After two weeks of play and 126 matches, it comes down to one match. One match to decide who the 2009 champion of Roland Garros will be.For the first time in quite a few years, the finals will not feature the Spaniard, Rafael Nadal. Nadal lost to one of the finalists, Robin Soderling. And for
When Federer sealed a win over Nadal in Madrid, 6-4, 6-4, a week before the start of the French, there were those that believed this was the year Federer would win the French. He had finally devised a strategy that would negate Nadal's advantage over him. He would win the elusive title. Of those who
Head-to-head results usually predict winners reasonably well in tennis. Federer against Roddick or Blake? Federer wins 9 times out of 10. He knows he has more weapons.But when you look at a match like Soderling vs. Gonzalez, what does it mean? Gonzalez has more experience. He's been to an Australian Open final. He's been in
On Day 12, the women take over Roland Garros playing both their semifinals. Essential Tennis Tour News has been focusing on the men's draw, but since the men are taking a day off, let's take a peek on the women's tour.Dinara Safina played diminuitive Dominika Cibulkova, the 20th seed, in the semifinals. Cibulkova demolished Maria
38-1.That's the record Federer had at the beginning of today against all potential opponents left in the French Open men's draw. It included Juan Martin del Potro, Tommy Robredo, Robin Soderling, Fernando Gonzalez, and today's opponent, Gael Monfils.His lone loss comes against Fernando Gonzalez, and that's compared to 12 wins against him.If anyone looks like
Despite his number 3 ranking, few expected Andy Murray to make a huge impact at the French Open. Murray himself said getting to the second week of Roland Garros would be good enough for him. Obviously, he wanted to do as well as possible, but it wasn't realistic to expect a title given his poor
No, no, it's not that I forgot to post an entry on Soderling's win over Nadal. But how many people were predicting that Davydenko, off the strength of his beatdown of Fernando Verdasco, was on a crash course to meet Roger Federer in the finals? (Will H., I'm talking to you! :)). Former number 4
The last Frenchman standing beat the last American standing. Gael Monfils had a surprisingly easy match against American, Andy Roddick. They played the late match as light was fading and Roddick was hoping that they would call play due to darkness. It didn't happen. Instead, Monfils, surrounded by the cheers of jubilant Parisians hoping for
Almost a day earlier, Rafael Nadal gave a gift to the rest of the field, in particular, to Roger Federer. He lost, shockingly, to Robin Soderling, the 24th seed, who had never beaten Nadal. Soderling complained, during the interview, that his 6-1, 6-0 loss to Nadal in Rome was actually much closer than the scores
Mental coach David Groemping talks about two different mental tennis questions that listeners of the podcast have written in with. The first one has to do with tightening up on a serve during competition, the second about working out your "mental muscle" and becoming a better mental competitor.
