to slide in to a shot, players can return the ball from a defensive position, as well as adjust their position more quickly to play a more aggressive shot.

Before the season began, Draper and compatriot Jacob Fearnley hit together at the National Tennis Centre.

One of the main things they practised was sliding – a video posted by the LTA saw them running back and forth, sliding across the clay and mimicking a shot, to finesse their balance and control.

Before this season, Fearnley had not won a clay-court match on the ATP Tour. He goes into the French Open with a 9-3 record on the surface, including a win over world number 19 Tomas Machac.

“It’s important to slide into your shots rather than starting to slide after it,” Britain’s Heather Watson previously said.

The LTA said in 2024 there were about 1,300 clay-courts in Great Britain. That is around 5% of the 23,000 total number of courts.

In contrast, about 60% of courts in Spain – one of the leading nations on the surface – are clay.

The National Tennis Centre has four clay courts and the governing body is “forming new partnerships” with clay-court facilities in Barcelona and Girona, where young players can go for camps and training sessions.

British Davis Cup captain Leon Smith has previously told BBC Radio 5 Live that maintaining a clay court can be expensive for clubs – and is not helped by the British weather.

British number five Francesca Jones said there has historically been a “slight reluctance” for young British players to travel abroad to clay academies.

That is a route Murray took, playing in junior clay tournaments around Europe from the age of 12 and moving to Spain’s Sanchez-Casal Academy aged 15.

Draper may not class clay as his favourite surface but he too has had experience on it from a young age, telling BBC Sport: “Professionally with the ATP I haven’t played loads on it.

But when I was younger, whether it was in the UK or abroad, playing European events, I always did well on the clay.

Mariona Caldentey was kissing the Women’s Champions League trophy a year ago, clutching the badge on her chest while donning the blue and red stripes of Barcelona, having won her 15th major trophy with the club.

Now she is preparing to face her former team for the first time since leaving them last summer to join Arsenal.

The Gunners will attempt to win a first European title since 2007 in Lisbon on Saturday (17:00 BST) and it helps to have a star in their team who lived and breathed opponents Barcelona for a decade.

Caldentey did not come through Barcelona’s youth ranks, but spent 10 seasons at the home of the defending European champions, scoring 114 goals in 302 games.

There will be no holding back in Saturday’s Champions League final though as Caldentey hopes to spearhead Arsenal – the place she now calls home – to success.

“I feel really confident, I can play my football, I can enjoy it. I am in the right place. I am where I want to be,” the Spain international, 29, said.

Caldentey arrived in north London at a rocky time for Arsenal in July 2024 and some in Spain doubted if she had made the right decision.

Gunners legend Vivianne Miedema had been allowed to leave for rivals Manchester City weeks before and fan unrest was building towards former boss Jonas Eidevall.

Pressure was on Caldentey – a World Cup winner with Spain – to help guide Arsenal safely through a potentially treacherous Champions League qualification path.

But she did not take long to settle as 10 months later, Caldentey was awarded the Women’s Super League Player of the Season having scored nine goals and assisted five in 21 games.

It should not have come as a surprise.

“She was a crucial player for Barca’s style,” Spanish journalist Maria Tikas, who writes for national newspaper Sport, told BBC Sport.

“The fans and media didn’t value her enough for how important she was. We always said that she was like magic.

“It was sad she left, but I knew she was going to be good in England. She really showed quickly the kind of player she was and now at an important moment of the season she has showed it again.”

Caldentey’s first goal came in a 4-0 win over BK Hacken, sealing Arsenal’s progression to the Champions League group stages in September.

The club believed Caldentey could take them to the next level when they signed her but she could not have predicted how impressive her first season would be.

“Not at all. I didn’t have any expectation. I just made my decision and went for it,” said Caldentey.

“She’s a total footballer. She’s got everything,” Arsenal manager Renee Slegers said of Caldentey earlier this season.

Her impact was instant and transformative.

Arsenal went from a struggling side at the start of the season to a team marching up the table, sealing second spot in the WSL and competing with Europe’s elite.

Caldentey’s role was to be the creator, linking up with WSL Golden Boot winner Alessia Russo and providing stardust from midfield.

“She’s given us so much,” Slegers added. “There are so many things to say about Mariona, because she does so many things so well. She has given us that next level.

“Technically and tactically – her intelligence is really high level. Her work ethic is unbelievable. You can see it in games, but you can see it on the training pitch as well.

“Last but not least, she’s a winner.”

After Arsenal beat Tottenham 5-0 at Emirates Stadium, a journalist described Caldentey as the conductor of an orchestra, with eight legs like an octopus.

The analogy surprised Slegers but she admitted it was a good description.

Arsenal captain Kim Little, who has played alongside Caldentey this season, said she has been “incredible” for the team.

There will no doubt be mixed emotions for Caldentey when she faces Barcelona in Lisbon.

She was “underrated” but “now finally appreciated” by those in Spain, said Tikas, but will she come back to haunt them?

“When we talked to Barca players after the semi-finals, they were really happy to face Mariona and said it will be really special for them,” Tikas added.

“She knows how Barcelona play and how Arsenal can damage Barcelona.”

Caldentey has spoken to some of the Barcelona players – they remain “close friends” after all – but they have avoided speaking about the final.

“We did exchange some messages but it is a bit weird so we didn’t speak too much about [the game],” she added.

“I didn’t tell them [we would win] but they know that is what I want!”

From Arsenal’s perspective, they hope Caldentey’s close links with Barca will give them an advantage.

“I did an interview with Aitana Bonmati the other day and mentioned Mariona,” journalist Alex Ibaceta told BBC Radio 5 Live. “She said we know the player she is, we know what she is capable of.

Hollie Davidson continued to play rugby until she realized she would never be able to achieve her goals of becoming the biggest player on the planet.

Instead, she chose a different path that would make her a top referee in the world.

The Scot will become the first woman to referee a European showpiece on Friday night in Cardiff when she takes charge of Bath against Lyon in the Challenge Cup final.

It is the most recent milestone in the 32-year-old’s career, which appears to be moving in a positive direction.

Prior to that, Davidson wanted to play in the Tests and become a player.

She was about to join the Scotland squad as a talented half-back who could play scrum-half or fly-half until fate intervened.

Davidson tells the BBC’s Scotland Rugby Podcast, “I was 19 going on 20 and I was invited up to my first senior women’s Scotland camp.”

“I was chosen to take home my first cap against the Netherlands,” I was told.

Unfortunately, I injured my shoulder the weekend before we were supposed to leave.

I spent the following years with the injury, subsequent surgeries, and I simply couldn’t get back into that set-up.

I was “gutted,” I said. When you approach something you want so much, it’s brutal.

A cool, confident figure can be seen when you see Davidson playing rugby.

She behaves the same way in interviews. You can see why she commands players’ respect because of her engaging personality and excellent communication skills.

However, it took some time to build that confidence. Beginning as a young female referee presented challenges.

According to Davidson, “I actually believe the initial stages are probably the most challenging when trying to forge that reputation.”

You’re going to clubs without a female official, perhaps, that have never had one. That is a lot of work in and of itself.

Then, as you get older, people in Scotland start to know you. I was probably doubting myself by entering those settings, thinking, “Oh, gosh, they think I’m a female ref; how are they going to be with me?”

They actually don’t care, they say. So I’m now recognizing that’s where I should be.

Davidson discusses taking over a match between the Sharks and Munster in the United Rugby Championship.

Davidson says she felt completely at ease despite being next to “two powerhouses of our sport” when the two captains, Eben Etzebeth and Tadhg Beirne, arrived for the pre-match coin toss.

The big moments kept coming. She was the first woman to referee the world-champion Springboks last year and became the first woman to do so in 2021’s Women’s Rugby World Cup final.

She is constantly raising the bar for her own ambitions, thanks to a second chance to reach heights that she was unable to do when she was a child.

According to Davidson, “the big one would be to ref a men’s Six Nations game.”

When the Six Nations arrive, it’s like an absolute pinnacle every year, outside of the World Cup.

“That is what caused me to fall in love with this game,” she said. Our schools travel by bus from Murrayfield to Murrayfield. It would be completely out of this world for anyone who wanted to be a part of that. Simply put, I believe it would surpass everything I’ve accomplished so far.

If that occurs, I’d be in contention to compete for the men’s World Cup in Australia in 2027, but the men’s World Cup won’t be played before a Six Nations game.

As she juggles her GCSE exams with international football, goalkeeper Abbie Smith described her first call-up to the Northern Ireland senior squad as a “big surprise.”

After training with the senior squad last month, the 16-year-old was chosen for the first time.

Given the conflict between upcoming exams and the Nations League games against Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Smith is now officially a member of the panel. However, she acknowledged that she was a little unsure when she received the call-up.

I showed my mother the email I received on Monday when I was in my room and said to her, “I think I just got into the senior squad.” When I saw it, she said to BBC Sport NI, “I was buzzing.”

The teenager claims she will have to continue studying while she is away from camp while NI’s preparations for games against third-placed Bosnia-Herzegovina in Zenica and unbeaten group leaders Poland at Seaview.

She continued, “I’ve already had two exams and have three over the camp, but I’ll get it sorted and keep revising.”

Following his two-year scholarship offer to Manchester City from Crusaders Strikers in March, the Lisburn native’s rapid rise is further accelerated by the senior call-up.

Even Smith did not anticipate receiving the official call-up because he had aspirations of playing for the senior side, especially after training with the squad in Leicester as they prepared for their trip to Romania last month.

It was a big surprise because I didn’t know I was going with the 19s to their camp over the weekend, but I’m really excited, she said.

“It was a nice experience with a nice intensity when I trained last month. Everyone was so welcoming.

It’s unbelievable that it’s so early in my career and has always been my goal. I just want to experience that atmosphere and experience senior camp.

Smith believes that her City training, which included working with senior goalkeepers like Khiara Keating and Katie Startup, will enable her to quickly adjust to life in the NI squad under Tanya Oxtoby.

She is also looking forward to working with Jackie Burns, a goalkeeper from Northern Ireland, who she has admired.

It’s been really good at Man City to see what the standards are like and where you must travel, she said, noting how intense it is but how much it is supporting my development.

Abbie was born into a family of goalkeepers, with her father Neil Smith playing between the sticks for Glenavon in the Irish Premiership.

In the end, Neil thinks he is his daughter’s worst critic, but he is incredibly proud of what she has accomplished so far.

She has done so well, but she dedicates herself, and she is now reaping the rewards, because “everything has happened so quickly, it has blown up in the last six months.” He claimed that she is “fantastic about football.”

Like his daughter, Neil was skeptical of Abbie’s ability to balance her exams and the senior side.

He is thrilled to be able to support her against Poland now that the practical issues have been resolved, even if she does not make it to Seaview.

After the initial apprehension, the question “What about the GCSEs?” came up. but everything turned out great, he continued, and her school did a great job.

Nothing fazes her; it just means to move up and hopefully that will continue.