Serena looks like she’s gained weight again, in order to move well on the clay she should have lost that extra weight. Too bad for her but my first and only pick to win is Jankovic.

I am not really a Serena fan, so this result isn’t terribly disappointing to me (no offense Serena fans!). She can beat anyone when she’s on, of course, especially now that Justine is gone, but she seems to waffle in her dedication. Venus does too, but I prefer watching her game of the two sisters - more height, more grace, better focus.

I’d like to see Ivanovic take this title; she blew it in last year’s final, but she works hard and got to the AO final this year too. It’d be nice to see her win one. Jankovic is always a factor but she needs to think about her health; she seems perennially injured.

While watching the Guga match on Tennis Channel, Renee Stubbs came on for a second and reported on the next match between Serena and Harkleroad.
She said –Serena told me she IS going to win the FO this year and that she is resting now so she can win HER French Open.

So much for bragging.

I like Serena. disappointing exit, but I guess her opponent has to be congratulated. Great win.

I like to see Sharapova win this title.

Zola,

Sharapova is my second choice for the title, mainly because it would give her the Grand Slam sweep, and also because she’s a fighter; I’ve always liked her spirit since she won her Wimbledon title.

Serena graded herself a D minus following her previous round victory giving no credit to her opponent. As a fellow American I would like to be in her corner but can not tolerate her bad sportsmanship. She is bad for the sport of tennis and I for one will be happy when she is gone.

Yes, this is one of the reasons I don’t like Serena; perhaps most players are self-centered and focused on their own performance, but it’s important to give credit where it’s due.

Nadal beat another lefty, and faces yet another in Verdasco. What are the odds that a lefty plays a lefty in his first 4 matches?

PJ - good question, anyone got a calculator?

Well Djoko did what he needed to do to win today, but he wasn’t dialed in like he sometimes is.

Odesnik, though, was a great challenger, and never, for a minute, went away; I enjoyed watching him.

jane,

I’m with you on enjoying the match between Djokovic and Odesnik. It was as well contested as I had hoped, though I would’ve loved to see Odesnik take a set and make it even more of a contest.

I’m also with you as far as preferring to watch Venus. Actually, I’ve grown so disenchanted with Serena over the years that I really wish I didn’t associate Venus with her at all.

Ra,

I think that Djoko will have his hands full with Mathieu; PH played well today and the crowd will be cheering him on. Djoko will need to be at his best and then he might have Gulbis waiting in the Qs. So it’s no easy road for Djoko to get to the semis. There’s a good chance he won’t, depending, of course, on so many factors.

jane,

I’m curious to see what kind of condition Mathieu will be in after today’s hotly contested performance. And I’d love to see a match between Gulbis and Djokovic. There seem to be so many players in interesting form right now; I’m almost wishing this year’s FO were a round robin style tourny for all the match-ups I’d be drooling over.

Jane,
I have been warming up to Sharapove since last fall, after that incident with Radwanska I think and then her performance in AO was just phenomenal. She is all business too and I like that. Also the fact that she always accepts her losses and does not make excuses ( ATTn: James Blakeand Andy Murray!)

Odesnik, Odesnik….He is just great. Whata spirit. I watched two sets and he was always fighting. America has another star!

Serena Williams today showed why it’s so disappointing that Justine Henin has retired, because her desperate inability to close out points at the net cost her the first set, and probably the match.

While I applaud her willingness to approach, her execution at the net was just awful, and it was all down to poor technique in both her footwork and the stroke itself. It’s no wonder that Henin was the undisputed queen of clay - on this surface where you cannot be saved by the speed of the court or a big serve, it is technique, footwork and the ability to think tactically that are the keys to winning.

Rather puzzling to see Venus fail to ask for a suspension in play in her loss to Pennetta. She easily would have got it if she had pressed - Jankovic/Cibulkova walked off some 15min before they finished.

No more Williams sisters, and just Robby Ginepri left for America.

During the match,Ted Robinson quoted Odesnik as saying:
‘I am the best clay court player in America.’

McEnroe said that was quite a statement for Odesnik to make!

Arrogant? Sort of like Serena saying this was HER French Open.

Craig, I think they explained Wayne said he believed he was the best American clay courter in the wild card tournament that he played to get the wild card.

jane said:

“Sharapova is my second choice for the title, mainly because it would give her the Grand Slam sweep”

Ouch! Scary to even think about it…

PJ said:

“Nadal beat another lefty, and faces yet another in Verdasco. What are the odds that a lefty plays a lefty in his first 4 matches?”

Lefty, righty, southpaw, whatever - it doesn’t matter… It will be 4 wins out of 4 matches for Nadal - and this without losing a set… What a brutal draw this guy’s had, isn’t it?

Skorocel, I definitely agree. I think Verdasco has the best chance of Rafa’s opponents so far of taking a set, but having the best chance certainly doesn’t mean it’ll happen.

Compared to how many right-handed players there are, I just think it’s somewhat of an anomaly that a lefty is playing 4 lefties in his first 4 matches. The odds of that happening have to be astounding.

Skorocel
**What a brutal draw this guy’s had, isn’t it?***

Maybe it is time to give some credit to this brilliant kid! no? He can win because he plays well.Against all odds, the weather, rain, blisters, 3 straight days of play after 2 days in the locker room!

and yet some people still want to see Fed or Djoko win French Open!

strange! no?

I still want Fed to win, but no one can deny that Nadal is freakishly incredible on clay. It’s unreal how good he is.

PJ,

I’m with you in wanting to see Federer get his career slam this year. I definitely want to see him achieve that eventually (and can’t really understand anyone not wanting that for him), and it would be the perfect antidote to a so far “lackluster” year.

I also agree that it is unreal how good Nadal is on clay, and I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the case of him not getting his 4th straight next weekend, he were to tie together that streak starting next year. I mean, really, it is no stretch of imagination for me to think he could win another 5 in the next decade…

Ra
***and can’t really understand anyone not wanting that for him***

If there were two French Open trophies, I would definitely wanted one for Federer. But there is only one and if it has to go to the best player on this court, then there is no need for discussion!

zola,

although I cannot understand anyone not wanting Federer to ultimately achieve a career slam, I can understand someone wanting someone else to win the FO even more. I realize these ends are mutually exclusive, and I see your point, too. As for it going “to the best player on the court”, somebody still has to reiterate that point 2 Sundays from now. Otherwise, why play out the draws (aside from the fact that the top 2 should probably have been seeded in reverse), right?

I agree about Sharapova - I’m always amazed at how gracious she is giving others their due - she never blames losses on injuries, and yesterday when asked if conditions on the court had hampered her play she pointed out it was exactly the same for her opponent. I think Serena (more than Venus) partially arrogantly acts as if she’s still the number one player to psyche out her opponents, but it’s still cringeworthy to watch.

Ra,
yep, we have to wait and see. I hope Rafa is 100% in the final. ( If he reaches the final).

John
I really did not like Sharapova for several reasons. Until last year when a player won the match against her by jumping up and down while Sharapova was serving and clearly tried to disturb her serve. She win and in the post match interview admitted that it was a tactic to distract sharapova and it worked. Tracey Austin applauded her and said, “You have to do what you have to do”. Courier was furious.
Then Sharapova came out in the press conference and they asked her about the “tactic”. She said she shouldn’t have been distracted and that was not the reason she lost. The reason was that the other player ( I think Radwanska, but not sure) played better.
well, that’s class for me. I am not a die hard fan but she is very high on my list since then.

zola,

I hope so, too.

I’m not thrilled with Sharapova’s brand of tennis at all (and I don’t find her nearly as attractive as so many others seem to), but I do like her more in her off-court interviews than on the court. I respect the way she conducts herself as well as what she has to say (except that it kinda irks me that she constantly uses the pronoun, “you”, when she clearly means “I”).

I must admit, though, that I found Radwanska’s tactics hilarious and actually did not find them to be inappropriate.She was simply stepping in, and, had it not had such an obvious effect on Maria, it was otherwise innocuous. (Ivanovic at the AO, on the other hand, was horrid with her mid-toss squeaking.) Whether she was sincere or not, I agree with Sharapova that it is up to her to maintain focus.

Ra,
Radwanska said in her courtside interview that she knew that would bother Sharapova and that’s why she did it. If you look at the clips on youtube, she moves and then comes back to the baseline and plays.
Here is a clip on that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8knA5g2×3E

Oh, and I was equally appalled by Ivanovic’s squeeky shoes.

Anyway, I am glad Radwanska did that. MAybe Sharapove lost that match, but I assume she gained lots of respect from many people. count me in!

Oh, I’m well aware of why she was doing it, and I can recall it plain as day. I just didn’t see a problem with it. And I don’t really see it as any different than Maria’s off-time and strike-sound masking screams, either.

Zola says,

Maybe it is time to give some credit to this brilliant kid! no? He can win because he plays well.Against all odds, the weather, rain, blisters, 3 straight days of play after 2 days in the locker room!

and yet some people still want to see Fed or Djoko win French Open!

strange! no?

I agree with you completely. Nadal is playing very solidly. Wish him the best. My dream is he will beat both Djoker and Fed to get his 4th title. That will be SWEET!!!!

I’m fed the **** up with hearing about Serena’s fitness. All the commentators on ESPN were talking about how fit she was, but when she loses, suddenly she’s “gained weight.” It is beyond pathetic. It’s perfectly obvious that her perceived fitness is the RESULT–not the cause–of her success or failure.

I was not at all surprised by her loss. Both Serena and Venus are capable of winning or losing any match at any time. (And it never had a damn thing to do with fitness.)

Truth - you sound upset by the Williams sisters. There is a lot of talent there going to waste, but I think that has to do with too much success and related rewards all too soon.

No one has mentioned the Hero of the British Empire, Andy Murray, bombing out again. He must have some talent but the attention, the rewards, the ridiculous support team created (when he had the services of the finest coach in the world) are making him into a never was.

The solution is rather simple - live like Nadal, grounded in sound family principles and don’t believe the newspapers. Even better, don’t read them.

I don’t get the Serena haters. Do you honestly want to watch the WTA without Serena in the mix? She has her faults, but she is not a bad sportswoman on court. She rarely challenges calls or makes problems for her opponents. She’s often arrogant to the press, but hell, she’s won eight slams. It’s not like she hasn’t earned her swagger.

And this stuff about her getting “bigger” is bs. Her weight is not a real issue, as her 2007 win Down Under proved.

I like Maria, too, for her professionalism and fight, but I don’t think the French will be hers this year. She’s served something like 27 double faults so far, and good returners like Jankovic or the Kuze will eat that up.

I’m thinking it’s Dinara’s this year.

A lot of people don’t like Richard and his racist comments. He’s a trashy guy.

Ra,
I don’t think Maria’s shrieks are gamemanship. I think Radwanska’s act was.
***********

I am completely OK with Safina if whe wins the FO. She is very good and I love her face! she is just too cute! She just needs to do something about the sagging belly. I would love to see her win the FO.

Serena is a great champion too. A FO loss doesn’t mean she is bad or unfit or anything. Who has won 100% of the matches through the year?

Ra,

“except that it kinda irks me that she constantly uses the pronoun, “you”, when she clearly means “I””

I hate this too! A major pet peeve: please call me on it if I ever do it here; I think I did yesterday in one post. Oops.

I have no problem with Venus and Serena - I like what they bring to tennis and the sport would be poorer without them. However I hate their douchebag of a father and Venus and Serena have the most obnoxious, hateful fanbase of all tennis players. Worst by a large mile.

Anyways, Venus and Serena have been crapping out early at the French for years now, nothing surprising about their losses. Unlike many of the “experts”, I never had Serena getting within sniffing distance of the French title this year. Besides, they usually save their best stuff for Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Fellow Sharapova fans here? Awesome. I can do without some of her screeching, but other than that I like her fighting spirit and the way she never gives up. She knows she isn’t great on clay yet does everything in her power to try and win. She is also surprisingly gracious in her post-match interviews. Could do without Yuri, though, although it seems as though lately he’s been staying away more lately. I’ve only seen him at the Slams and Indian Wells so far this year.

Serena’s attitude is not that much different from some of the other top players. Why quibble about her weight — let’s look at her results over the past 10 plus years — the weight thing was/has always been there. Some seem to expect these athletes to have mannequin perfect bodies — as if any of us have. She’s just unfortunate to be the recipient of a genetic problem — probably a slow metabolism or thyroid. I doubt there’s much that can be done about those little genetic/DNA errors.

Dr. Death: I agree with your statement: “but I think that has to do with too much success and related rewards all too soon.” Yes, these girls are from a poor, borderline poverty stricken background, and their behavior is atypical. There’s a lot of mind processing that’s still happening — it will be an on-going situation, which can hopefully be remedied some time in the future, whereby they can come to terms with their Cinderella story, and act accordingly.

Sharapova, for me is just a 6′3″ shriekarama act, and an ingrate to the US. She has learnt how to be politically correct with her pressers, and says what she thinks/feels the press and public would like to hear. I doubt if there’s a smidgen of authenticity in anything she says. I agree with Ra, concerning her use of “you know” in her pressers/speech. It has always irked me, and I often wondered if anyone else found it annyoing. It clearly shows her lack of education — the hallmark of a poor speaker. (There’s a male top player who uses the “you know” words often too.) It would be nice to watch one of her matches without having to hit the ‘mute’ button, not that I like her brand of tennis, but her opponents are worth watching. Martina navratilova once mentioned that she thinks Sharapova’s shrieks are an act to put off her opponents. According to navratilova, she’s watched her practice without a sound. Go figure that one. The shrieking if it’s a part of her game would be also pontaneous in practice. I also agree that she has a fighting spirit.

Does anyone remember her match at the FO last year against Schnyder wherein Patti put up her hand; Sharapova ignored her and proceeded to serve. Schnyder lost the point; got flustered and lost the match. Maybe Sharapova got some payback by Radwanska for poor gamesmanship at the USO a few month later. Payback is a b.

____________

magellan:

“A lot of people don’t like Richard and his racist comments. He’s a trashy guy.”

This guy Weechard is the pits. I had never envisioned him to be so low class, but his behavior recently has changed my opinion of him. His stages of growth from adolesence to young adulthood has had the adverse effect on him — he’s regressing instead of progressing. He needs to grow up like yesterday.

Errata: 3rd para, last sentence: “The shrieking if it’s a part of her game would be also pontaneous in practice.”

S/b: The shrieking if it’s a part of her game would be also spontaneous in practice.”

Well, the Williams sisters are a treat to watch…I think most people would miss them in the 2nd week at French Open…

To Zola:

I just don’t get it why you must be still bitching about that Radwanska USO match?! Come on, Shriekapova is far much more skilled at gamesmanship than Radwanska EVER was! Or do you consider those idiotic/primitive/laughable shrieks + those neverending breaks between each point as a fair-play? To tell you the truth, I’m glad Radwanska did that to her! Marusja’s maybe fair about her opponents in her post-match interviews, but unfortunately, not so much on the court…

Von,

“There’s a male top player who uses the “you know” words often too.”

You’re teasing us a bit here…

jane:

“There’s a male top player who uses the “you know” words often too.”

You’re teasing us a bit here…”

That’s all I’m saying. Listen carefully now that I’ve mentioned it, or read the presser. You’ll see the “you know”. You know, I just don’t know, you know. Get it!!

zola,

“I don’t think Maria’s shrieks are gamemanship. I think Radwanska’s act was.”

I think both of the above are gamesmanship, but it’s all conjecture anyhow. For all I know, Maria may be some kind of bird, and Radwanska may have OCD.

jane,

“please call me on it if I ever do it here; I think I did yesterday in one post. Oops.”

It’s nice to know I’m not alone on this. I’ll see what I can do for you. I should confess, though, that I’ve had to read a lot of material over the past few years that has been poorly translated from Chinese; My grammar and syntax are falling apart at this point.

Von,

“There’s a male top player who uses the “you know” words often too.”

I believe you are talking about Federer, here. Though I can understand how it could also bother you, I wasn’t referring to the phrase, “you know” but rather to the fact that Maria always sounds as though she’s telling me what I need to do after I lose important matches. Since I have an undefeated record in both ATP and WTA tournaments, I can only deduce that she has me confused with someone else.

Greetings to all.

I doubt that Serena or Venus would ever publicly denounce anything their father says, though they should. I suspect Serena shares her father’s capacity for alienating people.

As irritating as these players can be in their speech, it should be noted that English is not Federer’s first language. One can tell he’s seeking the quickest path to communicating his thoughts in English, and despite the years he’s had to work on this, he’s a work in progress like so many of us. The ”you know’’s are his preferred ”uh” and ”um” pauses. He commits dozens of syntax errors too, but it’s understandable since he primarily speaks German or French. Eventually someone might nudge him and say ”Hey, you’re doing it again. Remember what we talked about?”

It’s like the Spaniards using the word ”unbelievable” so often, and Rafa’s ubiquitous ”…very important for me”. Evidently, of all these, Sharapova’s ”you” meaning ”I” may be the least tolerable for those who’ve cared to pay attention to anything she says.

If I may briefly switch to another subject, I’d like to know people’s opinions on which player has the silliest Wilson racquet commercial. Djokovic, Federer, or Lopez?

Ra, sorry but have to disagree with you.

Radwanka said in her own words that she did that to disrupt sharapova.apparently that OCD did not come back in other matches. on the contrary Sharapova shrieks all the time.Not that it is pleasant, but I think it is the was she plays ( amd others like Sels, Serana…)

Agreed, hiding behind our keyboards. Also, because Federer has a natural and fluent sounding way of speaking English, one can be lulled into thinking he has a good command of the language - and therefore all the tiresome “you knows” (more grating in print than speech) are sort of unpardonable. But actually, this is not the case. His English vocabulary is really quite limited. I daresay his mode of expression is very different in French, let alone German, never mind Swiss German.

It was instructive to watch Fed’s match after Gonzalez. When the admirable Chilean runs round his backhand, he invariable thumps the ball down the line - and there are only two possible results: he misses or (more often) hits a screaming winner. One thing is for sure - the ball does not come back.

I noted that in his last match, Fed too was trying to hit the ball down the line when running round his backhand - with mixed success. But today, he was reverting to type - into the tramlines, and driving the ball crosscourt. But - unless you can hit it with the power of a Gonzalez - what is the point? Little energy goes into the strike, the player is out of position, and the inevitable follows. So why does Federer do it so often - am I missing something? You can’t say he is trying to draw his opponent in or anything like that - he’s in no position to capitalise on that. It’s a mystery. And spells delight for Nadal, by the way.

It’s hard to say how well Fed played today - he did, again, hit a number of poor drive volleys; I understand this is a very difficult shot? certainly not one Federer has mastered - because Ancic was somewhat out of sorts. I like Ancic, and I do hope he reverts to the serve and volley he is so good at at Wimbledon.

All that said, don’t want to moan. Fed was certainly looking good, and for Fed fans (and some neutral fans, I am glad to say) that spells delight. I take heed of Frew Macmillan’s warning though. He may, when it comes to the crunch, regret his lack of serious competition, a problem compounded by the loss of Davydenko (how nice to see Liubicic do well again, though). Of course, never count Gonzo out.

Ra:

“I believe you are talking about Federer, here.”

Do you have to be so astute? I was trying to be discreet, and had hoped that my frivolous statement would go unnoticed — at least for a few more hours. Anyway, guilty as charged!!
______________
grendel:

I agree with your Frew MacMillan’s warning — Fed is not facing enough serious competition, which will come back to bite him. Additionally, trying out his various new and different shots during his match play with weaker competition, will at some point become confusing for him, and he will in crunch time make unnecessary mistakes. However, there’s hope — we are creatures of habit, and even though it may be disputed, our instincts takes over when we are faced with a split second decision. Our instinctual reflexes are akin to being on auto pilot or doing things by rote. I sincerely hope that when it’s crunch time that Fed’s rote/auto pilot shifts into gear, and he’ll react instinctually; if not, he’ll be in one hell of a mess against Nadal, ‘you know’, no?.

hiding behind our keyboards:

“The ”you know’’s are his preferred ”uh” and ”um” pauses. He commits dozens of syntax errors too, but it’s understandable since he primarily speaks German or French. Eventually someone might nudge him and say ”Hey, you’re doing it again. Remember what we talked about?”

With ESL speakers, there will always be the problem of using wrong words when speaking impromptu. Syntax and parallel construction are frequent mistakes for Enlish speaking people also, (especially those who are poorly educated) — English being a borrowed language with root derivatives from the French, Greek and Latin alphabets. We have to speak properly in our daily conversations in an attempt to master the language. I always spoke to my kids in what I hope was proper English — they are a reflection of us. As a result, I did not have to correct them often, except when they picked up slangs from their friends. I’m a firm believer of speaking as we would write — thus, eliminating those unnecessary or poorly uttered words and/or phrases, you know. The ‘you know’ was just my facetiuousness rearing its wicked head.

Hi hiding behind our keyboards!

I love your question!

I think the F-Lo Wilson spot is the most ridiculous! That weird chicken chest bump pose at the end is just way too funny.
Roger’s is okay, not great, not awful.
Djokovic really scares me in his ad! The scary victory yell and that vicious narrow-eyed gaze - eeek! It’s like so bad, it’s good. I guess that makes it my favorite

Von:
s’all good, you know?

I’m also one who believes that the children are our future. We’ve got to do our best to teach them well and someday let them lead the way. It’s up to us to show them all the beauty they possess inside with the hope that it’ll give them a sense of pride, so to speak, to talk gooder, you know? That? Why, that’s the greatest love of all!

Sharapova has been #1 and at that time already won 2 grand slam titles and the YEC. If she can’t handle a bit of gamesmanship, she deserves to lose. You don’t get those kind of credentials whilst being mentally weak. If she lacks the mental toughness to deal with gamesmanship, one must question whether she deserves to be #1 (or at the pinnacle of the game).

hiding behind our keyboards:

“Why, that’s the greatest love of all!”

I take it you’re a Whitney Houston fan? She was sooo good. So sad about the drugs, et al.

I forgot to mention previously, I like your very cool post name.

I’m just getting around to watching my recorded shows today of the Williams’ sisters matches.

I congratulate Venus for not postponing the match even though it was getting dark (though every other match at the time was postponed!). In fact, Venus and Pennetta were playing BETTER in the last 4 games of the match! My respect for Venus is growing.

Congratulations to Srebotnik. She and Sugiyama are my favorite female doubles team. Don’t know why Serena didn’t give Srebotnik more credit. Srebotnik broke her in the first game, for goodness’ sake!

— and whenever a player says “you know” I always think of Johnny Depp’s character saying “savvy” in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and it makes me chuckle.

Von - I agree with most of what you say, but it would be good if you polished up your own spelling!
Doctor - so Murray’s a hero of the British Empire? What Empire? We lost that some time ago. There aren’t many empires about now, though the USA is doing its best to accumulate one.

Colin:

So you are a nit-picker eh? Are you an editor? I’m sure you’ve heard about typographical errors — well I made one. I suppose you’re referring to my typo in the word “Enlish” and anyone can see that it’s a typo, because I spelt it correctly twice since making that mistake. Have fun being the English 101 Professor and at the same time try rising out of the mire.

Colin - young must be of the younger generation. Most Brits I know still think there is an Empire even though they can’t find it. Some times they confuse it with the Commonwealth. Of course they had to go all the way to Scotland to find someone to the pretender to the # 1 Brit spot.