Boris Becker has always loved to express his opinions about tennis and the players freely. In his column on the Daily Mail, the German icon didn’t hide his displeasure with some players that decided not to compete at the French Open.
Boris hoped to see Naomi Osaka, Bianca Vanessa Andreescu, Ashleigh Barty playing the French Open, and for him, it was rather disappointing to miss these slam champions in Paris. Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu withdrew from the French slam while Ashleigh Barty was too scared to travel to Europe.
It’s a shame
The German was disappointed for the lack of some big names to say:
“It is a shame some did not come to Paris after that. We are left with an intriguing women’s event and we will see who can take advantage of the situation. But it would have been great to have had some more big-name matches.”
About Ashleigh Barty
Boris was extremely unhappy for the absence of Ashleigh Barty, especially at the French Open, as she was the defending champion alongside the fact that she is the world no.1
“To me, it was a bit disappointing not to see Barty at either of the US or French Opens. These are difficult times and people are free to make their own choices but quite a few Australian players made the effort to play the US and French and to support the tour.
The Australian cricket team have just been in England to play a series and help support their game. This year we have hardly seen Barty, who was watching Australian Rules football last week while the tournament she won 12 months ago was underway,” said Boris.
Serena Williams and example
Becker also stressed the fact that he admires the fact that Serena gave a shot at the Roland Garros even if she was injured and aware that she had not many chances to win the slam.
“She [Serena] increasingly looks like the elder stateswoman and by coming to Paris and supporting the tour she acted like it,” he said
Naomi Osaka in 2020
At the moment ranked no.3, the Japanese played her last match on the 12th of September when she defeated Victoria Azarenka 1-6 6-3 6-3 in the final of the U.S. Open to win her 6th career title.
This season Osaka has a 16-3 win-loss record. The Japanese conquered 1 title at the U.S. Open. Osaka was the runner-up in New York.
Bianca Vanessa Andreescu in 2020
Ranked no.7, Andreescu played her last match on the 30th of October 2019 when she had to retire when playing against Karolina Pliskova in the round robin and the scoreline was 6-3 .
Naomi Osaka and Bianca Vanessa Andreescu played each other once. The head to head is 1-0 for Osaka. When they played, Naomi Osaka won 5-7 6-3 6-4 in the quarter in Beijing (China Open) in October 2019.
In the video below you can watch the highlights.
Ashleigh Barty in 2020
Ranked no.1, Ashleigh played her last match on the 28th of February when she lost to Petra Kvitova 6-4 2-6 6-4 in the semifinal in Doha.
This season Ashleigh has a 11-3 win-loss record. Barty clinched 1 title in Adelaide.
Serena Williams in 2020
Ranked world no.9, Serena Williams was supposed to play on the 30th of September. However, she conceded a walk over to Tsvetana Pironkova in the 2nd round of the French Open.
This season Serena has a 17-5 win-loss record. The American conquered 1 title in Auckland.
Ashleigh Barty and Serena Williams played each other twice. The head to head is 2-0 for Williams. The last time that they squared off, Serena Williams won 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the 2nd round in Paris (French Open) in May 2018.
