By Tracy Zwick
As if there wasn’t enough sporting action back home with the New York Knicks in the NBA Conference Finals, the Mets in Miami, the Yankees hosting the Rays, and the World Cup getting ready to kick off in our backyard, Upper West Side sports fans will need to schedule carefully this weekend to add cheering for two local stars at the French Open to their Memorial Day agendas.
The second of four annual grand slam tennis tournaments begins its main draw Sunday. World Number 94 and UWS legend Aleksander Kovacevic, along with World Number 146 Michael Zheng, who’s also the two-time NCAA singles tennis champ from Columbia University, will be in action.
Kovacevic is coming off a deep run at the Hamburg Open in Germany, where he made it all the way to the semi-finals before losing to Peruvian Ignacio Buse on Center Court Friday. He’ll face 19-year-old Spanish phenom Rafael Jódar in Round 1 on Monday in Paris. It’s Kovacevic’s fourth time playing in the French Open’s main draw, a spot he earned via direct entry based on his ranking.
Zheng took a harder path to the main draw at Roland Garros, prevailing in each of three win-or-go-home matches during last week’s qualifying tournament without dropping a set. This will be the New Jersey native’s second appearance in the main draw of a grand slam. In January he advanced to the second round of the Australian Open, where he lost to France’s Corentin Moutet. He’s the first Columbia Lion to play in the main draw of the French Open since Vitas Gerulaitis played in 1985.
Not only did 22-year-old Zheng have to grind his way through the qualifying tournament to earn his spot in Round 1 this weekend, he had to do it while his classmates at Columbia were attending graduation ceremonies in Morningside Heights with their families and friends.
The Academic All-American had to miss commencement exercises completely. He’ll face 20-year-old Croatian Dino Prizmic on Sunday.
The French Open main draw will primarily be televised in the United States on TNT, truTV, and streamed live on Max. Coverage typically begins at 5 a.m. EST.
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