One of the biggest upsets in the tennis history. World number 1 Rafael Nadal has lost to 24-year-old Swedish Robin Soderling’s 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2). Unbelievable. His first loss EVER in Roland Garros. Read more in detail about it here.
It was a great experience to see some of my favorite tennis players play live. As I have promised in my previous post, here are some of the photos that I managed to take while running back and forth between Suzanne Lenglen and Philippe Chatrier courts. It was so cold and windy, that I didn’t wait to see Marat Safin loose his perhaps the last Roland-Garros match. I really enjoyed seeing Maria Sharapova playing again with the same fire and focus. She is definitely back! Enjoy the photos. I will post more photos tomorrow.
Murphy Jensen, one of the colorful hosts of Tennis Channel’s “Open Access.”
So French, so Roland-Garros…
Maria Sharapova battled through her countrywoman Nadia Petrova.
(TIB: More Roland-Garros photos to come.)
Finally. I have received my Roland-Garros tickets! After several days of searching the Internet, and multiple calls to Roland-Garros ticket center, finally they are here. I was sooooo rigorous in my search, that I now even have one extra ticket:-) It would have been a crime to be in Paris during the French Open and not go and experience it. Don’t you think so? Even though I will be able to attend it only one day, May 27, still, it is very exciting. The cool thing is that I will have access to all courts! Now, I hope for interesting match-ups on that day. Stay tuned, I will try to post photos!
I also saw today Tatiana Golovin covering the event for a French television. I can’t comment about the quality of her commentery since I don’t understand much French, but she definitely looked good, and giggled often:-)
Russia’s Vera Zvonareva has been named a “Promoter of Gender Equality” by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Zvonareva, who will take part in women’s leadership programmes through the UNESCO-Sony Ericsson WTA Tour partnership, has joined Venus Williams, Tatiana Golovin, Zheng Jie as well as Tour founder Billie Jean King as the fifth United Nations ambassador. Vera is also enrolled in the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she is studying for a graduate diploma in International Relations and Economics. She also blogs for a Russian sports site.
The draw is out! Here is the list for the French Open from May 24-June 7:
Men
Rafael Nadal (1), Spain, vs. q-Marcos Daniel, Brazil
Igor Kunitsyn, Russia, vs. Teimuraz Gabashvili, Russia
Denis Gremelmayr, Germany, vs. Andrey Golubev, Kazakhstan
Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, vs. Ivo Karlovic (26), Croatia
It’s hard to make any predictions this year when we are talking about the women’s tennis. A fellow blogger at Women Who Serve breaks down who the Contenders and the Players to Watch are on the women’s side for the French Open 2009.
Apparently I am not the only one getting tired of hearing Serena Williams’ whining about money and WTA rules, and making wrong decisions about her health. Kamakshi Tandon also questions her decision of playing while injured and putting all the blame on WTA for its fines and punishments.
Kamakshi writes:
For a player at Williams’ level, pulling out of Madrid would mean a $75,000 fine, plus giving up the $400,000 in bonus money the WTA awards to top players for playing all four mandatory events. But Williams had already forfeited the bonus when she pulled out of the mandatory BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, so the only financial cost of pulling out of Madrid would have been the fine, which is relatively modest given her $2 million earnings to date this season.
Still, the recently cost-conscious Williams sees even $75,000 as steep. “I’m remodeling a house,” she said. “Seventy-five thousand dollars — I don’t know about to anyone else, but that’s a lot of money to me. That’s like my whole furniture bill — some stairs, rugs, that can go a long way. In this economy, I’m not in a position to just write out $75,000 checks. Are you?”
Keep in mind that Serena has made 14 million dollars last year alone. Her decision to risk her health just to save $75,000 is not very wise in terms of her professional career, AND it even doesn’t make a business sense. If she stays healthy she can be on the tour for many years to come. And as long as she is playing tennis and she is in the public eye, it means she will keep depositing more money in her bank account. Much more than $75,000.
Kamakshi’s full article is here.
I was expecting this news, but still it is sad to learn that my Nalby will be out for the rest of the season. You can get more information about his injury and upcoming surgery from his official site davidnalbandian.com. It is not a secret that I am a crazy David Nalbandian fan. And I have never had a chance to see him play live:-( But this year I thought would be THE Year. We were planning to go to Roland Garros to see him, and now I don’t have another favorite for who I feel I am ready to travel to Paris. Good Luck David with the surgery and the recovery. Tennis Info Blog will miss you!
By the way, does anybody know what happened to David Nalbandian’s fan site davidnalbandian.net?
Tatiana Golovin surely likes what Anastasia Myskina is doing with her post-tennis career. Sidelined with a hip injury, the French tennis player of Russian origin (something that the Russian press never forgets to mention) will work as a TV commentator for the France Télévisions during the Roland Garros. That’s a good news for me! Since Eurosport is not broadcasting Roland Garros in my area, I can only watch it on French channels. Given my limited knowledge of French, it becomes quite important who covers the event. The last year’s commentators were quite boring (though still not as boring as the ones working for Eurosport). When you don’t understand the language, it becomes quite important to listen to commentators who are colorful and emotionally unrestrained:-) Let’s say…like…the Spanish commentators. Once, I somehow started watching Rafa’s match on Spanish television (I think it was during the Olympics), oh, man, the coverage was HOT! There was not a single hint or attempt to appear fair and balanced. They were sweating and moaning alongside with Rafa, and screaming after each beautiful shot. Quite an experience, I must say:-)
Tati is not the only one with TV career dreams. In an interview with the Russian media, Elena Dementieva has also mentioned that she is planning to study journalism after retiring from tennis, so that she can work for television.
At a news conference at the Italian Open in Rome:
Serena Williams: “We all know who the real No. 1 is. Quite frankly, I’m the best in the world.” Asked which opponent she feared most, the answer was: “Probably myself. I always beat myself.”
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