PARIS — It hasn’t been an upbeat start for the French Open. Lovers of tradition and intimacy were saddened by the news that the fabled “Bullring” (Court 1) and the quirky, intimate Court 2 would be bulldozed as part of Roland Garros’ re-structuring, which includes many a change, including a roof by 2016. Plus, the tournament is just not the same without America’s three most charismatic players — Andy Roddick, and Serena and Venus Williams. And how ironic it is that the warm, dry forecast will probably make the courts hard and dry, which would be perfect conditions for the absent American powerballers. Then Christina McHale suffered one of the worst opening-round collapses in Slam history when the 19-year-old American — a mere game away from advancing — let a 5-0 third-set lead evaporate against Italy’s Sara Errani, losing 6-7(4), 6-2, 9-7. “I felt like it was slipping away and I couldn’t stop it,” said a tearful McHale. “I just panicked and didn’t take my time…I’m not stunned because I know anything can happen in tennis.” Melanie Oudin‘s loss to defending champ Francesca Schiavone (a Fed Cup rematch) was less dramatic. After losing 6-0, 6-2, Oudin said, “Basically, I pretty much got a clay-court lesson today.” Fellow American Alex Bogomolov Jr. went down, too. Still, kudos have to Mardy Fish, who battled his way past Ricardo Mello 6-2, 6-7(11), 6-2, 6-4, and Jill Craybas, who ousted Eleni Danilidou 6-3, 6-3.
CALIFORNIA SLIDING: Coco Vandeweghe‘s coach, Robert Van’t Hof, said the 19-year-old “is a good slider for a Californian.” (Vandeweghe lost in the first round to Russia’s Maria Kirilenko 7-6(5), 6-2.
IT’S HARD WHEN THE WORDS DON’T COME OUT: Tennis pros have to hit the ball well. But they have to talk, too. Win a match — talk to the media. Win a tournament — give a speech. But Croatian Ivo Karlovic, the tallest man on the ATP Tour, has a problem. He stammers, and when he finished as runner-up at the SAP Open in San Jose in 2007, tournament director Bill Rapp expressed Ivo’s appreciation through prepared comments. Now, you could suggest that in some way, Karlovic makes up for his speech issues by writing wonderful tweets. He’s one of the best in the game. Go figure. Inside Tennis asked Karlovic to comment on the Academy Award winning movie “The King’s Speech,” which celebrates King George VI‘s historic effort to overcome his stammer. Karlovic said it was a great movie “because it describes the situation exactly like it is. It expresses what we have to go through and how people judge us. It’s difficult when words don’t come out. It’s not easy to overcome. It was a great movie because of all the work King George put in on it. I’ve worked on it a lot, but not as much [as he] because of all the traveling I do.” By the way, as a young man, King George, a lefty, played Wimbledon.
OUR HIGHEST RANKED PLAYER IS A FISH: We enjoyed this dialogue between The USA Today’s Doug Robson and America’s highest ranked man (or woman), Mardy Fish:
DR: “Do you feel walking around like you’re a top-10 player?”
MF: “Yeah, I do.”
DR: “You’re comfortable in your skin?”
MF: “ Yeah, it’s 10, so it’s not five. It’s not 11 either. There are only 10 guys in the top 10. It’s extremely satisfying to be the top American, to be the top American seeded at this event on both sides. It’s obviously something a position I’ve never been in. It’s exciting for me, for sure.”
Fish went on to say, “I’m at a career high. I’ve never been in the position that I’m in right now…being the No. 1 American in men’s and women’s, and at a Grand Slam or seeded this high. So I want to enjoy it…I don’t want to just get home or get to the grass or get to the summer, when a lot of times in the past you’re just kind of looking forward to getting to the grass.” As for Roddick’s absence, Fish said, “It’s a bummer. Madrid maybe wasn’t a tournament that he was going to come for if maybe he had done better in the Masters Series events in the States. So you know he put a lot work in over here. He sacrificed a lot to come. He put the work in before the French. It’s a long time over here for us…[and] the South Americans. You can’t just jump home like the Europeans can over here — and like we can in the summer. If we lose early…we can jump home for five or six days before the next tournament. We’re in for the long haul here. It’s tough, because this is the tournament you want to do well at the most. It’s at the end, kind of when you want to get home the most. So in that sense, it’s the toughest time of the year for us schedule-wise, surface-wise…[Roddick’s] certainly injured. He’s not going to come all the way over here and then just leave. When he commits to something, he commits. He works hard. I’m sure it was a bummer for him…I saw every single day what he was doing in Madrid and Rome. So to put the work he put in and then not get anything out of it…is the toughest thing for him.”
THE BIGGEST QUESTION: The biggest question in tennis these days is, of course, how did Novak Djokovic manage to break out and win 38 straight matches? Fish put it this way: “In the beginning, I’d kind of joke…a let-someone-else-win kind of thing. That was sort of at Indian Wells. Now you almost stay away. It’s almost like a pitcher going for a no-hitter. I don’t want to say anything about it. I don’t want to be the guy that says, ‘Hey, by the way, you’re 38-0 or whatever he is. Don’t lose.’ I don’t want to be that guy and then him lose —unless he’s playing me maybe. Maybe I should have said it in Miami. ‘By the way, you haven’t lost a match yet and you’re playing me.’ So, yeah, certainly people are talking about it. It’s incredible. It’s pretty exciting just to be a part of. I certainly know the history of this game and McEnroe‘s streak and Lendl‘s, and this will be right up there. This will be maybe past it, and we’re here seeing it live. It’s pretty cool. Put it in perspective. Obviously, he’s a great player, but he was behind Fed and Nadal and now this break out. [So how many] weaknesses or knocks do you have as a top three player in the world? What were they? The heat was an issue for him. His serve maybe was an issue for him, and his forehand sometimes was the weaker shot. So maybe his fitness level a little bit. That’s probably it. Which is pretty amazing in its own right. He’s answered every single one of those just incredibly. Then the clay. There’s no way he’s going to get through the clay undefeated. No way. He’s not going to beat Nadal. Twice? No way. He’s not going to win Rome. It’s too slow, you know. He’s not going to beat Nadal there. He’s beaten him in straight sets twice. He answered the bell in Miami when it was hot. Nadal just feasts on guys like that, in matches like that, winning long physical matches in the heat. He struggled with him, and so it’s just incredible. He’s got no weaknesses. Playing him in Miami on a surface that I was comfortable on, it’s hard to pinpoint where you’re supposed to attack, because he turns defense into offense quicker than anybody, better than anybody that I’ve ever played against — right now anyway. The guy is seeing it like a beach ball.”
NOLE THE MOVER AND SHAKER: Mats Wilander told ESPN.com, “Movement is why Djokovic is the best player right now. It’s why Rafa is the best player ever. It’s also why Robin Soderling hasn’t won a major, or Tomas Berdych, for that matter.”
NEW MEANING FOR ATP?: Ticked off at the ATP for docking his pay in Rome after he pulled out of the doubles with an injury, Roddick said, “The ATP stands for Association of Tennis Professionals. It should be the Association of Tie People.”
VIRGINIE’S LOSS: Virginie Razzano‘s fiancé/coach Stephane Vidal died on May 16 following a long battle with a brain tumor. The Frenchwoman opted to remain in the Roland Garros draw “because his intention is that I keep on going in my life, that I play for him and that I be strong and to fight.” Several players are wearing black ribbons in Vidal’s honor.
CHALLENGER CHAMPIONSHIPS: The ATP will host the inaugural ATP Challenger Tour Finals Nov. 14-20 in Sao Paulo, a year-end minor-league showdown akin to the Barclay ATP World Tour Finals.
TAKING A DIVE: After tumbling to the court in Rome, Maria Sharapova confessed, “I took a dive. I thought I was on the cliffs of Italy and forgot there was no water out there.”
FEEL-GOOD MOMENT OF THE MONTH: Felix Barte, father of Stanford standout Hilary Barte, said, “I was watching an 80-year-old lady by the service line. She could hardly move, but she was returning the ball to a man who was about 75. I thought, ‘That’s the sport I want to teach my kids.'”
QUOTEBOOK
“All the years that I’ve been in tennis, and there are a lot of them, I don’t think [men’s] tennis has ever been even close to as strong as it is now…There’s never been an era that’s been as close. Not the Agassi–Sampras era, not the Connors–McEnroe era, not Borg, none of them come close to this era in terms of sheer shotmaking ability.” — Cliff Drysdale
“She plays more like Martina Hingis than she plays like Serena Williams. In a way, it’s kind of nice to see that style of play return, but I don’t think it’s going to be for very long.” — Cliff Drysdale on Caroline Wozniacki
