Archive for the ‘French Open’ Category
Top Seeds Cruise Through The First Round
Looking through the results from the matches played by the top seeds yesterday, it is difficult to find a match where they lost a set such was the ease with which the majority of them managed their first round victories.
Nadal Overcomes Early Nerves
Rafael Nadal was taken to a first set tie breaker in his match up against Brazilian qualifier Marcos Daniel. He was also down 1-3 in the second set but Nadal was always in control of the match and did what he needed to in his straight sets victory.
The win was his 29th without loss at Roland Garros and saw him become the holder of the longest winning streak on the red clay at Paris.
Federer Dismisses His First Round Opponent With Ease
Roger Federer’s nerves lasted all of two games as he dropped his first service game to go down 0-2. He broke back immediately and the horse bolted on his opponent Alberto Martin who lost in straight sets 6-4 6-3 6-2 in a dominant disply by Federer.
Andy Roddick Wins…For The First Time At Roland Garros Since 2005
This was a surprising stat for me – I know that over the past few years Roddick has been below his form from earlier in the decade, but I never figured he’d struggle to get through the first round at the French so often.
He missed last year’s tournament through injury, lost the first round in ’07, and was down two sets to love in his opening round in ’06 when he had to withdraw.
This would more »
Safina Off To The Perfect Start
If form is anything to go by, then coming into the French Open Dinara Safina was a country mile ahead of her closest rival. Near perfect over the past month with two victories from three finals appearances in her past three event, Safina has stamped herself as the one to beat with a dominant display over British number one Anne Keothavong.
It doesn’t come much more humiliating than a 6-0 6-0 loss in the opening round of a Grand Slam, and unfortunately for the Brit, her debut in Paris was a mis-match of epic proportions.
Having reached the semi-finals in Warsaw just last week, there was some hope that Keothavong would be able to compete against her much more fancied rival.
But Safina was far too strong and took just 61 minutes to move through to the second round.
Lleyton Hewitt Heads Towards Match-Up With Nadal
The little battler Lleyton Hewitt has moved through to the second round with a hard fought victory over Croatian flagpole Ivo Karlovic.
Despite being on the receiving end of a record 55 aces (no thats not a mis-print) from the 6″ 10′ Croat, Hewitt was able to keep himself togetherand come back from two sets to love down to claim victory in five.
The first three sets of the match went to tie-breakers, and a lesser man might have crumbled under the strain. But the fight has always been strong within Hewitt and he notched up another career five set win to give him a much needed confidence boost heading into the next more »
Day One: It begins again
Women’s French Open Draw Wide Open
With all the talk over the past few weeks about Nadal’s drive to make it five, there has been very little said about the women’s side of the tournament.
And while there is no doubt that the men’s side is the more interesting of the two at the moment, the French Open is the major that the Williams sisters have the greatest trouble winning, and this along with there being no real standouts makes for a fascinating fortnight.
The Williams’ Record At Roland Garros Is Not Great
Between them Venus and Serena Williams have won a total of 17 Grand Slam singles titles…but just one of those was at the French Open in 2002 when the pair met in the final, with Serena claiming victory on the day.
This is obviously their least favourite major, and for the rest of the field this will be an encouraging thought.
The Rest Of The Field Is Vastly Inexperienced
Of the current top 15, there are just two women apart from the Williams sisters who have won a major – defending champion Ana Ivanovic and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. The only other major winners in the tournament are Amelie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova.
Mauresmo’s form has been less than spectacular, and Sharapova might have been considered a chance if she had been able to make her comeback from injury a few months ago as opposed to a few weeks ago.
Ana Ivanovic has steadily dropped in the rankings ever since her French Open win more »
The History of Tennis and the French Open
Every sport has its roots, and tennis is no exception. As most origins of sports, they are a bit bizarre. Tennis, apparently, began as a pass time for 12th century French monks who found themselves with a ball, a long empty room, and a bit too much time on their hands.
The word ‘tennis’ is viewed amongst historical circles as deriving from the French verb ‘tenez’, as in ‘take this’. Not quite as violent as it sounds; the monk who threw the ball into play would have shouted this to announce he was about to do so. There were no racquets in 12th century tennis; just your hand and a ball, a glorified version of handball.
It wasn’t long before the game was picked up as a form of procrastination for royals. French kings enjoyed whacking the roughly sewn balls around with big wooden bats for hours on end (the bats being the first racquets, created earlier on in the 13th century). Their servants were the first ball boys, and were responsible for throwing the ball into play so the likes King Henry VII would not be inconvenienced by doing it himself (many argue this is the origi more »
