Let's quickly review Day 1. The French Open is the only Slam that starts on a Sunday. Presumably, they do this to get three weekends in and make a bit more money. This year, they decided not to have any "top" pros play on Day 1. They also decided to switch balls to Babolat which
Let's take a quick look at the draw. Rafael Nadal starts off with big serving John Isner. Rafa should get through this round but Isner has weapons few other players do, which is a big serve. His speed (or lack thereof) will be an issue. I think Rafa gets through Isner just fine. It's tough,
Here's the problem with predicting French Open favorites. It's hard to make accurate predictions, at least based on recent performance. Let's look at last year. Last year, three players had a pretty good clay court season. Rafa won Monte Carlo, skipped Barcelona, won Rome, and won Madrid. He was the clear favorite to win the
There's was a point, late in the third set of the semifinal match against Andy Murray that Djokovic played a few bad points to lose his serve, just as he had managed to break even. It just seemed like Djokovic had decided he didn't want to win anymore. If he got past Murray, his reward
While we can admire Novak Djokovic streak, the man who holds the record, and that record should have been nearly twice as long, is Guillermo Vilas. Vilas won 46 matches in a row. He only lost the streak because Nastase used a spaghetti racquet, which wasn't banned then, and beat Vilas, who retired, considering it
It's an all-American affair just as we knew it would be. OK, so we didn't expect this final at all. Oh, the Nadal-Djokovic final? That we did expect. I'm talking doubles. The top seed were, as usual, the Bryan brothers. However, they were eliminated by another American duo: Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick. The team
On paper, Murray didn't have a chance. OK, he had a small chance. After all, he is a top 4 player who has beaten Djokovic. But clay is Murray's weakest surface. Even so, give Murray enough time and he comes up with ideas. He wasn't ready to beat the new Djokovic in Melbourne, but it's
If the Foro Italico was set in the peak of ancient Rome, perhaps Nadal would be the star gladiator. Alas, its history is a bit more recent, having been constructed under the eye of Mussolini. Even so, Nadal has shown his capacity to win this title over and over. This will be Nadal's sixth final.
It's hard to say how well Robin Soderling is playing. He started the year really well with his new coach Claudio Pistolesi. He won Brisbane, then Rotterdam, then Marseille. Since then, he hasn't fared nearly as well, though two losses come at the hands of Juan Martin del Potro who is still trying to regain
Perhaps no one knows what Gasquet's life is like as much as, oh, maybe Venus Williams. Touted as the new superstar of the projects, Venus was expected to do well even at the ripe young age of 12. France, similarly, thought Richard Gasquet would be the new French superstar. Until, that is, the fateful day
