Tennis : French Open (28th May - 11th June)

[edtkh]

With the draws finally out today, we're all set for the second Grand Slam of the year and it should be an enthralling fortnight with some exciting matchups(and hopefully, some clangers by the books in the early rounds). :hope As far as the outright market's concerned in the men's tourny, I can't see past a Federer-Nadal final (although admittedly, that's pretty obvious to most avid tennis followers) but I'd certainly beg to differ from the mass hordes who think Nadal has got this all sewn up. Nadal may lead Federer 5-1 on head-to-head(and 3-0 on clay), but there's no denying Federer has closed the gap between him and the Spaniard as there was hardly anything seperating(when Federer had 2 matchpoints) the pair in Rome when they last met. In truth, this should be a 50-50 market and Federer has got to be the value bet given the difference in the price between the duo. However, history isn't on Nadal's side although he is as well poised to rewrite it as anyone before him : it has been 5 years since anyone defended his French Open crown and much as Kuerten was irresistible on clay, it is easy to forget even Guga wasn't able to defend his crown after the first time he won it as a raw teenager back in 1997. Then again, neither did Michael Chang nor Mats Wilander who won their maiden French Open in their youth. Besides, I can't help but feel Federer has got somewhat an easier draw than Nadal with the Swiss having no formiddable opposition(Robredo will probably be the toughest he could face in the quarters) until at least the semis when I'd expect him to play one of the following : Nalbandian/Gaudio/Ferrero/Moya. The draw's certainly been a bit of a surprise with 3 former champions coming in the second quarter, yet with seemingly no serious contender from the third... :@ As for the women's draw, I'd personally still fancy Henin-Hardenne to do well much as her form has been abysmal(by her standards, compared with last year when she went unbeaten throughout the claycourt season coming into RG) lately - her mental toughness, aptitude and experience on this surface will go a long way to set her apart from the many pretenders to her throne IMO. Will be back with more on individual matches closer to Day 1 when prices are up... Enjoy the tournament!

[Mr Intensity]

Re: Tennis : French Open (28th May - 11th June) Wahay, we get a sticky:nana :nana :nana. I'm really looking forward to this, not entirely sure why, but I think it's going to be awesome:cow :cow. Here's the draws: Mens Draw: 1.Roger Federer(SWI) vs Aronaud Clement(FRA) Q vs Justin Gimelstob (USA) Gilles Muller(LUX) vs Max Mirnyi (BLR) Xavier Malisse(BEL) vs 32. NIcolas Massu(CHI) 20.Tomas Berdych(CZE) vs Feliciano Lopez(SPA) Filippo Volandri (ITA) vs Q Marc Gicquel (FRA)vs Aessandro Di Mauro (ITA) Jurgen Melzer(AUT) vs 13.Nicolas Kiefer (GER) 12.Mario Ancic (CRO)vs Nathan Healey(AUS) Paul Capdeville (CHI) vs Greg Rusedski (GBR) Florian Mayer (GER) vs Q Albert Montanes(SPA) vs 17.Robby Ginepri (USA) 26.Jose Acasuso (ARG) vs Fabrice Santoro(FRA) Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) vs Kristof Vliegen (BEL) Boris Pashanski (SCG) vs Victor Hanescu (Rom) Tomas Zib (CZE)vs 7.Tommy Robredo(SPA) 3.David Nalbandian (ARG) vs Stanislas Wawrinka(SWi) Richard Gasquet (FRA)vs Wang (TPE) Keneth Carlsen(DAN) vs Tim Henman(GBR) Jiri Novak (CZE) vs 31.Dimitry Tursunov(RUS) 21.Sebestien Grosjean (FRA)vs Andrei Pavel (ROM) Q vs Paul Goldstein(USA) Wesley Moodie(RSA) vs NIcolas Lapentti(ECU) 16.Jarkko Nieminen(Fin) vs Raemon Sluiter(NED) 10. Gaston Gaudio (ARG) vs Q Andreas Seppi (ITA)vs Q Oliver Marach (AUT)vs Philipp Kohlschreiber(GER) 24.Juan Carlos Ferrero (SPA) vs Q Carlos Moya (SPA)vs Juan Marin(CR) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)vs Q Potito Starace(ITA) vs Flavio Saretta(BRA) 6.Nikolay Davydenko(RUS) vs Vince Spadea(USA) 5.Andy Roddick (USA) vs Alberto Martin (SPA) Q vs Razvan Sabau (ROM) Nicolas Mahut (FRA) vs Jiri Vanek (CZE) Jean-Christophe Faurel (FRA) vs 27.Olivier Rochus (BEL) 19.Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) vs Albert Portas (SPA) Janko Tipsarevic (SCG) vs Julien Benneteau (FRA) Daniele Bracciali (ITA) vs Davide Sanguinetti (ITA) Michael Llodra (Fra) vs 11.Radek Stepanek (CZE) 15.David Ferrer (SPA) vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (SPA) Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) vs Jeremy Chardy (FRA) Thierry Ascione (FRA) vs Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (SPA) Christophe Rochus (BEL) vs 18.Thomas Johansson (SWE) 28.Fernando Verdasco (SPA) vs Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) Juan Monaco (ARG) vs Q Q vs Gilles Simon (FRA) Carlos Berlocq (ARG) vs 4.Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 8.James Blake (USA)vs Paradorn Srichaphan (THA) Nicolas Almagro (SPA) vs Q Q vs Q Andy Murray (GBR) vs 25.Gael Monfils (FRA) 23-Tommy Haas (Germany) vs Rainer Schuettler (GER) Alexander Waske (GER) vs Fernando Vicente (Spain) Novak Djokovic (SCG) vs Luis Horna (PER) Marat Safin (RUS) vs 9.Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) 14.Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) vs Jan Hernych (CZE) Mathieu Montcourt (FRA) vs Marcos Daniel (BRA) Ivo Karlovic (CRO) vs Olivier Patience (FRA) Q vs 22.Dominik Hrbaty (SLO) 29.Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) vs Bjoern Phau (GER) Robin Vik (CZE) vs Florent Serra (FRA) Q vs Q Robin Soderling (SWE) vs 2.Rafael Nadal (SPA) Womens Draw: (1) Amelie Mauresmo FRA vs Meghann Shaughnessy USA Anastasia Rodionova RUS vs Vera Dushevina RUS Laura Pous-Tio ESP vs Jelena Jankovic SCG (25) Marion Bartoli FRA vs wc Aurelie Vedy FRA (22) Ai Sugiyama JAP vs Eleni Daniilidou GRE q vs q Tiantian Sun CHN vs Ekatarina Bytchkova RUS (16) Nicole Vaidisova CZE vs Marta Domachowska POL (11) Venus Williams USA vs Sybille Bammer AUT wc Youlia Fedossova FRA vs Emma Laine FIN Peng Shuai CHN vs Elena Vesnina RUS (19) Elena Likhovtseva RUS vs Karolina Sprem CRO (29) Sofia Arvidsson SWE vs Maria Vento-Kabchi VEN Meng Yuan CHN vs q Jarmila Gajdosova SVK vs wc Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA (7) Patty Schnyder SUI vs Michaella Krajicek NED (4) Maria Sharapova RUS vs Mashona Washington USA Iveta Benesova CZE vs wc Pauline Parmentier FRA wc Alicia Molik AUS vs Antonella Serra-Zanetti ITA (28) Lucie Safarova CZE vs q (24) Katarina Srebotnik SLO vs Anna Smashnova ISR Jelena Kostanic CRO vs Ashley Harkleroad USA Hana Sromova CZE vs Roberta Vinci ITA (14) Dinara Safina RUS vs Vera Zvonareva RUS (9) Francesca Schiavone ITA vs Alona Bondarenko UKR Nathalie Vierin ITA vs Martina Müller GER q vs q (17) Flavia Pennetta ITA vs Bethanie Mattek USA (27) Anna Chakvetadze RUS vs q Li Na CHN vs Amy Frazier USA Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP vs Mara Santangelo ITA (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS vs Laura Granville USA (5) Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL vs Maret Ani EST Jill Craybas USA vs Anastasia Yakimova BLR wc Alize Cornet FRA vs Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP (30) Klara Koukalova CZE vs Tathiana Garbin ITA (19) Ana Ivanovic SCG vs Samantha Stosur AUS Emilie Loit FRA vs q Melinda Czink HUN vs q (10) Anastasia Myskina RUS vs Sania Mirza IND (13) Anna-Lena Grönefeld GER vs Camille Pin FRA Yan Zi CHN vs Jamea Jackson USA wc Mathilde Johansson FRA vs q (20) Maria Kirilenko RUS vs wc Severine Bremond FRA (32) Gisela Dulko ARG vs q Kristina Brandi PUR vs Yuliana Fedak UKR Shenay Perry USA vs Shinobu Asagoe JAP (3) Nadia Petrova RUS vs Akiko Morigami JAP (6) Elena Dementieva RUS vs Martina Sucha SVK Viktoriya Kutuzova UKR vs Vania King USA Maria-Antonia Sanchez-Lorenzo ESP vs Tsvetana Pironkova BUL (31) Shahar Peer ISR vs Olga Savchuk UKR (23) Tatiana Golovin FRA vs Jie Zheng CHN Ivana Lisjak CRO vs q Julia Schruff GER vs Zuzana Ondraskova CZE (12) Martina Hingis SUI vs Lisa Raymond USA (15) Daniela Hantuchova SVK vs Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP Maria-Elena Camerin ITA vs Emmanuelle Gagliardi SUI Catalina Castano COL vs Aiko Nakamura JAP (21) Nathalie Dechy FRA vs Stephanie Foretz FRA (26) Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP vs q Kaia Kanepi EST vs Kveta Peschke CZE Mariana Diaz-Oliva ARG vs Conchita Martinez Granados ESP (2) Kim Clijsters BEL vs Virginie Razzano FRA Good luck everyone, my first selections will be up on Saturday evening:clap :clap :clap