Cobolli and co left surveying wreckage as men’s seeds keep falling in French Open | French Open

In the immediate aftermath of one of the most significant wins of his career, a victory over the unheralded Zachary Svajda that sent him into his first quarter-final at Roland Garros on Monday, Flavio Cobolli was posed a straightforward question. The Italian had been easing through the match, leading 5-1 in set four, when he almost capitulated. After desperately dragging himself over the line in an excruciating tie‑break, the 10th-seed’s evaluation was succinct: “I almost shit on my pants.”

The majority of men at this year’s French Open have similarly had to closely monitor their bowel movements on the court considering the world of opportunities available for them. Carlos Alcaraz, the champion here for the past two years, is not playing because of a wrist injury. So the defeats in consecutive days of the top seed , Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic, the 24-time grand slam champion, meant from as early as the third round that a new major winner would be crowned.

That tension has been felt everywhere, but particularly in the top half of the draw vacated by Sinner, where the seeds have collapsed. Matteo Berrettini has been the only grand slam finalist there since the second round, and he is as desperate as anyone else to break through after spending his past few years in the wilderness battling countless injuries and falling out of the top 100. The only seeded players remaining in the top half of the draw are Félix Auger-Aliassime, and Cobolli – seeded four and 10 respectively – for whom this is an enormous opportunity to fulfil their potential and reach a grand slam final.

On Saturday, that unease was reflected in an extraordinary day as five of the eight matches extended to five sets, including multiple five-hour matches. Some players were excruciatingly nervous at the beginning of their matches and others faltered at the close. Very few were capable of playing with even a semblance of freedom.

It was nearly 1am on Sunday when Frances Tiafoe, the 19th seed, appeared before the media after recovering from two sets down against the qualifier Jaime Faria to win his second consecutive five-set match. While some players have shied away from discussing the significance of the situation, stressing the importance of focusing on one match at a time, controlling all that they can control and other such cliches, Tiafoe did not hesitate to reference the source of his elevated tension “Second time in my career I’ve come back from two sets to love down,” Tiafoe said. “Definitely the biggest time I’ll ever do it, considering, right?” Then he scanned his audience, giving each journalist a knowing stare. “Obvious why I say that.” Tiafoe lost in five sets to the unseeded Italian Matteo Arnaldi in a match that finished in the early hours of Tuesday.

These circumstances may be unprecedented in men’s tennis over the past two decades, but it isn’t an unfamiliar sight in general. For years during the dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Djokovic, the predictability of the men’s tour, where the top players would reliably compete against each other in the latter rounds of the majors, was offset by the chaos that could unfold in any given women’s tournament.

While her male colleagues battled hard, Madison Keys cut an amused figure on Saturday. She had to wait five hours and 13 minutes before her third-round match, after Berrettini closed out against Argentina’s Francisco Comesaña 15-13 in the fifth-set tie-break. The 30-year-old Italian at least had a straightforward time on Monday afternoon, beating Juan Manuel Cerúndolo in straight sets to reach the last eight.

Auger-Aliassime dispatched Alejandro Tabilo just as easily on Monday, winning 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 to reach the last eight here for the first time.

He now plays Cobolli and the man from Montreal was keen to recruit the support of the Paris fans. “This has always been a dream for me,” he said.

“I’m not French but I’m very Francophone and I’m sure I can count on your support all the way to the end. I feel as if I’m at home.”

The 25-year-old broke in the fourth game of the first set.

In the second set, he grabbed the only break he needed in the 11th game and, as Tabilo subsided, he raced through the third in 26 minutes.

Keys has had to navigate her fair share of unpredictable draws over the years and she addressed the subject. “I think we’ve seen in the men’s scores that they’re all really worried about who is going to be in the finals and not on the match today,” she said.

“I feel like their anxiety is slowly seeping into everyone’s lives, so hopefully they can make it through that and feel a little bit better and stop worrying about the final Sunday and worrying about today, tomorrow. But I do think that it’s always exciting when crazy things happen. As a tennis fan, it’s been fun to watch.”

As uncomfortable as parts of the coming week will be for the men left in Paris, these players are also the envy of their fallen peers and they each have a great opening in front of them.

Regardless of who makes it, Sunday’s men’s final will be the most significant moment in the career of any of the two players still standing. “I was telling some of my homies, it’s fun to be a part of, man,” said Tiafoe. “You’re a part of history, however you want to look at it, right. Whether you get it done or not, you’re part of history.”