One more day to the start of Roland Garros, the second leg of the four majors in the world of tennis. The 64 seeded players in the singles draw would no doubt have arrived to find their spacious wardrobes in the seeded locker rooms, ritzy as ever, embossed with their names on brass plates. Reminds me of Wimbledon '01, when the good old fellas at the All England Club invited wildcard finalist Goran Ivanisevic to use the exclusive seeded lounge before the final, only for the Croat to politely refuse. He came in with the common folk and preferred to stay in the gully. Of course he then went on to beat Patrick Rafter in arguably the most exciting and emotional final Wimbledon has ever witnessed and finally got his name engraved on that precious trophy after coming so close three times before.
We're missing some big names in this year's tournament, notably Andy Murray, the sulky teen from Scotland who honed his game on the clay courts of Barcelona and could've made a deep run here if it wasn't for a bum wrist, Martina Hingis, a hip and back injury preventing her from taking a shot at the only big title that's eluded her, home favorite Tatiana Golovin is out with injury as if the underachieving Tommy Haas. Kim Clijsters is off getting wed, and will be sorely missed, but we've still got an excellent tournament lined up, so here goes nothing...
Gentlemen, start your engines...
Looking at the draw, I'd be surprised if top seed Roger Federer even dropped a set en-route to the quarterfinals. Yes, he could face former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round, but the J.C. of today is not the same guy everyone was sure would inherit the crown of Gustavo Kuerten some five years ago, and Federer won't likely break a sweat against him. If anything, the mighty Swiss might be more concerned about facing the 13th ranked Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who's been showing some good form lately. Marat Safin and Ivan Ljubicic loom in the same quarter, and so does Filippo Volandri the Italian who humiliated Federer in Rome. If they should meet, expect Federer to wipe the court with the Italian this time. I'm seeing Federer versus Ljubicic in the first quarterfinal.
Moving on to the second quarter, 4th seed Nikolay Davydenko could see his run at this year's French cut short in the third round by the talented Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who's been waiting for a major breakout for the past two seasons. Unless Davydenko finds his groove in time for that battle and nails the corners with his typically unspectacular but deadly consistent groundstrokes, I really cannot see him surviving the big-hitting teenager from Spain. David Nalbandian, seeded 15, is usually a lock for the semis at the French, but is caught at the moment in an inexplicably dire slump, and is ripe for an upset, which is a real shame, cos he's one of the most complete players to have played the game since Andre Agassi, but I'd be surprised to see him last two rounds at this year's competition. I'd love to see Richard Gasquet, a.k.a. Baby Federer, match his all-court prowess and that sweet, sweet backhand against Guillermo Canas' endless retrieving in round 3; the smart money's on the more consistent Argentine, though let's not forget Gasquet will have the home crowd behind him. I'm going Almagro versus Gonzalez in this quarter.
Novak Djokovic, seeded 6th, has got the best draw among the top players. With the exception of a potential long-drawn affair in the fourth round against 12th ranked David Ferrer, the rest of the guys in his route to the quarters are a list of nobodies. Querrey? Patience? Ginepri? C'mon. You gotta show poor Marcos Baghdatis some love though. The surprise Aussie Open finalist from last year with the megawatt smile has been having a nightmare season thus far, and christ, he must have cringed to see his name drawn against the veteran home favorite Sebastien Grosjean. Somebody up there clearly doesn't like the chirpy Cypriot as much as we do. But, Baghdatis CAN take some consolation in the fact that he's NOT got the absolute worst first round draw in his quarter. That dubious honor goes to American 3rd seed Andy Roddick. He faces Russian Igor Andreev, who, until a week ago was the answer to Rafael Nadal. Good luck, A-Rod. I hear Paris is pretty this time of the year. My bet for for quarters here- Djovokic versus...tough one, but I'm gonna go out on a limp here- Paul Henri Mathieu.
Final quarter. Okay, the 31 guys whose names are NOT Rafael Nadal can book their flights back to wherever they came from. Or go to England. Start preparing for Wimby. Nice of them to drop by, but still, it's really a formality, isn't it? But just hang on a second... there are actually some pretty damn good players in Rafa's quarter. Carlos Moya for one. Champion in 1998. Can't count him out. Tomas Berdych, who, outside of clay, has got Rafa's number in recent years. And Lleyton Hewitt, who tenderized the Spanish world number two for Federer in Hamburg. 8th seed James Blake is going to be eaten alive by Ivo Karlovic in round one, but beyond that, Rafa's actually got the toughest draw in the tournament. Juan Martin Del Potro, his first round opponent, is an up-and-coming teenager from Argentina, Tim Henman is a former semi-finalist here, Gaston Gaudio the French Open champion in 2004... well, we're gonna see just how tough Rafa is, this time. I'm going for Berdych versus Nadal in the quarters.
Ladies, show 'em what you've got...
The guy who picked the names out of the rolling thingy for the draw... he needs to be shot. Or at least put in a soundproof chamber with a couple of heavily tattooed bruisers. Serena Williams and Justine Henin in the quarterfinals?! C'mon... Okay, let's look at this rationally. Justine's gonna destroy Elena Vesnina in round one, Aiko Nakamura in round two, Yaroslava Shvedova in round three and Li Na in round four. She's lose maybe 10 games along the way. Serena's gonna decimate Tsvetana Pironskova for starters, then send Virginie Razzano wondering if she should switch careers in round two. She'll toy with Michaella Krajicek next and maybe practice her volleys with Francesca Schiavone in the fourth round. A no brainer. Henin versus Williams. And whoever wins this one will go on to win the whole damn thing.
Now here's some excitement in the second quarter. Jelena Jankovic, the Serb who's been hogging the headlines leading up to the French, is seeded 4th here with a potential third round encounter with the increasingly unflappable Venus Williams. Jankovic is bordering on annoyingly smug at the moment. Indeed, I haven't seen a teenager blow her own trumpet this loud since Hingis' mouth was in championship form, and I'd love for nothing better than to see her upset, nay, destroyed by the elder Williams. But dreams are dreams. The trash-talking Serb in three sets. Once she's gotten past Venus though, she'll be up against either a very good clay court player from Russia- 11th seeded Nadia Petrova-, or the latest Nick Bolletieri issue- 6th ranked Nicole Vaidisova. I'm going for Petrova on this one.
A highlight of the second round in the third quarter could well be a tussle between Ana Ivanovic, recent champion at Berlin and seeded 7th and India's favorite daughter Sania Mirza. Looks good on paper. On Lenglen Court, Ivanovic steamrolls Mirza. Moving on, We're looking at a potential fourth rounder between Ana and Daniela Hantuchova. The photographers will have a field day, but it's really a toss-up. Dani's improved her forehand tremendously and her win at Indian Wells has restored her self-belief. Ana did win the German Open though and can overpower Hantuchova. I'll have to roll the dice on this one and go for Ivanovic. But only just. In the bottom half of this quarter is the only former champion besides Henin and Williams- Anastasia Myskina. Once ranked number two in the world, the volatile Russian has been a train-wreck lately, but it'd be nice to see her shrug off the one-slam wonder tag for at least one tournament and really take it to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round. Still, Ivanovic versus Kuzzie for this one.
Last quarter of the women's draw, and Amelie Mauresmo, if sane, will reach the semifinal. If not, any old Laura Granville or Nicole Pratt could well collect a valuable scalp. Fingers crossed, Momo keeps her head screwed on tight. Still, Lucie Safarova, the Czech 25th seed, could legitimately upset Mauresmo, as could 9th seeded Anna Chakvetadze, whose clever angles and powers of anticipation remind one of Martina Hingis. Patty Schnyder's beaten Serena and Hingis on clay this year and cannot be discounted, but her loopy groundstrokes are target practice for the big hiters, and they don't come any bigger than 2nd seeded Maria Sharapova. Shazza's once formidable serve has gone AWOL and it's now common knowledge she doesn't have a Plan B once Plan A- smack the ball like it owes you money- isn't working. Sheer grit will get her through to the quarters, but she'll have to hope Momo has a major meltdown to advance any further.
