Mr Nerd (Jonas) and I have been spending the Friday and Saturday walking around Stade Roland Garros getting ready for the French Open 2025. After watching many great qualifying matches, training sessions, and exhibition games ahead of the first round of the French Open tomorrow, here are some clips and photos from the courts.
The vibe was even better than expected. I would greatly recommend attending the qualifiers of a Grand Slam. In the third round of a Grand Slam qualifier, it can potentially be a life-changing opportunity for the players. Many professional tennis players dream of playing a Grand Slam and it also means a generous paycheck by pro tennis standards.
The weather on Friday, the 23rd, was excellent, as you never know what to expect during the French Open. The other day at the HEAD event, we experienced a mix of icy winds and hot sun. But the 23rd was a perfect day for tennis.
If you want to read about some pro player racquet musings from Jonas, just scroll down.
Qualifiers, Friday 23rd May
Training / Exhibition matches and Kids Day, Saturday 24th May
Saturday saw no competitive matches but a lot of fun exhibition matches, kids activities, training sessions and towards the end of the afternoon, a lot of people around the courts!
Sunday 25th will see the first round of the main draw and we’re heading to the Court Suzanne Lenglen to see Mpetchi Perricard, Tiafoe, Safiullin and others, looking forward to two exciting weeks here in Paris.
Pro Player Racquets spotted at the French Open 2025
Is there anything specific to report on pro player racquets at the French Open 2025?
According to sources, Andrey Rublev has added five grams to his Gravity Pro. And he is also testing a new HEAD string. He reached the finals in Hamburg ATP 500, but lost in straight sets to in-form Cobolli.
Another player with a slightly different racquet, is Roman Safiullin with the HEAD Gravity Tour (100) instead of the Gravity Pro.
Talking about Gravity racquets, I watched a practice set with Elina Avanesyan, and she used a Gravity with loads of lead tape at the sides (3 and 9). Not sure which mold, would guess the MP with all that weight.
Still loads of Blades everywhere. Jakub Mensik is playing the 18/20, Laslo Djere is hitting the Blade Pro (h22), while many WTA pros use the Steam 100 BLX painted like Blade. For example, Ostapenko, Andreeva, Badosa, Raducanu, Parry and many more.
I watched Yannick Hanfmann defeat Drogou at Suzanne Lenglen to clinch a first round encounter with Lorenzo Musetti. As a sidenote, I hit some balls with Musetti on the day before, quite an experience!
Hanfmann is one of those players who persist with his Prestige. In his case, I believe it is the TGT 293.2, the pro stock code for the iconic IG Prestige MP from 2012.
On the women’s side, I have spotted many Ezones! Yonex are heavily represented on the WTA Tour with both Ezones and VCOREs. I watched Keys practice with Pegula today, both Ezone players. And there are too many others to mention.
Have you spotted anything interesting from the French Open? Please comment below.
Getting ready for Roland Garros 2025
Action starts tomorrow! Are you going to watch? Who are you rooting for?
We are here one more day and will hopefully see some great matches.
