!Picby Pete Bodo
The last time Sloane Stephens made some serious noise at a tournament, she told the press she was hoping to get a car. After her win yesterday over Mathilde Johansson, she admitted that the car thing never happened. She mentioned gas prices as part of the reason, whereupon a Dutch reporter invited her to Holland, which is a little surprising, given the still astronomical difference in prices between the U.S. and Europe. I suppose the fella meant that Holland is so small you can get from one end to the other in the time it takes Rafael Nadal to prepare to serve again after a point. Anyway, Stephens answered him:
Stephens plays Sam Stosur in the fourth round on Sunday.
—Maria Sharapova, sports psychologist? The No. 2 seed at Roland Garros plays Klara Zakopalova next. After her last win, she was asked how she keeps from "imploding" or "falling apart" when she gets a case of the nerves. She revealed that she pretty muchtakes an "embrace the moment" tack.
Spoken like someone who resides in the "can" camp most of the time, right? When pressed further ("but what happens when it's a lot of nerves") she turned realist:
—A journalist asked Roger Federer, who will play lucky loser David Goffin of Belgium for a place in the quarterfinals, what he would say if he learned (as is the case) that he was Goffin's idol (the 21-year-old Goffin has admitted that his room at home was plastered with Federer photos and posters). Federer replied honestly, with no false modesty.
Somehow, I think Federer will be able to handle that situation. . .
—Svetlana Kuznetsova knocked off No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, and she's got a winnable match with surprising Italian Sara Errani, who specializes in defense and consistency. That would play right into the hands of the "new" Sveta. The champ here in 2009, Kuznetsova made a few allusions during her last presser to changes she's made in her approach to the game. When asked to elaborate, Kuznetsova said:
I take this to mean that her heart is in Russia, and her body needs to be there too. But when it comes to her game, she needs to be more Nadal than Youzhny.
—I've noticed that a number of questions on the transcripts are now prefaced by, "This is a question from fans. . ." I assume that the ink-stained wretches in question are busy working on the "social media" front. Anyway, one of them used the cover of fan interest to ask Tomas Berdych, who has a big match coming up with Juan Martin del Potro, if he was "jealous" when he sees his countryman Ivan Lendl sitting in rival Andy Murray's guest box. Berdych replied:
I think Berdych meant that he gets some motivation out of the situation; you don't really impress a hard case like Lendl by losing to his protege, two-three-and-one. In that sense, Lendl's presence in a rival's box is a good thing.
