Tennis Chatter

The only real upset so far at the French Open was Andy Roddick falling in the first round. Honestly, Roddick hasn’t had that much success on clay and this is one of surfaces on which anyone can win. Anyone not named Andy Roddick. But I expect Andy to make some noise later on this year in US open where he is more comfortable.

Big names still playing.

Maria Sharapova took down Emilie Loit 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Rafael Nadal winning, because that’s just what he does all of the freaking time.

Justine Henin advances to the third round.

Roger Federer held off Thierry Ascione’s third set rally to win 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (8).

Venus Williams, with the fastest serve by a woman in a main draw tournament… ever.

Jelena Jankovic will have to attempt to return that serve of Williams’ in the next round.

This is a short wrap up before round three heats up. Serena still has to play her second round match. Hopefully both of the sisters will move on and keep us Americans invested in Roland Garros.

If there is one and it’s a man than he’s not playing tennis. 8 American men left France early. The hope for America lies in two ladies… you might have heard of them… they’re sisters.

Currently in Paris Venus Williams is firing away at Ashley Harkleroad with a first set rout 6-1. Williams leads 3-1 in the second set.

Serena plays later today.

Could this be a revival from five years ago? When the Sisters dominated the tennis world? With these champions you just have to wait and see.

On the men’s side, Roddick lost in a grueling match against Igor Andreev 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. It just looked like Andy’s shots weren’t strong enough to withstand Igor. Roddicks strong service game falter due to the slower service of clay. Too many times shots that should’ve hit the ground and kept going quickly, hung around long enough for Igor to return. Roddick just didn’t look very comfortable on the surface. Even though he’s done this year, the elusive Roland Garros trophy is still in his sights.

“I’m not going to give up. It’s my biggest challenge, that’s not a secret,” Roddick said.

Another American, James Blake, will not continue on in France. He lost to Ivo Karlovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.

So it’s up to Venus and Serena to keep most American Tennis fans interested in the Open and if you’ve watched any of their matches yet than you’ve seen how exciting their games can be.

On the men’s side only Nikolay Davydenko was able to complete a match yesterday due to serious rain and wind in Roland Garros. Roger Federer was settling into his game against Michael Russell, but could not wrap it up yesterday. He had to come back this morning and finish things up 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

For now the rain has stopped. Currently playing on the red clay is

Frenchman Richard Gasquet

versus

Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

Gasquet strength is in his backhand, but instead of me butchering the description of his swing I shall reference another site.

“Gasquet is noted for his powerful and precise one-handed backhand, for his flair and shot-making ability and is also known for his speed around the court. Gasquet’s one-handed backhand features a high take back, utilising gravity, coils up (very low to the ground), and slowly unwinds, and unleashes one of the most beautiful and lethal shots seen these days in tennis.”

I just thought “these days in tennis” was a great way to put it.

Mahut is without his double’s partner Julien Benneteau and thus is short handed. Mahut is more comfortable in the doubles game.

Gasquet has used that “beautiful and lethal” backhand to take a 5-1 lead in the first set. And now a little play by play that I love so well.

Gasquet serving for the set. Gasquet long on return from Mahut. Love-15. Long rally Gasquet finishes with drop shot. 15-15. Gasquet double faults. 15-30. Mahut returns into the net. 30-30. Another return by Mahut into the net. 40-30. Another Gasquet double fault. Deuce. Gasquet doubles fault AGAIN. Advantage Mahut. Gasquet returns into the net. Mahut breaks Gasquet’s serve.

Gasquet leads 5-2. What I see from that set point is that Gasquet has the jitters. He double faulted three times.

Back to live coverage.

Mahut to serve. Strong first serve, sticks Gasquet in corner of the court. 15-love. Close net play between the two. Mahut comfortable at net. 30-love. Gasquet backhands into the net. 40-love. Gasquet wide on return. Mahut wins point and holds serve.

Gasquet leads 5-3.

Gasquet dominates first point. 15-love. both blasting away at the ball. Gasquet hits it out. 15-15. Mahut can’t keep up with the rally. 30-15. Mahut into the net. 40-15. Set point for Gasquet. Double fault for Gasquet, Mahut holds on. 40-30. Mahut can’t hold on anymore. Gasquet takes first serve.

One of the things that I love about the French Open, especially the first round, are the battles like this one. I didn’t know either of these players before this match, but I was able to see there competitive spirit. Their name might not be Federer, Nadal, or Roddick, but they want to win and they’ll leave it all on the court just for the chance to try.

Right now I have a preview of Tennis Channel and we all know what that means. 24/7 coverage of the French Open. Yesterday I watched Serena Williams comeback from a first set loss to Tsvetana Pironkova to win 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. I saw her break down Pironkova. I heard the grunts, the footfalls, the ball smacks. If only I had smell o vision than I’d really be there.

At this moment Tennis Channel is covering Venus Williams’ first round match against Alize Cornet. Venus won the first set 6-4 and is serving to go up 3-2 in the second. Cornet has battled in this game and has taken it to deuce. Williams has the Advantage and… wins the game. See? Live blog coverage is really cool. Being able to break down matches as they happen.

Cornet’s first serve in the 6th game took 30 seconds for Williams to break. Love-15. Williams is working her backhand out. Love-30. Williams digs deep and hits a huge forehand crosscourt. Love-40. Williams finishes things quickly as she wins the game. 4-2. Williams serves and tries to approach the net, but Cornet hits past her into the backcourt. Love-15 Cornet. Williams again to the net and kills the ball. 15-15. Williams big serve traps Cornet into a bad return. 30-15. Williams’ forehand is really cooking with a great shot down the baseline. 40-15. Cornet cannot return the blistering serve as Venus holds. 5-2.

Cornet trying to hold her serve and stay in the match. Cornet wins her first serve. 15-love. She double faults. 15-15. Williams returns into the net. 30-15. Willams shanks the ball wide. 40-15. Cornet is just wide on her volley. 40-30. Cornet survives and holds her serve. 5-3.

Williams serves for the match. Williams wins long rally after first serve. 15-love. Williams spikes the ball at the net. 30-love. First serve long, Cornet’s return is long. 40-love, match point. Jittery fist serve, Cornet again long on the return and Williams wins in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. She moves into the second round before the rain poured down in Roland Garros.

She will face either Wozniak or Harkleroad in the next round. In her draw is Jelena Jankovic, which if they meet up will be an awesome match.

Well that’s all for today. Federer plays later on today and that’ll be fun to watch his first round match. Check back here for more on the ongoing clay battles.

With the French Open just days away that means many of the tune up tournaments are wrapping up as well. Several top players are finishing play on clay courts all over the world. Here’s a quick run down of matches.

Gael Monfils beat Andy Roddick in Poertschach, Austria to advance to the semifinals.

Roddick was respectful about losing to Monfils.

“He’s a great athlete and seems to get every ball back,” Roddick said.

Monfils was cocky about beating Roddick.

“I knew how to play Roddick as I beat him last year,” Monfils said. “I am tall and can reach a lot of his serves.”

Monfils is allowed to have a swagger after continually breaking Roddick’s serve and claiming victory 7-5, 6-3. So the wildcard moves on to Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals. Will Hewitt continue his comeback or will Monfils have his number too?

Maria Sharapova continues to polish her game. She made it to the semifinals in Istanbul following a three set win Agnieszka Radwanska. Sharapova dropped the second set 3-6 before dominating the third set without losing a game. The final tally was 6-2, 3-6, 6-0. Number two will face, the Venus Williams conqueror, Aravane Rezai in the next round.

Elsewhere Amelie Mauresmo and Jelena Jankovic made it to the semifinals in the Strasbourg International Thursday. For Jankovic this is the 8th time she’s made it to the semis this year. Mauresmo is looking strong as well. Could be an interesting final if they end up squaring off.

Well the wait is almost over. The stream of information regarding tennis will soon become a river and I will be here with a net to catch the biggest news. We’re entering the Grand Slam chunk of the summer when everyone pulls out all of the stops and goes for it. Congratulations, tennis fans, exicting tennis is on the way.

Venus Williams is out in Istanbul and we have Aravane Rezai to thank for it. Rezai bested Venus 6-4, 6-4. Williams has played only 5 clay matches all year and her next one will be in Roland Garros. Look out, could be bad news unless she has a miracle contingency of which we are unaware.

For the American men, Andy Roddick has made it to the quarterfinals in Poertschach, Austria. He beat Kristian Pless in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. At this point Roddick’s game is still a little rusty and he knows it.

“I am serving well, but I am not happy with my performance in return games,” Roddick said. “I will have to improve that part of my game to be really successful at a clay surface.”

Next Roddick will swing against

Gael Monfils.

Other remaining players in the Hypo Group International tournament include

Lleyton Hewitt

and

defending champion Nikolay Davydenko.

So Andy how about we get your return game back on track and win in Austria. Then we can hop on down to France on Sunday and start hacking away there? That’d be great.

After a month and a half, the World’s number two women’s tennis player, stepped back on a court in Istanbul. She won, but it wasn’t pretty. Sharapova was pretty rusty. She served 9 double faults on her way to a 6-4, 7-6 over Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.

Maria knew her game was a little off.

“It was a difficult match and I was not expecting much from myself because I just came back from one of my worst injuries,” Sharapova said. “But it was good to beat a good player. I, of course, did not feel 100 percent. It was not my best performance.”

Her “not best performance” still gets her into the quarterfinals which is good, winning the trophy is better. To do that Sharapova might have to face Venus Williams who beat Tatiana Poutchek quickly in the first round 6-1, 6-2.

Istanbul could be a decent training grounds for these ladies. With the French Open right around the corner Sharapova and Williams certainly need the practice. Neither have had a real impressive first half of the season. But both of them are champions and now a thing or two about the competitive spirit. A little warm up and they should be fine.

I don’t know, but I’d better be a quick learner, because chances are I’m going to be chatting about her quite often in the coming months. Na Li’s the fourth seed in the Strasbourg International tournament where yesterday she blasted Masa Zec-Peskiric 6-3, 6-3. She won 20 single titles in 5 years. She often plays doubles alongside recent Rome conqueror Jelena Jankovic. She’s ranked 18th and rising. She’s a millionaire. No matter if you say it Na Li or Li Na her name is going to carry some weight before it is all said and done.

She’s been competing since 1999 and has climbed up from 40th in the world to her current ranking. In this last tournament before Roland Garros, Li could possibly face Mauresmo or her ally Jankovic. This warm up should be a good test for all of these ladies as we head into the second grand slam of the year.

On the men’s side, Roddick advanced to the second round in his pre-French Open tournament Hypo Group International. Andy was weary of his performance.

“It was a close match. I played well but made too many unforced errors,” Roddick said.

The American outlasted Alexander Peya 6-4, 7-5. He’ll play Kristian Pless of Denmark next.

So this last week of play before the French is an interesting time to watch some players prepare and for others to enjoy their recent accomplishments.

Dropping the first set 2-6 Sunday, it looked like Roger Federer was going to stay in his slump. It had been 4 tournaments since the world’s number one had won and he was staring across the net at a player who was riding an 81 straight on clay winning streak.

After the first set, Rafael Nadal looked prepped to bite another trophy

and send Federer home with his fifth straight loss.

The second set looked a bit differently. Federer dominated 6-2 and rolled into the third set were he did even better. 6-0 in the final set and it was Federer who claimed victory. The rivalry has finally been renewed.

Federer was optimistic about the win.

“It was an incredible performance from my side,” Federer said. “I had a great day, it’s nice to be playing well again. It’s my first title on clay in a couple of years.”

Nadal leads the total series between them 7-4. It’s a good victory for Federer in that coming into this match the rivalry seemed all but over. It’s not much of a rivalry when one player does all of the winning. With the win, Federer not only pulls out of his slump but also sets the stage for an interesting French Open.

Federer needs a win in Roland Garros to be half way through a Career Grand Slam. The Career is winning all four Grand Slams in one circuit year. Can Federer do it? Maybe. It was a BIG MAYBE before this win in Hamburg and now is a smaller maybe. Roger certainly could climb the ranks in France, but I can’t imagine Nadal will just lay down and let him win another one on clay. Especially a grand slam.

Kudos to Federer for getting back in there and showing the world he knew how to comeback. Let’s see what happens in Roland Garros.

Back in college a friend of mine sent a fake letter to another friend of mine. Every part of the letter was nonsense, especially the addressee on the envelope. The supposed sender of the letter’s address was 1101 E. South St. which was the exact opposite of the receiver’s address. The receiver didn’t notice. Most importantly was the supposed sender’s name. Lleyton Hewitt. The receiver didn’t know who that was. And this was when Hewitt was a big name in Men’s Tennis.

So just who is this Lleyton Hewitt? On Thursday, Nikolay Davydenko learned a good deal more about him than he would’ve liked. Hewitt upset the third seeded Davydenko in three sets 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 sending Davydenko packing and Hewitt into the quarterfinals. There Hewitt will be in good company.

Nadal made it the quarterfinals. Surprised? He bested Igor Andreev in straight sets Thursday. Nadal’s next victim will be Fernando Gonzalez.

Carlos Moya showed James Blake a thing or two on clay and also is sticking around in Hamburg. Moya will battle Novak Djokovic for a semifinal birth.

And the big surprise of the day was Roger Federer holding his own against former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. I’m surprised that the world’s best player won a match? Quite frankly yes. Federer dominated a match for the first time in a month winning 6-2, 6-3. His next opponent will be David Ferrer of Spain. Congrats Rog.

And back to Hewitt who will face Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the quarters. If he wins this match, goes on to the semis, wins there, and goes to the championship in Hamburg is career would be resurrected. Especially if he hires Federer’s recently fired coach.

Then, Mr. Hewitt, no fake letter sent by you would be unidentified and returned to sender. You’re fake letter would be opened and appreciated.

It looked like Amelie Mauresmo had it made. Her top opponents were out of the tournament and her draw to the final only had one real snag… Serena Williams. Right? Wrong.

On Wednesay Mauresmo struggled against and then lost to 29th ranked Samantha Stosur. Her lose wasn’t from a lack of trying. She basically had the match in the third set when she was up 5-3 and was serving for the win. And she just couldn’t get it done.

“Obviously the lack of matches showed a little bit in that moment,” said Mauresmo.

Amelie hasn’t played in quite awhile and is still recovering from appendectomy surgery. She lost the long hard fought match 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (7).

But Mauresmo is a champion and will return to form soon.

Remember that snag in the draw I mentioned earlier? Serena Williams? Now that Mauresmo’s out Williams is the strongest player in her section of the Italian Open. Her next opponent is Shahar Peer of Israel. If Williams makes it past her than she will face either Stosur or Patty Schnyder. Then she’ll be in the semifinals, but she’ll face some stiff competition there.

Jelena Jankovic is still sliding around the clay courts of Rome. Jankovic’s tough and if a semifinal match occurs between her and Williams it will be a battle for the record books.

Remember the days when just saying the names Venus and Serena caused applause to erupt from the people around you? No? Then you weren’t in good company. To catch you up, Venus and Serena used to dominate women’s tennis. There ws a time when you couldn’t turn on the TV without hearing about their victories. Sadly, over the past few years other women have come along and have bested our American champions. Names like Henin and Sharapova have crested the WTA mountain top. Venus and Serena began to fade into the annuls of tennis history.

And then came 2007.

Earlier this year Serena Williams stepped out of history and showed the upstart Sharapova a thing or two. At the Australian Open no less. She screamed her way through the final and one her eighth Grand Slam. She won the match convincingly as well 6-1, 6-2.

Her name is a buzz word again. In fact, a few minutes ago I was strolling down the city sidewalk, said “Serena”, and was thanked by passersby for brightening their day with a single word. Ok… that didn’t happen, but if she keeps rolling through the Rome Masters it might.

On Tuesday Serena showed the competition her will to fight. She faced Michaella Krajicek and was confronted with her own rusty play.

“I kept missing and hitting balls out. I wasn’t playing my game at all. I was letting her dictate play,” Williams said.

But soon the former number one raised her play and got the job done winning 6-4, 6-1.

The Good news for Williams is the field of competition in Rome. Sharapova, Henin, and Hingis are no shows. The bad news for Williams is the field of competition. Number 3 Amelie Mauresmo is in her draw and stands between her and that trophy she wants to lift over her head.

Actually men’s tennis is coming! To Germany. Much like the ladies, who recently wrapped up play in Munich, the men will now take center stage in their last tournament before the French Open. The world’s best are in full force to prove they have what it takes to beat one man. And that one man isn’t ranked number one. He’s that one guy. The one who has 77 straight victories on clay. Remember Rafael Nadal?

Yeah I figured you probably did.

Roger Federer has lost 4 straight matches and is understandably unhappy. He’s so upset he’s fired his coach and is going solo. Ofcourse, Rog says his decision to go it alone has nothing to do with his recent slump.

“It’s something that’s been inside myself for a few months,” Federer said. “It was a decision that wasn’t easy, of course, because we’re good friends and get along very well and he’s helped me a lot over the last couple of years.”

Uh huh. Sure Rog. Let’s see how you do without a coach in your corner.

Before I get too big for my britches, let me say that the champion inside Federer will probably force me to eat my sarcasm. I say, “I’ve got the bib Roger and I’m hungry for you to get back on the Career Grand Slam tour.”

In regards to Hamburg, Federer knows how to win. He won there in 02, 04, and 05. He’s won there before, he can win there again. As long as Nadal forgets his lucky racket.

Hamburg should be interesting. The last Master before the Grand Slam season always is.