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Roland Garros 2011 Promises To Be An Adventure
2 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
There’s something mesmerizing about watching the opening matches of the French Open on TV. Nothing against the concrete hard courts but tennis is so much more fun to play and watch on the red dirt. Unique things happen on red clay. Did you ever see a pro player fall on the court and draw a giant heart on the clay like Gustavo Kuerten did? Have you ever seen a female player besides Francesca Schiavone, who after winning her title last year, fell to the ground and kissed the dirt?
This year promises to be as potentially dramatic as any other French Open there ever was. Perhaps the greatest clay court titan in tennis history Rafael Nadal will be desperate to regain his recently lost status against the seemingly unstoppable, unbeatable tennis machine Novak Djokovic who has bested him FOUR times in a row in finals. Roger Federer is also extremely motivated to regain his position at the top of the game and winning this tournament for the second time would silence all critics who believe he is on the fade. Do not forget Andy Murray who is more then ready to capture his first grand slam title and judging on his effort in Rome against Djokovic, his chances can’t be discounted.
On the women’s side, Maria Sharapova looks primed to win her first major tournament on clay after winning Rome. Julia Georges has sprung out of nowhere to the upper echelon of contenders, joining Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Petra Kvitova, Sam Stosur, Li Na, Jelena Jankovic, Peng Shuai and Kim Clijsters. If you’re thinking of dark horses, like what happened last year, some court observers are considering that feisty Bethanie Mattek Sands can have a big impact on this tournament. Sands has shown this year she can compete with anyone, as evidenced by her two wins over Schiavone.
Brad Gilbert remarked on ESPN today that he believes American representative Mattek Sands has the best chance to advance deep into the event in the women’s draw while Mardy Fish is our best hope in the men’s. Other than those two, Sam Querrey, John Isner, Melanie Oudin can’t be expected to win more than a round or two.
David Ferrer was in action today and he looked explosive while eliminating Jarkko Nieminen. Mattek Sands was down a set and a break to Santonja of Spain but never showed any signs of self-doubt or negativity. She fought her way out of trouble by earning the break back at 4-4 and then winning the second set tiebreak. Sands, one of the toughest competitors in WTA tennis today, took care of business in the third set and will now be trouble for any opponent. Another player people are talking about is Goerges who impressively crushed Mathilde Johansson.
Sam Stosur, who came so close one year ago, losing an unforgettably close and exciting match to Schiavone in the final, dismantled Iveta Benesova with machine like efficiency today. Stosur is a striking figure to watch because she has a very powerful physical, almost robotic presence and she conceals all her emotions while wearing the wrap-around sunglasses under her baseball cap. The only hint of emotion that she shows – and you have to watch closely to see it – is an occasional little hop step after she pummels an ace or winner. Though she plays tennis with the same professional intensity that a ruthless assassin might handle his assignments, the Australian is actually a very nice and polite person when not swinging a Babolat.
Other happenings of day one that caught my attention were the play of Tsonga who pounded out Hajek in three sets. We know how good Tsonga is when healthy but Hajek too showed he is an excellent player who has all the shots and can hit as hard as anyone at times but he just can’t do it enough. Hajek can play some fantastic tennis, however it’s not quite winning tennis. Tsonga looked very good today and most importantly, healthy. ESPN showed some highlights of Monfils hitting some jumping 360 spinning slam dunk shots on Saturday. It was fun to watch but you wonder why a great player like him would waste his energy on potentially hazardous shots like this. Landing after jumping like that could result in a twisted ankle. Why put that unnecessary shock on the ankle and knee joints one day before the tournament starts? Monfils did look good in his white and purple K-Swiss outfit though.
ESPN opened the broadcast with an excellent video montage of some behind the scenes views of top players practicing and being swarmed by fans with autograph requests. It’s amazing how many times these players must sign and how patient they are to do it. ESPN did such a fine job on this that you almost feel like you are there at Roland Garros. Chris Fowler did a nice one-on-one with Djokovic who you can feel his confidence expanding as the weeks go by. He is handling all of his success and media demands perfectly. He absolutely looks 100% ready to win this tournament and I expect him to be spectacularly triumphant in two more weeks on Stade Roland Garros.
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Dan Markowitz · May 23, 2011 at 10:43 am
Roland Garros is special, but for me, the first day of Wimbledon and grass court tennis, is the zenith. I don’t particularly like clay court tennis, particularly the variety of earlier years, where players moon-balled more and traded endless shots from the baseline. Now you have a more aggressive and free-wheeling clay court style and that, to me, is more appealing.
Will Isner beat Nadal? No. Will Querrey beat Kohlschreiber, possible, but again unlikely. Seems like Fish is the only American man, besides maybe Sweeting, but I haven’t seen his draw, who can make any noise.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2011 at 12:54 pm
This is the prelude to Wimbledon, just love seeing those brown courts and the green around it, the architecture of the big stadium and Lenglen and that new smaller court which is so intimate. Plus the sounds the crowd makes are different too, especially on kids day, it sounds the same every year. Plus there are always some incredible matches every year. Isner is going down as is Q. They say Fish has a favorable draw but he always seems to find a way to crash out of slams especially on clay.