[Brian Swartz]

2066 Roland Garros

History. History has been made, ladies and gentlemen. In the very first edition of this tournament 76 years ago, a qualifier won the whole thing. That is not a particularly sensational thing as there were only a few months of rankings to base things on and the tour was new. In the exactly three quarters of a century since, nobody has taken home the trophy who was not in the top quarter of seeded players, 8th or better, coming in. Nobody, that is, until now.

Say hello to Spaniard Calisto Aviles, who defeated #3 Nicolas Perez in the final, 6-2, 7-6(6), 6-4. He also dispatched #8 Dogic, #2 Meikeljohn, and #4 Molyneaux along the way. Tough to say he isn't worthy. At the start of the year, he was barely inside the Top 50 at 47th in the world. Last year he was a mere curiosity, losing to Molyneaux in five sets in the third round while amassing a decidedly unimpressive 43-24 overall record ... and below water in doubles. Just a few weeks ago he won his first professional title of any caliber ... the Istanbul 250. To say he comes out of nowhere is an understatement. And now Aviles the Unannounced hoists the trophy in Paris, and will definitely test whether RR follows the rule that all Slam champions make the tour finals - because by all rights he should be there. He is a total clay specialist so he may have trouble duplicating this success - but his total points were nearly tripled in a week and Aviles figures to be on the edge of the Top 10 when the next rankings are published.

If you needed proof that this is the year of chaos, look no further than this. Other notables:


** Perez is still the overall top performer on clay this year, which definitely bodes well for his future. He'll seize the #2 spot now, and we'll see what he does with it.

** Meikeljohn lost in the QF to Aviles in four sets, a slip for him but nobody did better against the shocking spaniard. He's down to #3.

** Good bounceback semi for Molyneaux after a poor clay season going in, to put it midly. Solidifies his hold on #4.

** World no. 1 John Hart lost a set to Amrik Kasaravalli in the third round, a nice speed-bump performance by my guy which made me happy. But Hart was straight-setted by the guy he beat in last year's final, Mike Rhodes - the toughest possible matchup in the fourth round, and Rhodes eventually got back to the semis in another strong showing despite the fatigue. Hart has clearly been surpassed on clay, the beginning of the end for most top players, but he still has the skills to handle anyone on a hardcourt. The summer swing will be crucial for him. He hasn't been challenged like this in years.

** Sushant Chiba was also out in the 4th round, three close sets including two tiebreaks to Molyneaux. Can't complain there, even if he made the QF last year.

** Hughes, Mathou, and Samuel Aas - who seems to have figured out what to do at a Slam - were the other quarterfinalists. Nice 5-set win over Solberg in the 4th round for him, and his first-ever trip to the second week of a Slam.

** Nearly as shocking is the performance of Russian Andrey Rublev, who made it to the round of 16 despite coming in ranked 72nd. The youngsters just keep on coming.

** Miserable year for #7 Isa Solheim continues with a first-round loss, though it was a very close one.

** A lot of the promising names bit the dust in the third round. Wentz out to Mathou in four, Mpakati to Solberg in four, Jung to Stachovksy in four as well - that last one really a big surprise to me as the Russian is not a top-quality clay-courter by any stretch.

** We must mention Lucas Perez, who is establishing himself as the #2 behind Nicolas in a very strong Argentine contingent, and lost to the eventual champion in four in the fourth round. He has nothing to be ashamed of either.

** I also did a bit of an experiment which ended up validating how strong the competiton is right now. Nasir Chittoor, ranked 224th, entered qualifying. Years ago, around 200th is where the last main draw spot ended up. Here, there were guys in the 150s in qualifying. So the activity even down past the 100 mark in the rankings in terms of seeking out opportunities is so much better than it was when I started this dynasty. Chittoor won two matches but lost a third-set TB in the final qualifying round ... and then the guy who beat him won a main-draw match against another qualifier for a cool 70 ranking points. Would have been nice, but I still get 20 for my three matches which isn't bad at all for a futures player. Satyagit Guha was another part of the experiment. The game lets you do a singles practice event if you are in doubles in the WTC (one match only for that). I tested whether that would work for Slam qualifying ... and it doesn't. So my trainer Mehul got a lot of work in, as Chittoor/Guha were bounced in their first qualifying foray.

Pretty incredible all the stuff we're seeing the last couple of years in terms of history-making that never happened the first 35 years of this tale, which is almost half of the entire history of the tour in this game world at this point. Perez now sets his sights on closing the gap with Hart as we switch focus to Wimbledon, while the rest of the tour just tries to figure out which end is up.