Roland Garros 2013: Eight for Rafa

Rafael Nadal has further cemented his status as the greatest clay court tennis player of all time.  The claims of others become increasingly ridiculous with each passing year.  Rafa has now won Roland Garros eight times, the most any man has ever won an individual Major.  His 12 total Majors also puts him in very exclusive company.  Only Roy Emerson (with 12), Pete Sampras (14) and Roger Federer (17) have won as many.

Photo via TopNews

Hats off to David Ferrer, though, for making his first Major final at the age of 31.  The hardest working man in tennis may not ever have this opportunity again but whenever he does decide to leave the sport (worth noting: no sign of that impending), he'll have a stellar resume and the rock-solid respect of everyone in the locker room.  He was no match for Rafa, his friend and countryman, but few pose much of a threat to the king with clay underfoot.

I missed the match of the tournament, Rafa's semi against Djokovic on Friday.  Whether you watched or not, I highly recommend Brian Phillips's summary on Grantland - very funny.  My Wife found it, in fact, and enjoyed it immensely. Her interest in tennis is reluctant at best.

Congratulations to Serena Williams, too, who now has a Double Career Slam - she has won each of the Majors at least twice.  Add this to her Double Golden Career Slam in doubles, which includes her Olympic efforts, and her claim to Greatest of All Time status is ever improving.  Steffi Graf still wins the numbers game, at least in singles: 22 Slams overall (Serena has 16), including at least four at each Major plus two gold medals.  For what it's worth, my women's pick, Agnieska Radwanska, lost in the quarterfinals - her career-best result at Roland Garros.

Roland Garros 2013: The Middle Sunday

Roland Garros tends to be my weekends only Slam, meaning I'm generally only able to watch on the weekends.  France is 6 hours ahead of the US east coast so I'm at work when most of the tennis is played.  Wimbledon would present a similar problem except that it's during the summer.  Ah, summer...

You've gotta love the Internet, though.  I can still follow the tournament online.  I do miss DirecTV for the fact that one can choose between five different matches during the first week.  Relying on streaming, I can only watch whatever match NBC feels I should be watching.  Given my limited opportunities, it's not such a huge deal - yet.  If I can't get a reliable connection for next Sunday's men's final, we may need to rethink things.

Photo via TennisWorld

The biggest tournament surprise so far?  Four American women in the fourth round.  That doesn't happen very often at Majors any more, especially not on clay.  The star of the first week, by my reckoning, was Jamie Hampton, an Alabama native.  Hampton took out two seeds - Petra Kvitova (7th seed, Czech Republic) and Lucie Safarova (25th, Czech Republic) - en route to her first fourth round in a Major. 

Roland Garros 2013: My Picks

Photo via melty.fr

Roland Garros (a.k.a. The French Open) begins in Paris today.  RG is the world's biggest clay court tournament, the second of four Majors on the tennis calendar.  For The Squid, a couple of changes are afoot.

Change #1: We ditched satellite television about a month ago.  For the most part, we were already watching all of our shows by DVR so streaming via Hulu or Amazon Prime works just as well.  Live sporting events were the big question mark.  Most importantly, would I still be able to watch the tennis Majors?  NBC Sports appears to be fairly accommodating.  We shall see.

Change #2: It's time to streamline my tennis posts - weekly rather than daily during Majors.  The daily posts were fun but burdensome and inflexible.  If I spend more time analyzing draws and schedules than actually watching and enjoying tennis, there's a problem.  I realize I may be the only one who really cares but The Armchair Squid began life as a tennis blog and I'd like to hold onto that element as part of the broader mission.  Increasingly, the tennis posts were feeling like a chore - time for a change.

What better way to kick off the tournament than with my picks to win the men's and women's singles titles...

My choice on the men's side is an obvious one: Rafael Nadal (3rd seed, Spain).

Photo via AceShowbiz

Nadal has played this tournament eight times and has lost a grand total of one match - a breathtaking achievement under-appreciated in the broader sports world.  Picking anyone else seems absurd.  Novak Djokovic (1st, Serbia) is the biggest threat.  Eventually, he will win RG, completing his Career Slam.  I don't think this is the year.  His results have dropped of late, whereas Rafa is peaking at the right time.  If the two meet, it will be during the semifinals.

My women's pick is more of a stretch: Agnieszka Radwanska (4th, Poland).

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Radwanska is the highest-ranked player without a Major title and RG has been kind to first-time Slam champions in recent years (Francesca Schiavone, Na Li, Ana Ivanovic).  As such, Radwanska doesn't appear too much of a stretch.  However, despite the smaller physique and tactical acumen which would generally lead one to expect otherwise, Radwanska is not at her best on clay.  In her favor, though, is the fact that the players ranked above her aren't either.  Even Serena Williams (1st, USA), world's greatest female athlete, and Maria Sharapova (2nd, Russia), defending champion, are most vulnerable on dirt.  Williams is currently in top form and should that continue, there's not a player on earth who can touch her.  Should she stumble, Radwanska might just be the one to capitalize.