Tennis-X Notes: Federer Through, Lucic Tries Comeback

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Roger Federer was down two breaks to a player who was making his tour debut. How's that for a fortnight preview?...Stefan Edberg remains the only top-seeded men's player to ever lose in the first round at Roland Garros. Edberg lost to Sergi Bruguera in the first round back in 1990...Since dumping Gisela Dulko after Miami, Tommy Robredo has won 14 of 17 matches...Kenneth Carlsen has dropped eight straight French Open matches...The last time Roger Federer lost to a qualifier was to Richard Gasquet in Monte Carlo last year...Dominik Hrbaty is the last player to beat Roger Federer in the first round at a tournament (2004 Cincinnati)...When was the last time a French player was seeded No. 1 at a Slam? Answer: Never...Amelie Mauresmo has won eight straight Slam matches, Roger Federer 22...Nikolay Davydenko has lost to Vince Spadea three of four times...Paradorn Srichaphan is 0-5 this year on clay...Dominik Hrbaty possesses the longest streak of consecutive Slams of any active player with 38...Seven Frenchmen were ranked inside the Top 50 in the ATP rankings for the week of May 22, placing France second behind Spain (8) for most players...Rafael Nadal is trying to leave the one-Slam wonder club which he currently shares with active players Juan Carlos Ferrero, Gaston Gaudio, Thomas Johansson, Carlos Moya and Andy Roddick...Argentine Diego Hartfield had won 15 of his last 16 matches entering his match with Roger Federer, at the Challenger level and in qualifying...Juan Antonio Marin is 0-17 career in Grand Slam matches...From Rafael Nadal blogging for the ATP: "For the first time in my life I had to get dressed into a black tie suit [for the Laureus Awards], as did all of my family. (The ladies wore full-length dresses.) There were so many sports stars staying at the hotel. When I was getting ready to get dressed I was rushing out of the elevator and I crashed into Formula 1 driver Mika Hakkinen. I said 'Wow, there are so many famous people around.' Driving in the car to the awards we got into a deep conversation about the Da Vinci Code, which is the latest movie that I have seen. I got into an argument with my mother and father and Benito from the ATP because we had different perspectives on the movie."...From the blogging Charlie Bricker: "Vince Spadea's book is done, published and awaiting the first date of sale, which likely will be around Wimbledon time next month. That's when most tennis books come out because that's when tennis in the U.S. is at a peak...according to Vince Sr., who has read it all, it isn't a tell-all and it's apparently fairly tepid, though Vince will take some shots at Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe. "What's the most controversial thing in the book," I asked him. He shook his head. "It isn't really controversial," he replied. "Let's put it this way," said Senior. "Those people who have treated Vince well will look good in the book. And those that haven't treated him well..." He let that sentence die without finishing it. While P-Mc gets some criticism for the decisions he made about Vince and Davis Cup, Spadea gushes over big brother John McEnroe. Hey. One man's hero, etc. I've got Patrick ranked well ahead of John on the swell-o-meter."...Cliff Drysdale is missing commentary duties for ESPN USA as he recovers from a virus...Tennis writer Joel Drucker is picking Maria Kirilenko, the fashionable Russian who won one game off Justine Henin-Hardenne at Berlin, to reach the French Open quarters...From Joe Henderson writing for TBO.com: "Mirjana Lucic used to be among the most promising tennis players in the world. She teamed with Martina Hingis to win the Australian Open doubles title in 1998, and a year later advanced to the singles semifinals at Wimbledon. These days, she is left to wonder what happened. She's only 24, but that promising career has been lost in a haze of charges, counterclaims, problems with her father and lawsuits...She lives with her family -- minus her father -- at a condo on the property of the massive IMG sports complex in Bradenton. IMG used to represent her, but that relationship has fractured. The company has started foreclosure action against the condo. The family doesn't have a car. Friends have to drive them everywhere. "It's hard to imagine the life I had before and the life I have now," Mirjana said. "But I have my freedom now, and nothing is better than freedom...I want to play tennis again. There is nothing like it. It is the greatest game in the world. I love the game. I love being out there competing. The game is my therapy. The things that have happened to me are not the game's fault." She had a knee injury that set her back six months, and she has gotten caught up in some legal entanglements that have destroyed her finances...But it somehow all connects back to her father, Marinko Lucic, a mysterious figure of wealth, power and influence who lives in Croatia. The tales of his temper are common knowledge on the tour, and there have been many accounts of him berating his daughter in public...In a lawsuit filed in Manatee County, the family claims Mirjana's IMG agent was working with her father "as part of a conspiracy to ruin Mirjana's tennis career because she had fled Croatia to seek refuge in the United States from her abusive father." The company issued a statement saying basically that the charge is a lie...Regardless of the cause, the family is in a tough spot now. Where the family once jetted around the world, they all now have to walk several blocks to a grocery store and purchase only what they can carry back to the condo..."I know I can compete on the tour," she said. "I'm in great shape, and I'm playing well. I'm working hard. I just need a chance to get back out there." Their attorney is trying to help, perhaps by lining up a sponsor. Old friends from the tour offer encouragement from time to time. But mostly, they wait -- wait for memories to fade, wait for circumstances to improve, wait for a chance to show the world again just how good Mirjana Lucic can be."...Could Deadwood be better, with the second season just out on CD and the third and last kicking off? Short answer: no...From The Guardian: "Since then [Martina] Navratilova has been linked with Danda Jaroljmek, with whom she reportedly considered having a child, and with Hunter Reno, the niece of former US attorney general Janet Reno. Her 1997 split from Reno prompted tabloid tales about "a midlife crisis," in that Navratilova took off into the desert for a couple of months, and, according to one of those ubiquitous "friends," "slept rough in a van or stayed at cheap motels." These days she seems as determined to treat personal relationships as a privilege as she is not to talk about them. She has a partner, but "no, there's no name" -- a ban that does not extend to talking about gay rights, and especially gay marriage. "The US sucks for that," she says. "It really stinks. We're very much behind the times when it comes to that kind of social change."