French Open '09: Point by point coverage

[roseha]

Wasn't that Roger's sister with the blonde hair sitting next to Mom? I've only seen her at the French (and Basel)

[acre]

So I have some very belated thoughts on the French after my initial freak out over Roger winning it - which I still almost can't believe it's so fantastic. As big a fan of his as I am, I'd really pretty much written off the career slam for him - solely because of Rafa of course. Obviously Roger has been the 2nd best on clay, but Rafa seemed so invincible(hope hope hope he's healthy and good to go for Wimbledon!). Silly of me cause noone is invincible, regardless of surface, and I've watched enough tennis to know that. But I totally expected Rafa would have a career slam and Roger wouldn't - I still absolutely believe that, so long as Rafa stays healthy, which has certainly been an issue for him in other summers.

Heh, okay wait - I said I was gonna talk about the French! And I am: I still like Dinara, but sadly not as much as I did. She may have too much in common with her brother for me to remain a real fan. I was always pleased to see Marat play well and win big matches and that will be true for Dinara, but I no longer feel invested in her. And, you know - It's not that she lost all 3 GS finals, cause in every case she lost to a great (or good/Ana) player ... it's the way she lost. Pfft, very disappointing, and also just no fun to watch.

Conversely I'm quite pleased for Kuznetsova, but she's another one in that general "meh to mildly like" category for me. I'm trying to think of anyone on the women's side to really root for. Problem is that Amelie just isn't doing anything, Venus is only reliable on grass(for a big win I mean, not that she's chopped liver!), Dementieva ha! just kidding, and I can't even conjure up another.

Actually I blew off watching most of the women't matches this year - I'd almost always seen the results before coverage started and I really have to care about a player/match to watch under those circs. The coverage wasn't live, but I wouldn't have been getting up at dawn to watch anyway, so I can't necessarily blame NBC (though they are plenty blameable just on general principles).

Hmm, so Serena lost to the champ, I wonder if that eases it for her? If I have a fave and they lose I almost always prefer that person to go ahead and win so "my" player is defeated by only the champ. But I'm not a competitor and I suspect the players don't really give a shit. A small part of me kinda wishes she'd lost to Dinara just cause I find that "real #1" shit so obnoxious. Not that she's really wrong, but that's not the point! She's just so ungracious about things. Think and believe it all you want Serena, talk about it amongst the family etc, that's fine, but don't be so damn rude and unsporting in the press.


Men: wheee! But more generally I'm still pissed at NBC for their utterly disgraceful lack of coverage of the semis. 5 hours for 2 women's best of 3 matches, and 3 hours for 2 men's best of 5 matches - do the math you idiots! So very fucking kind of them to throw a bone in the form of the 5th set of Fed-JMDP after the women's final. And oh my JMDP's presser was sad, I felt bad for him, he was like a kicked puppy: but I was much much happier with his performance and overall reaction compared to the quarters against Fed at the Australian.

Soderling I'm going to reserve judgement on. I missed his upset of Nadal when he was in full flight playing the biggest match of his career. Don't know quite how I messed that up and sorry I did. Would've been mixed feelings for me. Like "Oh no" for Rafa coupled with "yikes Fed oh damn what does this mean, maybe, could it, gah". Saw some of his match against Gonzalez which was fun, but not magical or anything, and unfortunately Gonzo is another who can lose at pretty much any point to anybody at a given time. I can't entirely shake a generalized negative feeling toward Soderling, and what I did see of his play was nice enough but not really a big deal. Hmm, I actually don't even know/remember what the deal is about Soderling and the dislike - sure, I've read about ignoring other players in the locker room, but if that's really limited to pre-match as he implied in a presser I can't get too bent out of shape about it. Not nice, but not nasty either.

But always and forever the greatest French Open for me. Roger getting the French at all, the career GS, and #14 makes up for just about anything. I've got the final saved for my Dad to watch and I warned him that it wasn't exactly a compelling match on the face of it, but he totally doesn't care.

And yay, Wimbledon! Oh and double-yay for all of you cause this greatly increases my enjoyment of tennis. Love it anyway, but extra wonderful to have like-minded people to read and talk with.

[breezybee]

Acre - if you haven't seen this clip from Wimby you might want to watch.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwvgnYDTTQ0

I knew Soderling wasn't particularly liked on the tour prior to this incident but after seeing Nadal's sad little face at the 1:25 mark his fate was sealed for me. That being said, Soderling was a class act at the French so maybe he has smartened up.

[acre]

Thanks breezybee. Yeah, that was snotty of Soderling no doubt. I mean, it clearly wasn't done "all in good fun/good spirits" kind of thing. Do you know what year that was from? Hopefully Soderling has matured and improved his attitude, I'll try to give him the benefit of the doubt going forward, but I certainly don't have warm positive feelings toward him!

[breezybee]

I think it was 2007. I don't like Soderling but from all accounts it sounds like working with Magnus has changed his attitude so I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.