Roland Garros Day 15: Federer

Curtain Call

Player: Roger Federer
Age: 29
Nation: Switzerland
Current Ranking: 3
Notable Conquest: Novak Djokovic (2nd seed, Serbia)
Today's Result: lost to Rafael Nadal (1st, Spain) in four sets


Photo via TopNews

Fed turns 30 in August. Nadal has just turned 25 and seems unlikely to play until he's 30. We can't reasonably expect to see many more matches like the one we had today. Today's was not the best match in the Federer-Nadal oeuvre but there were definitely moments of pure magic. No one was going to beat Nadal today. But let's be honest, no one but Nadal would have beaten Federer today either. Some of their points defy belief. My parents are visiting. Not sports fans at all, they still marveled at the performance of these two titans.

Wimbledon should be pretty interesting now. Can Djokovic recover from what was surely a devastating semifinal loss? Can Murray withstand the annual pressure and do his nation proud? If Fed is, indeed, stronger and Rafa is, indeed, weaker and Fed gains further ground on a grass court, who will be the victor should they meet on the lawns?


My Tennis Fantasy

Current Overall Standing: 24th
My MVP for the Week: Rafael Nadal with $1,525,104, defeating Roger Federer for the title at Roland Garros


Photo via all-about-tennis.com

Rafa has further strengthened his own credentials among the all-time greats. Does this victory give him a second wind for the rest of the season? I, for one, think he now heads to Wimbledon as the definite favorite.

Roland Garros Day 14: Cabal

Curtain Call

Player: Juan Sebastian Cabal
Age: 25
Nation: Colombia
Current Doubles Ranking: 100
Doubles Partner: Eduardo Schwank (Argentina)
Notable Conquests: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (1st seed, USA) and Wesley Moodie (South Africa)/Dick Norman (Belgium) (8th)
Today's Result: lost to Max Mirnyi (Belarus)/Daniel Nestor (Canada) (2nd) in three sets


Photo via Entretiempo

Cabal had never even played doubles in a Slam before. He'd only ever played three doubles matches at the ATP level before this event. He and Schwank walk away with 160,000 Euros to split between them.


Catching Up with Old Friends

Na Li (Curtain Call, Australian Open Day 13) - Like Andy Murray, Na Li lost in the finals of the Australian Open and then went into a horrible slump, ultimately losing six matches in a row. With today's win, becoming the first Asian player of either sex to win a Grand Slam singles title, it would appear she has bounced back! It was really quite gratifying to watch today's final: two tough competitors who bring both grace and dignity to the affair. It will be fascinating to see how and if Li's triumph contributes to the sport's popularity in the world's most populous nation.

Roland Garros Day 13: Murray

Curtain Call

Player: Andy Murray
Age: 24
Nation: United Kingdom
Current Ranking: 4
Today's Result: lost to Rafael Nadal (1st seed, Spain) in straight sets


Photo via The Tennis Server

I have made no secret of the fact that Murray is not my favorite player. But I think he deserves an enormous amount of credit for the performance he turned in at Roland Garros. After reaching the finals of the Australian Open, Murray had a miserable stretch, losing his first match in each of the next three tournaments. His clay season, on the other hand, has been pretty good, reaching the semis in both Monte Carlo and Rome. This was his first time making the semis at the French and his fourth round tangle with Viktor Troicki (15th, Serbia) was a particularly grueling task. In a match played over two days, Murray had to come back from two sets down for the win. Granted, I didn't watch the match and was thus spared any shoulder-slumping from the Scot in the first two sets. Nonetheless, it's exactly the sort of situation in which he would have packed it in a few years ago. No more. It's nice to see. Wimbledon's right around the corner. The annual pressure will be on soon.

What remains to be said about the Federer/Djokovic tilt today? What a match! What a moment! I followed most of the action via online scoreboard but once my classes were over for the day, I turned on the video feed for the glorious end. Fed is alive and well, playing the role of gatekeeper today and marvelously. Dare we hope for more of the same on Sunday?

Roland Garros Day 12: The Beautiful One

Curtain Call

Player: Maria Sharapova
Age: 24
Nation: Russia
Current Ranking: 8
Today's Result: lost to Na Li (6th seed, China) in straight sets


Photo via Celebrities Fans

She's only 24. It feels like she's been around for ages. I guess when you win your first Slam at 17, it skews perception.

When it comes to supermodel-athletes, Maria Sharapova is in a class all by herself. As I've written before, I take great issue with the meat-market publicity scheme so prevalent in women's tennis. That said, I've always felt that there was a bit more to Sharapova than the finely-crafted public image.

She first came to my attention, and that of most fans, at Wimbledon 2003 when she made a run to the fourth round in her first main draw appearance. Her nationality and stunning beauty drew obvious comparisons to Anna Kournikova. Kournikova, of course, while quite famous and extremely wealthy from her looks, had never won a singles title at the WTA level. Something about Sharapova, even at 16, told me she'd be different. There was a look in her eyes, perfectly exhibited in the photo above, that said she wasn't there just to be pretty. She wanted to win. When she won the title the following year, against Serena Williams no less, the victory was comprehensive.

It's difficult to root for someone upon whom the gods have already bestowed so much but I have grown to respect Sharapova a great deal. While comments about "retail therapy" from someone with her bank balance are a bit crass, I admire her ability to laugh at herself - an endearing quality no matter one's station in life. She pokes fun at her own image in advertisements. When Djokovic was making everyone in the men's locker room cringe with his on-court impressions, who embraced and celebrated her own parody? Sharapova. Yes, she is a beautiful woman with obscene wealth. But on balance she's a class act, too.

Roland Garros Day 11: Chela

Curtain Call

Player: Juan Ignacio Chela
Age: 30
Nation: Argentina
Current Ranking: 34
Notable Conquest: Kevin Anderson (32nd seed, South Africa)
Today's Result: lost to Andy Murray (4th, UK) in straight sets


Photo via BBC SPORT

Chela has to be pretty tired of running into Murray in Paris. This is the third consecutive year in which the UK #1 has knocked him out of Roland Garros. At least this time, Chela made it to the quarterfinals first. Chela, much-maligned for a drug suspension and for once spitting on Lleyton Hewitt (he can't possibly be the first or last player who wanted to), is one of the tour's old warriors at this point. This result matches his career-best for a Slam.


My Tennis Fantasy

Murray's victory, his first semifinal appearance at Roland Garros, assures me of maximum fantasy points for the tournament. I picked all four semifinalists and one more quarterfinalist: Soderling. I am most pleased.

Roland Garros Day 10: Pavlyuchenkova

Curtain Call

Player: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Age: 19
Nation: Russia
Current Ranking: 15
Notable Conquest: Vera Zvonareva (3rd seed, Russia)
Today's Result: lost to Fancesca Schiavone (5th, Italy) in three sets


Photo via Sky Sports

Pavlyunchenkova has been rising like a rocket up the rankings and this is her career-best Slam finish. Unfortunately for her, the run ended today against an awfully scrappy defending champion. This result will help Pavlyunchenkova's ranking heading into Wimbledon, where she will have only first round points to defend.

Roland Garros Day 9: Ljubicic

Curtain Call

Player: Ivan Ljubicic
Age: 31
Nation: Croatia
Current Ranking: 37
Notable Conquests: Fernando Verdasco (16th seed, Spain) and Sam Querrey (24th, USA)
Today's Result: lost to Rafael Nadal (1st, Spain) in straight sets


Photo via Sporting Life

Ljubicic has been around a long time. This was his twelfth Roland Garros main draw. He has served notice that he's still got plenty of fight left. Indeed, he won his first Masters 1000 event just last year at Indian Wells. He looked despondent today but there's no shame in losing to Nadal in Paris.

Roland Garros Day 8: Highway Robbery

Curtain Call

Player: Albert Montanes
Age: 30
Nation: Spain
Current Ranking: 38
Notable Conquest: Mikhail Youzhny (12th seed, Russia)
Today's Result: lost to Fabio Fognini (Italy) in five sets


Photo via Tennis24seven

There's no doubt about it. Montanes was robbed today. Fognini shouldn't have been granted an injury timeout for his leg cramps late in the fifth set and thus should have been given a warning for delay of game. He also should have been given a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct for deliberately foot-faulting. Then again, Montanes probably should have put him away in the fourth set. Instead, Fognini moves on to the first Slam quarterfinal of his career and Montanes is sent packing.


Catching Up with Old Friends

Richard Gasquet (Curtain Call, US Open Day 8) - Even with today's straight-set loss to Djokovic (2nd, Serbia), this was Gasquet's career-best showing at his home Slam. Gasquet is turning 25 next month. Will he ever fulfill the promise he showed as a teenager or is this as good as it's going to get?

Yung-Jan Chan (Curtain Call, Australian Open Day 14) - The 21-year-old Chan had a great all-around tournament. She reached the singles main draw through qualifiers, then took out the 31st-seeded Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) in the first round. She made it to the third before falling to Maria Sharapova (7th, Russia): her best-ever Roland Garros result in singles. In women's doubles, she teamed with Monica Niculescu (Romania) as the 13th seed. They lost today in the third round to Vania King (USA)/Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) (3rd seed).

But we latched onto Chan in Melbourne for her performance in mixed doubles. In Paris, she teamed with Eric Butorac (USA). In the first round, they took out the 2nd-seeded team of Vania King (USA) and Daniel Nestor (Canada). No doubt, Chan and King have had their fill of each other this week. Chan and Butorac's run ended in the second round today as they fell to Casey Dellacqua (Australia) and Scott Lipsky (USA).

Roland Garros Day 7: Spring Cleaning

Curtain Call

Player: Lukas Rosol
Age: 25
Nation: Czech Republic
Current Ranking: 111
Notable Conquest: Jurgen Melzer (8th seed, Austria)
Today's Result: lost to Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) in four sets


Photo via Bettor.com

At 25, Rosol is at the traditional make-or-break age for a tennis player - not a bad time to have your best-ever Slam result. Rosol went through qualifying to reach the main draw and took out Melzer in the second round. Chela, even at 30, is never a good draw on clay. Rosol did well to take a set off of him.

With company coming next week, it's been a big cleaning day at our house. Our home looks tons better AND we have the rest of the weekend to relax. We're hoping to get out for a hike but thunderstorms are predicted for the rest of the weekend. Just what we need - more water. (It's been a very wet spring in Vermont.)

Roland Garros Day 6: Darcis

Curtain Call

Name: Steve Darcis
Age: 27
Nation: Belgium
Current Ranking: 135
Notable Conquest: Michael Llodra (22nd seed, France)
Today's Result: lost to Gael Monfils (9th, France) in straight sets


Photo via Mens Tennis Forum

Darcis first came to my attention four years ago when, after going through qualifying to reach his first-ever ATP-level tournament (Amersfoot, 2007), he went on to win the title, beating the far more accomplished Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) along the way. Unfortunately, his career has never quite lived up to that extraordinary beginning but he's had a great tournament here. In fact, this is his best-ever finish at a Slam.


Catching Up with Old Friends

Rebecca Marino (Curtain Call, US Open Day 3) - Marino's third round finish is her best-ever result at a Slam. She is currently Canada's top-ranked female player. She fell today to Svetlana Kuznetsova (13th, Russia), 2009 Roland Garros champion. Her ranking, now #60, will improve once again.

Lourdes Dominguez Lino (CC, US Open Day 6) - Lino lost early in singles, falling to Vera Zvonareva (3rd, Russia) in the first round. But given that she missed the French last year, it still qualifies as an improvement. Her showing in doubles was slightly better. She and partner Laura Pous-Tio (Spain) made it to the second round.

Roland Garros Day 5: Soler-Espinosa

Curtain Call

Player: Silvia Soler-Espinosa
Age: 23
Nation: Spain
Current Ranking: 158
Today's Result: lost to Na Li (6th seed, China) in straight sets


Photo via Tennis Forum

Soler-Espinosa went through qualifying to reach the first Slam main draw of her career. She won her first round match, too, taking out Elena Vesnina (Russia). Alas, Li was too good.


Golden Squid Update

Tobias Kamke (Golden Squid since 1/17/2011) - Kamke lost to 15th-seeded Viktor Troicki (Serbia) in straight sets, thus ending his Roland Garros campaign for 2011. He made the 2nd round last year, too, so no ranking points lost or gained. He'll have more at stake at Wimbledon, where he made the 3rd round last year.

Jurgen Melzer (Golden Squid since 1/24/2011) - Melzer's loss today will hurt a lot more, falling to Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) in five sets. He made the semis last year so his ranking will take a big hit. Perhaps to conserve his energy for singles, Melzer did not enter the doubles draw in Paris. At Wimbledon, he and partner Phillip Petzschner are the defending doubles champions.

Roland Garros Day 4: Why Berdych Should Have Consulted Me First

Curtain Call

Player: Stephane Robert
Age: 31
Nation: France
Current Ranking: 140
Notable Conquest: Tomas Berdych (6th seed, Czech Republic)
Today's Result: lost to Fabio Fognini (Italy) in straight sets


Photo via Tennis Today

Did I not say that Tomas Berdych shouldn't have played Nice? I'm most certain I did! Nice champ Nicolas Almagro (11th, Spain) also lost first round in Paris. Why does no one ever heed my advice in these matters?

Stephane deserves major props for taking out Berdych, the biggest scalp taken by anyone in the tournament thus far. Berdych's ranking will take a big hit as he had semifinal points to defend here. For the qualifier Robert, on the other hand, even with today's pasting at the hands of Fognini, this is his best-ever result at Roland Garros. We're only four days into the tournament and I'm already honoring my second local.

Roland Garros Day 3: A New Golden Squid

Curtain Call

Player: Marina Erakovic
Age: 23
Nation: New Zealand
Current Ranking: 167
Today's Result: lost to Arantxa Rus (Netherlands) in three sets

Photo via Otago Daily Times

New Zealand is not particularly known for tennis. Rugby and sailing? They are among the best in the world. Top flight tennis players are few and far between. Erakovic is Croatian by birth, but has lived in New Zealand since she was six. She has a nice website. Check it out here.


Catching Up with Old Friends

Greta Arn (Curtain Call, Wimbledon Day 5) - Arn lost her doubles match today. This was actually her first time in the doubles main draw of a Slam. She partnered with Jill Craybas (USA) and they lost to the 11th-seeded Spanish team of Martina Jose Martinez Sanchez and A. Medina Garrigues. She fell out of the singles draw yesterday, losing to the 9th seeded Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) in straight sets. This was her first Roland Garros singles main draw since 2002. This is her fourth consecutive appearance here, thus earning a Golden Squid award.

Photo via Tennis Served Fresh

Photo via tenhand.com

Arn's overall ranking has improved considerably over the past year. She was ranked 136th in the world when she made the third round at last year's Wimbledon. Now 32 years old, she achieved her career-high ranking of #40 just over a week ago. Her current ranking is #46. She is Hungarian born but competed for Germany until 2008, when she represented Hungary in both Fed Cup and Olympic competition.

Roland Garros Day 2: Phau

Curtain Call

Player: Bjorn Phau
Age: 30
Nation: Germany
Current Ranking: 145
Today's Result: lost to Gael Monfils (9th seed, France) in four sets


Photo via Browse Biography

The Indonesian-German Phau went through qualifying to reach the main draw. He managed to take the first set off of Monfils before dropping off. This was his fourth appearance in the Roland Garros main draw, but his first since 2006.

Roland Garros Day 1: Gensse

Curtain Call

Player: Augustin Gensse
Age: 27
Nation: France
Current Ranking: 178
Today's Result: lost to Stanislas Wawrinka (14th seed, Switzerland) in four sets


Photo via ITF Tennis

Gensse went through qualifying to reach the first Slam main draw of his career. He made Wawrinka work for it, too, by taking the first set. He's got a nice forehand but Wawrinka's backhand is better, not to mention his superior talent and experience overall.


My Tennis Fantasy

Once again, I'm going with the world's top 5 for the Slam: Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Soderling. All five have made it at least as far as the semis here before. For the record, Djokovic is my pick to win. It's hard to pick against Rafa on clay, even with the Djoker's current hot streak. But with each passing week, it's looking more and more like a Djokovic year.