French Open '10: Point by point coverage

[falafaclese]

Well, I'm fine with the outcome, but the journey was disappointing today. I was surprised at the level of emotion Rafa expressed after he won. I suppose he was worried that it might never happen again, which is even more surprising, because I never thought that he'd won his last major, and wouldn't have even if he hadn't won this one. It was touching. He's made a great transition from dropping out of his #2 spot to retaking #1 again.

[apocalipstick]

FUCK ME RUNNING. My DVR just hiccuped and DELETED the match. Deleted. Gone. I can record it Tuesday on TTC, but seriously, it's just gone. I was at the 4th game of the 1st set.

[chestylarue]

I am thrilled with this win- I have wanted Rafa to reach the 7 grand slam title number and now he has done it. You could tell how much it meant to him when he was sobbing in his towel. lt Interesting that he mentioned his parents divorce first when talking about his hard times last year. Also interesting that he mentioned the USO to JMac.

Hugs to Soderling fans- he seemed flat today- but what a great tournament. And I find him rather charming in interviews.

ltWhile agreeing with you in some part, as a fan of clay court tournaments I have to disagree with you a bit. To me the swing that is the longest is the hard court swing. You have the main clay swing from April to the first week in June so about 2.1 months. You have the SA/LA swing (since Mexico may be included) for four weeks but at the same time as biggesh hard court titles in Europe and Dubai. As well as some smaller hards in NA. I don't think they really need the after Wimbledon clay titles- so I don't count them in the lead up. I do agree that you need a longer grass season- which is a month. But for all intents and purposes for the main stuff you have a three month hard court swing (Aussie to Miami), followed by a 2.1 month main clay swing- followed by the grass court swing of 1 month- followed by 4 months mnore of hard courts (outdoors and indoor- with the indoor hards replacing indoor carpet) . So hard courts eat up most of the work. In my ideal world I would get rid of some of the Euro hards in Feb, move a SA clay up to a Masters level (for a continent with such a tennis tradition as SA it is a shame they do not have at least a Masters) while getting rid of Madrid and perhaps have a full 2.5 to 3 month clay swing. Then have a longer grass swing and cut down some of the summer hard court swing.

[lt]

chesty, I absolutely agree that the hard court season is too long--especially because it comes twice. If I was revamping the entire year I would move the Australian Open back two weeks along with the warm ups before it (to give more of an offseason), move Indian Wells into February, move some of the February 250s between IW and Miami and leave Miami where it is at the end of March.

On to clay. I think three 1000 tournaments plus a slam is enough for clay so I'd leave that alone. If the French ended last week it would still give two full months on clay but I could see moving Miami up one week and making that week a clay one. Get rid of that random 500 clay tournament and one or two of the 250s that comes in July. There are five clay tournaments in July--that's too much.

Grass. Would have begun last Monday and would last until the second week of July. Ideally, it would be nice if Wimbledon could move two weeks instead of just one and give grass seven full weeks.

Mid-July through the US Open is time enough for the hard courts.

The weird hard/clay/indoor season that begins after the Open needs lots of help. That random 1000 hard in Paris is just random.

apocalipstick, I am so sorry about your DVR. That truly sucks.

[chestylarue]

Get rid of that random 500 clay tournament and one or two of the 250s that comes in July.

The one 500 clay that I do not think they should get rid of is Barcelona- one of the oldest tournaments in the calender. They have sucked the historic meaning out of some historic tournaments so I would like for it to remain. And I don't think a whole surface swing should just be 1000 and a grand slam- so like Barcleona.

I would also like to see a 1000 on grass- perhaps Queens? Maybe get rid of Paris as a 1000 would free up the calender and then you could have 5 hard court Masters, three clay, one grass Masters and then the TMC- which is always now indoor hard (So essentialy 6 hard court tournaments.)

[lt]

The 500 on clay in July is Hamburg, not Barcelona.

[chestylarue]

Oops- I misread lt- my apologies. Hamburg was downgraded and I feel bad for that but I am with you about the meh for clay tournies in July. I selfhishly like them because some of the players I like have won then (Delpo's first two titles were ion clay in July in 2008 and it was nice for Sod to win in Sweden last year). I understand why there are clay court tournies there- because clay used to make a bigger part of the year and I think it is very good that everything is not homogonized to the US hardcourt centric play. But clay after RG does not have as much bite as before RG.

[lt]

And since there is clay after the French and hard after the Open. . . how about some grass after Wimbledon? Although, honestly, if it isn't before Wimbledon I don't see any players picking grass when they could be on hard or clay.

NBC showed the end of last year's men's Wimbledon final and watching it I realized just how close Andy came to winning. So very close.

[chestylarue]

lt- I think Newport is after Wimbledon is it not? Talk about a historic tournament downgraded...

[GrandSlamGuru]

Well, I wish it would have been more of a barn burner, but I'm thrilled for Rafa reclaiming the crown. Sod didn't seem to be the go-getter he was in previous matches.

On to the grass...

[lt]

lt- I think Newport is after Wimbledon is it not? Talk about a historic tournament downgraded...

Good point! I forgot all about that one and I think that answers my question about the players showing up for a post-Wimbledon grass tournament 'cause they sure don't show up for that one.

My cousin pointed me to this article in the NY Times about the laundry service for the French Open. I guess one upside if the French moves to EuroDisney is that the cleaner will be right there . . . Oh, and trust Djokovic to sneak in some entourage clothes.

[mooncreek]

That tournament is only surviving because of the International Hall of Fame. It certainly isn't for marquee names - they promote that by promising you may see a fresh face emerge, which you could also say for Futures tournaments or juniors.

[breezybee]

According to the "Road to Roland Garros" clips, Alexandra Dulgheru thinks Feliciano Lopez is the best looking male tennis player. Nadia Petrova however, doesn't name one player. She but together a hybrid. The body of Verdasco with the butt of Nadal, the face of Fognini and the personality of Tursunov. She had me until she got to Tursonov.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=527nY5hy3iE&feature=player_embedded

[lt]

Hee, very nice. She lost me with the face of Fognini but it is good to know that Verdasco's body in the universal love. I also liked the forgetting the skirt story.

[roseha]

Hi Everyone, I wasn't dissing the FO, I was out of town for 10 days (at an artist's group show in Montauk) and missed a lot. So the finals are being rerun on TTC? Thanks for the info.

Apocalipstick, really sorry about your DVR! That happened to me when I had to work during the 2008 USO final. (BTW Harry24 kindly sent me a DVD of the match later)

Congrats to Rafa. I was hoping Sod would play better, but he did seem to get overwhelmed again, though not quite as much as last year.

I have to say I was delighted with Francie's win. I woke up thinking she'd get steamrolled by Stosur but she just played a great match.

On to the grass indeed!