I always find it hard to get my arms around a Grand Slam in the first few days, especially when I’m not on site. It looks like the Roland Garros Sunday start was a great success, although I think it must have been a little spooky for the real Sunday players to go out there to play first-rounders before a packed, weekend house - with no slow build-up.
You may not think that an issue, but trust me - it is. We all know how superstitious players are, and how addicted they are to routine. I think it’s because habit and repetition gives them a sense of security. After all, this is a sport in which a competitor doesn’t really know from one day to the next where he or she will be in 48 hours (it depends on whether he wins or loses), nor if he will be the toast - or the laughing stock – of the town (What? He lost to Potito Starace????).
Go ahead, Google it. Not only is Poto a real player, he was 7-0 in Davis Cup singles going into this year.
Given the reality of pre-tournament jitters, and the novelty of the Sunday start, I had no trouble imagining any number of pre-tournament favorites, tossing and turning on Saturday night, unable to banish visions of the potential headline: “Sharapova (sub. your least favorite player) Becomes Highest Ranked Player To Crash out of Historic, Sunday-Start Major!”
Given that, I'm surprised we've had no earth-shattering upset, three days in.Oh, I know, how about Petrova! Well, I think the loss was a big setback for Petrova KADs. Nadia managed to wipe out, in one fell swoop, a great deal of the self-esteem she’d built up (within herself, as well as among her fans), over the past few weeks.
But if you look at Petrova’s pattern, you can hardly have been shocked by her loss to Morigami – the only part that was stunning was the depth of Petrova's competitive paralysis. This loss was as big, in a reverse-image kind of way, as her victory over the other week over Henin-Hardenne. Nadia: Sports psychology. Look into it.
Beyond that, Matt Cronin (he’s going to be my room mate in Paris next week) did an interesting piece on James Blake and Venus Williams, the U.S.’s two top players (now that Andy Roddick is out). And speaking of the Williamses, here’s an intriguing story
from The Independent, a UK newspaper, on the missing sister, Serena.
Other random thoughts:
Could Have Seen it Coming: It looks like Sania Mirza, outspoken, instant icon, is floundering. She’s won only 5 matches this year (not counting gimme Fed Cup zonal matches), her ranking is on the verge of plummeting, and she was crushed at Roland Garros by Anastasia Myskina.
The combination of being an overnight sensation, a media darling, and a raw, undisciplined power player is a deadly mix. This girl needs help and she needs it fast; ugly things happen when big, instinctive hitters go into a slump and lose their confidence.
Déjà vu All Over Again: Martina Hingis is off to an impressive start. She beat Lisa Raymond in straights, but she’s in the same quarter as Elena Dementieva, who can be formidable on clay, and the woman who I think can give her the most problems, Champagne Kimmy Clijsters. Tough break.
But consider the karma factor: Hingis is the only woman to have won the French Open juniors twice, and I still think the lack of a Roland Garros title on her resume is an aberration – kind of like Bjorn Borg’s lack of a U .S. Open title.
Kuzie the DroogieI’m really liking Svetlana Kuznetsova’s chances as well. She’s got an injured and clay-challenged Maria Sharapova to beat to earn a berth in the semis; it’s almost as easy as Justine Henn-Hardenne’s draw!
And remember, the Kuze had a match point against The Little Backhand That Quit in this tournament last year (hey- anyone remember that scary slo-mo video of the Kuze, the one in which she looks exactlylike one of Stanley Kubrick’s Droogiesin the film, A Clockwork Orange?). Could be payback time, watch your backs, girls!
Marat, You Will Forget My Birthday, Won’t You? Marat Safin is the tennis lover’s version of the handsome, irresistible cad (think of him as the anti-Tim Henman) who is forever breaking his girl friend’s heart by, oh, forgetting to call, failing to show up at the party, going stag to a wedding,leaving town for a week without saying anything, answering the heartfelt confession, “I love you!” with something like, “Oh. I’m glad for you” (yes, it’s a line from real life!). It's such a drag that he's out so early, but why does it seem like such a shock?
No More Rabbits in the Hat Was anyone else bummed out to see that Fabrice Santoro got bundled out of the tournament in yet another of the cliffhangers he’s made a habit of providing for French fans? He went down 11-9 in the fifth to Jose Acasuso.
How ‘Bout Them Muricans! Give it up for Shenay Perry and Jamea Jackson folks, through to round 2! Does the U.S. Fed Cup team rule, or what?
Laugh if you will, my Belgian friends – just remember, we don’t have a picture of some dork in heavy black-framed Elvis Costello glasses on our currency! And consider this: at a press conference a few days ago, the LBTQ said she’s undecided about playing the upcoming Fed Cup tie vs. the U.S. She was happy the federation chose hard courts, but bummed out by the fact that it’s going to be indoors.
Wow. Talk about splitting hairs!
It’d be more fun to pick on Belgium if it were a bigger nation, like, say, Canada. But it’s still pretty fun.