Swiatek makes a racket and Mercedes step on the gas! Buckle up for some exciting tennis and F1 action!

French Open

Summer is finally roaring into focus as the French Open starts on 22nd May. This major tennis tournament, also known as the Roland-Garros, will take place over the coming two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris. The French Open is the second of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and is currently the only one that is held on a clay court. Moreover, it is regarded as the most challenging tournament in the world due to the demands of the surface – a slower pace with a higher bounce.

This year, we will see an emphasis on Wheelchair and Quad tennis events, which will mirror the other events taking place this year. The semi-finals will be held on the 2nd and 3rd, and the final will be held on the 4th, meaning that some events will even be held on the Philippe-Chatrier (main) court, to give more visibility to the disabled athletes. As well as this, the “All in a wheelchair” day returns. This allows spectators to try their hand at wheelchair tennis in order to demonstrate the different skills and movements necessary to compete at a high level in the sport. The athletes will demonstrate their skill and even offer to play a few rallies with the public!

Speaking of the athletes, news has just dropped that Andy Murray has withdrawn from the French Open to prepare himself for the grass-court season. He had originally planned to stay away from clay court altogether this year, in order to be ready and raring to go for Wimbledon but decided to pull out a wildcard of one of his best performances since his injury in the Madrid Open last week. Although he will most certainly be missed in this competition, we are also excited to see some new young athletes at the start of their careers showcase their talents!

Meanwhile, the Italian Open certainly paved the way for what we are to expect next week in Paris. Aside from some beautiful tennis, we saw two stars who we know will continue to shine at the French Open. The young Iga Swiatek from Poland has now won 5 straight titles and is favourite to win her 6th. She took control of her match against Jabeur with style and composure, and we know she is going to be one to watch next week. The seasoned Novak Djokovic will also feature heavily on the leaderboard in Paris. After an intense start to 2022 due to his vaccination status, he had to miss a run of tournaments. But as expected, he bounced back in Italy like he’d never been away, and it gives us a good idea of how he will play in Roland-Garros 2022.

We know there will be some ace performances at the French Open and you won’t want to miss it!

Spanish Grand Prix

On your marks, get set, go! 1xBit takes a look at the highly anticipated Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio de España 2022, which will be held on 22 May 2022 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalyuna.

This circuit is a 4.675 km track with a mix of high and low speed corner turns, and a difficult Turn 3 which is a right-hander that well and truly puts cars’ balancing abilities to the test. The changing wind direction at the circuit also plays a big part in the difficulty of the track and the need to find a good setup, as the aerodynamic drag can drastically change in low and high winds.

After taking the chequered flag for the second race in a row at the Miami Grand Prix, reigning Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen has now powered his way to pole position in his quest to retain his title. The reliability issues that plagued Red Bull earlier in the season appear to now be a thing of the past and the Dutchman will be eager to lay down a marker here.

That being said, victory is far from a foregone conclusion for Verstappen and Co. In a recent interview, the Principal of the Ferrari Team, Mattia Binotto noted that his team needed to respond well to the demands of the competition, after the race on Sunday, in which Red Bull improved their car and edged ahead of Ferrari.

Binotto suggested that his team would enhance their car with more upgrades ahead of this race and hoped that that would be enough to clinch first position on the podium this weekend, as Charles Leclerc seeks to close the gap on Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

Similarly, the race in Miami saw Mercedes looking much more competitive but were unable to yield any results. Whilst their fast pace in the practice round looked almost comfortable, they haven’t managed to put that many points on the board yet. Could this be the race where that changes?

Whoever ends up taking the chequered flag, we know that the track is going to provide a thrilling, high speed race. Don’t miss out!