Not many men from the United States can say that about the French Open. If I were to have predicted that U.S. Men, would be a combined 0-14 thus far (as of 6 pm, Thursday May 31), NO ONE would have believed me. But after Roddick, Blake, Ginepri, Querrey, Spadea, Delic, Gimelstob, Russell, and Kendrick lost in the first round of singles, it was then followed by Butorac, Querrey/Russell, Gimelstob/Kendrick, Delic/Parrott, and Ginepri/Lipsky all falling in the first round of doubles. If you think it sounds bleak, think again…because the good ole US of A is guarenteed to advance at least one man to the second round of something. Luckily, the Bryan bros play Vince Spadea and his partner, Kristian Pless of Denmark tomorrow, meaning that even if the Bryans get upset, at least Spadea will be in the second round. The only other hopeful is Jim Thomas, who is paired the Swiss star Yves Allegro. (more…)

The weather turned out better than expected today, and fans are being treated to a full day of tennis. Federer, Nadal, Roddick, Blake etc etc were all in action today, but I staked our Court No. 1 early in the day to get a seat for the Gael Monfils/ Olivier Rochus match, which wasnt scheduled until 3rd match on. I took my seat at the beginning of the continuation of the Milagros Seguera/ Virgine Razzano match, which was put on hold yesterday with Razzano up one set to love. I was hoping for a quick finish, I didn’t get it. Seguera ended up winning 9-7 in the 3rd, about two hours later. It wasn’t the best quality of tennis, as it seemed neither player wanted to win, making tons of errors at crucial moments, but it was at least exciting. (more…)

Almost 6 pm here in Paris on Sunday, May 27th and unfortunately not much has happened. Only one match was completed, as 22nd seeded Marat Safin destroyed Fernando Vicente 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. And since I slept until 1pm, I didn’t actually see any tennis (notice how the subject says “Live from Paris,” and not “Live from Roland Garros.” Hopefully tomorrow will be the latter.

Since I can’t really write about today’s tennis, and no one wants to hear that the Red Sox currently hold a 11.5 game lead over the Yankees, I’ll make a couple of bold predictions instead. (more…)

Just wanted to check in real quick, it has been crazy around here getting ready for the French Open, Wimbledon and the Fed Cup all at the same time.  Exhausting, but exciting at the same time. 

Since I last wrote, the sports world has been turned upside down.  I’m not referring the Celtics getting the # 5 pick instead of the first or second, although that did affect me in an incredibly profound, negative way, but rather Federer’s win over Nadal in the finals of Hamburg.  After losing the first 6-2 and looking like he would fold the match like he would a 2-7 offsuit, Federer instead turned the tables and destroyed Nadal 6-2, 6-0 to take the title, get his first win over Nadal on clay, and end Nadal’s 81 clay-court match winning streak.  Not to mention ending world wars and hunger forever.

In all seriousness, it’s great that Federer was able to accomplish most of those things, but the question remains - will he win the French?  Notice the question is not ‘can he win the French?’ Because the answer is yes, he most certainly can.  Bottom line is that Nadal is still the odds-on favorite to win, and he is the best player in the world on clay.  Nadal was clearly running on steam after some tough earlier matches in the tournament, and ran out of gas.  That is not to say Federer still wouldn’t have won, because he was playing like a he usually does, a man possessed.  One thing I do not fully buy into is that Nadal’s streak was weighing on him.  The thing about a streak like that is once you break the record, the rest is just gravy.  The homerun Barry Bonds will have to hit to tie Hank Aaron and also the one to break the record will be the two hardest of his career; but no. 758 and onward, there will be no pressure.  Same with Nadal, once he broke Vilas’ record, every match he won from there on was icing on the cake.  He lost to Federer because he was tired, and Federer played an unbelievable match. 

As always, alot will depend on the draw each player receives, and how fresh they are when (and if) they reach the finals.  Once the draw comes out, I’ll write a full preview for both the Men’s and Women’s tournaments, and since I’ll be in Paris I’ll be updating as often as I can.  Until then, here are some entertaining links:

Solid article from Greg Garber at ESPN regarding Fed and the French.

Wimbledon tweaking the challenge system a bit.

Sampras will have a chance for revenge over Federer.

Announced by the USTA on Tuesday, the semifinal Fed Cup by BNP Paribas USA vs. Russia in association with Grand Slam Tennis Tours, will be held at Topnotch Resort and Spa in Stowe, Vermont on July 14th and 15th. Working in the Grand Slam office day to day, I can tell you that this was not an easy task.  It took a lot of hard work and planning by all three major entities involved.  (more…)