Monday Net Post

Last Week's Tournament

Roland Garros (ATP & WTA - Clay - Paris, France)

- Men's Singles Final: Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
- Men's Singles Semifinal: Roger Federer def. Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 7-6, 7-6.
- Men's Singles Semifinal: Rafael Nadal def. Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.
- Men's Singles Bracket

- Women's Singles Final: Justine Henin def. Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2.
- Women's Singles Semifinal: Justine Henin def. Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-2.
- Women's Singles Semifinal: Ana Ivanovic def. Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-1.
- Women's Singles Bracket

- Men's Doubles Final: Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor def. Lukas Dlouhy/Pavel Vizner 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
- Men's Doubles Semifinal: Lukas Dlouhy/Pavel Vizner def. Fabrice Santoro/Nenad Zimonjic 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.
- Men's Doubles Semifinal: Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor def. Mahesh Bhupathi/Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-4.
- Men's Doubles Bracket

- Women's Doubles Final: Alicia Molik/Mara Santangelo def. Katarina Srebotnik/Ai Sugiyama 7-6, 6-4.
- Women's Doubles Semifinal: Katarina Srebotnik/Ai Sugiyama def. Lisa Raymond/Samantha Stosur 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
- Women's Doubles Semifinal: Alicia Molik/Mara Santangelo def. Cara Black/Liezel Huber 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
- Women's Doubles Bracket

• Mixed Doubles Final: Nathalie Dechy/Andy Ram def. Katarina Srebotnik/Nenad Zimonjic 7-5, 6-3.
• Mixed Doubles Bracket

• Boys' Singles Final:Vladimir Ignatic def. Greg Jones 6-3, 6-4.
• Boys' Singles Bracket

• Girls' Singles Final:Alize Cornet def. Mariana Duque Marino 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.
• Girls' Singles Bracket

By the Letter

T...wo events as a partnership was all it took for Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo to capture the winning touch, as they won the women's doubles title this week in Paris.
E...ach of the men's and women's brackets featured a "bagel" in the quarterfinals: Ana Ivanovic battered Svetlana Kuznetsova early in their match, winning the first set 6-0, while Rafael Nadal concluded the battle of the Mallorcans against Carlos Moya by winning 6-0 in the thrd.
N...etwork coverage of Roland Garros by the Tennis Channel was not only a welcome sight for American tennis fanatics, but was also record-setting in the process.
N...ikolay Davydenko converted only three of seventeen break point chances against Roger Federer in the semifinals - but Federer would have taken that number, as he only went one for seventeen in the final against Rafael Nadal.
I...njury to Andy Murray's wrist will prevent him from playing at Queen's Club this week - and may put his entry at Wimbledon in jeopardy as well.
S...erbian players had 18 total victories at Roland Garros, highlighted by the performances of Novak Djokovic (semifinalist), Jelena Jankovic (semifinalist), and Ana Ivanovic (finalist).
W...eekly Gaston Gaudio retirement update: the Argentine has declared that he will not play at Wimbledon, but may consider playing in Gstaad in July.
O...stracized Argentine Mariano Puerta returned to action this week after a two-year doping ban from tennis.  In the Sassuolo Challenger in Modena, Italy, the former French Open finalist won his first match against Joseph Sirianni 6-4, 6-3, before falling to Marc Lopez 4-6, 0-6.
R...oland Garros trophy presentation was attended by the two finalists, dignitaries of the French Tennis Federation, and three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, who spoke at length en français, to the delight of the crowd.
L...eading the Americans at Roland Garros was not Andy Roddick, James Blake, or the Williams sisters.  Instead, the honor goes to John McEnroe, who in addition to calling the action on television, won the over-45 doubles title alongside Anders Jarryd of Sweden.
D...oubles tandem of Andy Roddick and Robby Ginepri lost at the Surbiton Challenger this past week to Chris Guccione and Nathan Healey by a 7-5, 6-1 score.  In addition to losing the match, Roddick will also lose 500 Euros for his choice to skip the mandated press conference afterwards.

McGrogan's Heroes

ATP - No big surprise here, even though many tennis fans outside of España were hoping for one.  Rafael Nadal was cool and collected throughout the French Open final against Roger Federer, even during the second set that went to the Swiss.  The slight case of nerves that plagued Nadalwhen served for the first set in his semifinal match against Novak Djokovic (on two occasions) never recurred on Court Philippe Chatrier on Sunday, as Nadal stayed in top form throughout.  In spite of Nadal's loss to Federer in Hamburg, and the months of preparation Federer logged, you never for one moment got the sense that Nadal had relinquished control of the match, or his grip as the undisputed King of Clay.

Nadal's accomplishments on the dirt are some of the finest in tennis history - for the last three years, he's won Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, and Roland Garros; four of the most prestigious clay tournaments in the world.  But as each year has progressed, he's improved his abilities on other surfaces.  Non-believers and casual sports fans need only look to Wimbledon '06 (finalist) and Indian Wells '07 (champion) for proof - and this doesn't even count his victories in the Montreal and Madrid Masters in 2005.  With Federer nearly five years his senior, a Number One ranking for Nadal seems a foregone conclusion.

WTA - Despite gallant performances from Serbians Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic that you thought could have only been scripted in film, there's only one person who deserved the nod this week, and you'd likely get lost looking for the second place finisher.

Justine Henin's third consecutive Roland Garros crown is an achievement worthy of much more than a mention on this weekly blog post, but is also something that I feel has been lost in French Open chatter this week.  The primary reason is that most of the discussion about Henin hasn't been about her tennis, but instead has been about her personal life and mentality (Pete touched on this earlier).

The Serbian surge cut into the Justine love, as did the Federer/Nadal saga, although that one, frankly, is is more captivating than anything on the women's side of the draw. Henin's tennis has been so dominant in Paris during this fortnight that we've almost taken it for granted.  Sure, she doesn't have an 81-match clay court winning streak under her belt, but she's been just as dominant on the dirt as Nadal has over the same stretch of time.  And while this victory alone may not vault her into the discussion of all-time greats, keep in mind that with six majors to her credit, Henin is now tied for fifteenth on the list of Grand Slam titleholders.  With four runner-up finishes at Slams, she could have been even higher, but I don't anticipate her trophy run ending anytime soon.

McGrogan's Zero

NBC Sports - I will rarely invoke the antihero mention on the Monday Net Post, but under certain circumstances, it is warranted.  Unequivocally, NBC Sports deserves this stigma for their abyssmal treatment of the men's semifinals, which were not shown live at any point in the United States.

Considering that throughout the past two weeks, every other day has featured at least some live action on one of the three networks (NBC/ESPN2/Tennis Channel), NBC needs to step back and reassess its current approach of only running a three-hour window of tape-delayed tennis.  It's like reading an entire book and having the pages to the penultimate chapter torn out.  Thankfully, this absurdity did not resurface with the men's final on Sunday.  For more thoughts on this matter, see my recent post at Gasquet & Racquet.

This Week's Tournaments

Gerry Weber Open (ATP - Grass - Halle, Germany)

• Website
• Singles Bracket
• Doubles Bracket

The Artois Championships (ATP - Grass - London, England)

• Website
• Singles Bracket
• Doubles Bracket

DFS Classic (WTA - Grass - Birmingham, England)

• Website
• Singles Bracket
• Doubles Bracket

Barcelona KIA (WTA - Clay - Barcelona, Spain)

• Website
• Singles & Doubles Bracket

Beyond The Bracket

As the clay court season is wiped away like a ball mark that indeed caught the line, upcoming tournaments will now be contested on a much slicker surface - grass.  When this type of tennis battleground is mentioned, the next word out of people's mouths, almost involuntarily, is "Wimbledon", the zenith of grass court competitions.  But before the year's third Grand Slam commences, two weeks of smaller grass events are available for play on the men's and women's schedule.  For players and fans alike, this serves as a breather and respite from best-of-five tennis, although many would also contend that the grass-court season" (in name only) is far too short as it presently stands.

Fittingly, each week that passes brings the ladies of the WTA Tour in closer proximity to the actual suburb of Wimbledon.  The International Women's Open, held next week in Eastbourne, is about 70 miles away from the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.  This week's featured tournament is nearly twice as far away from The Championships, and a good hike north to boot.

Held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham, the DFS Classic affords players the opportunity to play on grass for the first time this year, which many will jump at because of their desire to adapt to a surface vastly different from what they've been playing on for the past few months.  Possibly for this reason, Birmingham accommodates an exceptionally large field (56 players) for a Tier III event.  Two of these 56 will be the losing semifinalists at Roland Garros, Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic.

Sharapova has an impressive history at this event, winning back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005.  She's also the only woman to follow up a win in Birmingham with one on Centre Court at Wimbledon (in 2004).  Martina Navratilova won Birmingham in 1991, but was runner-up to Steffi Graf at Wimbledon that year.

The DFS Classic is has another interesting fact attached to it - it's one of the few WTA Tour events to be abandoned midway through the tournament.  In 1998, torrential rain caused officials to cancel the tournament following the quarterfinals.  Amazingly, this also occurred two years later in Scottsdale, Arizona, when rain canceled the final between Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport. It was never rescheduled.

Birmingham has hosted this tournament on the women's calendar since 1982.  The primary sponsor of the tournament for the past fifteen years has been DFS, a furniture and upholstery specialist in the UK.

- Ed McGrogan