The Final Sixteen

By Mike McIntyre

One week down and one to go at Roland Garros. Let's take a look at how the men have done so far at the French Open.

Roger Federer has to be happy with his first three matches thus far. Other than a slight test from Albert Montanes in round two, he has advanced fairly easily and he seems to be gathering steam. Even better are the opponents he may face this coming week. Julien Benneteau has been playing quite well on clay as of late, but will not provide Federer with much of a challenge. He's quite simply out of his league against the world number one. Federer dispatched Benneteau in straight sets in their only previous encounter last summer on hard courts, 6-3, 6-3. It appears as though Federer will match up against Fernando Gonzalez, who should take out American Robby Ginepri in the round of sixteen. Apparently Ginepri did not receive the memo that American players are not supposed to reach this stage on the clay in Paris! Gonzalez is 0-4 against Federer on clay.

The winner between David Ferrer vs Radek Stepanek has a very strong chance of making it on to face Roger in the semi's. Normally I'd put my money on Ferrer to make it through a tough clay court match, however he has already been beaten by Stepanek on clay in Italy this year. The winner here will play either Ivan Ljubicic who has certainly over-achieved by taking out number four seed Nikolay Davydenko in a fabulous five set match earlier today, or Frenchman Gael Monfils who also battled back in a five set match.

In perhaps the most unlikely of fourth round matches we find Ernest Gulbis against Michael Llodra. Llodra has never been beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament before, although he is matching his best French Open performance by reaching the second week this year. He will certainly have the French crowd behind him, along with much more experience that his opponent Gulbis who is eight years younger. They've only met once before, and that was at the challenger level a year ago with Llodra coming out on top. Whoever does make it out of this match will have the enjoyable task of facing third seed Novak Djokovic, who should clear another Frenchman who has made it this far in Paul-Henri Mathieu.

In the bottom quarter, Nicolas Almagro should finally make his first French Open quarter final as he faces 145th ranked Jeremy Chardy. Chardy must be living every young French players dream at the moment, but will have his hands full with the clay court specialist Almagro. No guessing who he may face in the quarter finals. Rafael Nadal will make quick work of Fernando Verdasco, to progress towards his fourth French Open title in a row. Nadal has yet to drop a set in Paris and looks as unbeatable as ever.

A couple of players who deserve some notice even though they have already dropped out of the field include Gustavo Kuerten and Lleyton Hewitt.

Kuerten deserves one last look as he heads off into retirement. He enjoyed a final moment in front of the French crowd that first embraced him eleven years ago. Although he failed to advance past the first round, he still carried himself with the fun loving swagger we'll never forget. 

Hewitt faired far better than I expected given his injury layoff and lack of clay court preparation. He breezed through his first two rounds in straight sets and then almost upset David Ferrer in round three. With a little more conditioning he might very well have emerged victorious from this matchup. Hopefully we see some even better results from Hewitt on the grass later in June.

One other group of men that certainly deserves attention is the fantastic results of the French players who have performed so admirably at their home slam. Five of the remaining sixteen players are from France, while normally dominant Spain can boast only three. This is without their top player, Richard Gasquet, even playing in the tournament. I'm not sure if this many local players have ever reached the final sixteen at Roland Garros, but it is a result that the French Tennis Federation along with the local crowd can definitely be proud of. With an average age of twenty four, this result is one that could very well be repeated again in the future.

Kuerten Call

By Mike McIntyre

Right back where all the magic began for him eleven years ago, Gustavo Kuerten retired from professional tennis on Sunday after a first round loss to Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. Dressed one last time in bright blue and yellow, with a familiar frizzy brown mop, the man they call Guga stepped away from the sport he left such mark on. Hampered by a right hip injury that would never heal, Kuerten's swan song at the French Open has been expected for some time. He came to Paris not with the illusion of making one last run at the title, but rather to say "adieu" to the crowd that embraced him all those years ago when he hoisted his first of three Grand Slam titles on the red clay of Roland Garros.

Coming into this very tournament in 1997, nobody expected the 66th ranked Kuerten to rise to such heights. In fact, he almost never made it to the finish line that year, pushed to five sets in three matches in a row against higher ranked clay court veterans by the names of Muster, Medvedev and Kafelnikov. Then to top it all off with an exclamation mark he defeated two-time French Open champ Sergi Brugera.

Not being satisfied with his one Grand Slam title, Kuerten repeated that brilliance in 2000 and 2001 with back to back titles again in Paris. With those accomplishments he joined such greats as Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander as the only open-era players to win Roland Garros more than twice.

He would prove to be more than just a star on the Grand Slam stage, by winning five Masters Series titles (four on clay, one on hard court) and taking the season ending Tennis Masters Cup in 2000 to cement his place as the year end number one player in the world, and the first South American player ever to attain the pinnacle of the sport.

His win at the Tennis Masters Cup that year took everyone by surprise, including two gentlemen by the names of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Although he was in the thick of the race for the sports number one ranking throughout the season, Kuerten had not yet won a big hard court title. He was also coming in as the underdog, having to win the entire event to finish the season as number one. After making it to the semi finals, Kuerten gave Sampras a lesson at his own game. He out-aced Sampras, and passed him with his wicked one hand backhand on many approaches by the American at the net. He broke Sampras at 4-4 in the third and final set, then aced him on match point to advance to the finals the very next day. In the finals he dispatched of Agassi in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to win the title and the number one position.

One more major tournament victory that stands out above some of the others for Kuerten, was his first hard court Masters Series title in Cincinnati during the summer of 2001. En route to the title, he defeated in the following order, Andy Roddick, Tommy Haas, Goran Ivanisevic, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Tim Henman and Pat Rafter in the finals! How often does a player have to face that many top opponents in one tournament?

Not only a hero for his native Brazil on the court, Kuerten also contributed greatly off the court as well. In August 2000 he launched the Institute Guga Kuerten, to help the handicapped and also promote the development of children through involvement in sports. To date the foundation has raised over $2 million. In 2003, he was the ATP's recipient of the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award.

Kuerten's relatively short career was derailed with an injury to his right hip that first required surgery in February 2002. In 2004 he required another surgery to the same hip and was limited to only 36 matches. In 2005, that total dipped to 16 matches. Kuerten was never able to get healthy enough for serious competition again, and in 2006 played only a single match and in 2007 played in only 9 matches. Who knows what further accomplishments he could have attained if he had been able to properly regain his explosive form.

One aspect of Gustavo Kuerten that injuries could not curtail, was his contagious and exuberant personality and joie de vivre. Almost always smiling off the court, Kuerten was one of the rare players to also exude that enthusiasm on it as well. Who can forget the massive heart he drew with his racquet in the clay at Roland Garros in 2001 after fighting back from match point against Michael Russell in the fourth round? After a career filled with twenty titles, three Grand Slams, and countless other accomplishments, it is moments like that we will always remember and cherish him for. As Gustavo Kuerten retires from professional tennis, we all wish him as much happiness in the future as he has brought to us in the past.

Men's French Open Preview

By Mike McIntyre

Picking a winner out of a tournament field of 128 professionals in any sport is normally quite a challenge. So many variables come into play when one attempts to narrow it down to the last man standing. In tennis, factors such as court surface, type of ball, weather conditions, confidence, skill and plain old luck of the draw usually all have an effect on a player's likelihood of emerging victorious. One location where these factors can seemingly all be thrown out the window is at Roland Garros in Paris. Making a prediction in this tournament could not be any easier thanks to the brilliance of Rafael Nadal. The undisputed king of clay courts is going for his fourth French Open crown in a row, attempting to equal a feat set by the great Bjorn Borg (1978-1981). Barring an injury, it would be the upset of the year should Nadal lose to any of the other 127 players in the draw. Any yet that is exactly what the other players will be aiming for as they compete for the biggest prize to be captured on clay. Let us take a look at the draw this year, and see who might be left standing with Rafa towards the end of the second week.

The top quarter has Nadal's biggest threat in the tournament, number one ranked Roger Federer. While Roger has had a mediocre year by his standards, he has recently teamed up with Jose Higueras as his coach. Having a former clay court specialist on his side can't hurt his chances of making it to the finals to face Nadal once again. Federer does not have much in the way of a serious challenge through the early rounds of the tournament. His path to the quarter finals could not have been any better even if they had let Roger handpick his opponents himself! This should give him a few rounds to fine-tune his game a little, and gather the confidence he will surely require to face Nadal at the end of the line. Holding a 1-8 record against Nadal on clay does not bode well for his chances. Federer will have to grab an early lead and hold it which is something he has not been able to do thus far in 2008 against the young Spaniard.

The second quarter is wide open and correctly picking the last man standing here would be quite a feat. The highest seed in this section, Richard Gasquet, has openly questioned his own abilities on the tennis court just recently and was not even sure if he would enter his home tournament. Others such as Fernando Gonzalez, Igor Andreev and Filippo Volandri all have talent on clay but rarely seem to be able to string together a few consistent matches in a row. Lately Swiss number two Stan Wawrinka has been playing quite well as is indicated by his status as the number nine seed. I'm going to give him a vote of confidence and state that the Swiss fans will have plenty to cheer about when he meets Federer in the quarterfinals.

In the third quarter we find versatile Russian Nikolai Davydenko leading the pack. Coming off a victory in Austria he has had a fairly strong clay court season thus far and has had previous success at Roland Garros. The only potential snag for Davydenko is the fact he was treated for a thigh injury in the finals this past week. Hopefully it was just a matter of cramping and nothing more serious than that. Davydenko’s likely round of sixteen opponent will be former French Open champ JC Ferrero, the only man to have beaten Nadal on clay this year. Only a shadow of his former self, Ferrero will not likely advance past this point. An unfortunate note in this section is that surprise Aussie Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has abruptly withdrawn due to a knee injury that requires surgery. While not a threat on the clay, Tsonga always brings a solid work ethic onto the court. He will likely be out of action for 3-4 months.

The final quarter of the upper quadrant does not contain many dangerous opponents. Expect to see Tommy Robredo and David Ferrer square off in the round of sixteen here. Other notables include Lleyton Hewitt who is coming back from a hip injury for his first clay court tournament of the season. While not usually a clay court threat, he did manage to make the final eight in Paris a year ago. Hopefully he is healed up and ready to give us a solid performance. I can’t help but think however that Hewitt’s days as a serious threat on tour are numbered. Injuries and becoming a husband and parent seem to have derailed his further progress. If he can’t rediscover some of his spark, one has to wonder how long he will remain on tour. One other player worth mentioning in this section is Guillermo Coria, the former French Open finalist from 2004 who will always be remembered for blowing a match point during that pivotal match versus Gaston “where have you gone” Gaudio. Coria has gone down in several first round matchups on clay this year and confidence is a huge issue for him at the moment.

Moving along, we have the most difficult quarter to try and breakdown. Players in this section must be feeling optimistic as any single one of them could emerge. While mostly a threat on hard courts, I somehow feel like James Blake could put together a solid first week to come out of this quarter alive. I don’t have much hope for talented, yet eternally disappointing Thomas Berdych to live up to his enormous potential. Marcos Baghdatis has not really had much clay court preparation this year, and his fitness levels are not up to standard for long rallies on the clay. I suppose Janko Tipsarevic could be a potential danger in this quadrant as well.

Everyone’s favourite impersonator on tour and 2008 race leader Novak Djokovic is virtually a lock to come out of the next quarter unscathed. A semi final with Nadal is very much the expectation here and Roger Federer would be hoping for a long, drawn out five-setter between the two no doubt. The first round match I suspect will gather the most attention here involves former three- time French Open champ and crowd favourite Gustavo Kuerten in the final tournament of his illustrious career. Don’t be shocked if the French crowd actually rallies for him against local Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, who is heavily favoured. I’d love to see Kuerten actually take a round or two but feel as if that is asking for too much from the oft injured Brazilian who is appearing in his first Grand Slam since 2005.  My surprise pick to make it to the round of 16 against Djokovic is Marcel Granollers of Spain. He had a strong clay court showing a month ago in Houston, Texas and could make a splash in this section. Also lurking is 1998 French Open champ Carlos Moya who thus far has had a disappointing season. Don’t be shocked if he bows out early.

The last two quarters contain some of the strongest clay court players in the tournament and will offer Nadal more resistance perhaps than he hoped for in the early goings. David Nalbandian has the talent and Grand Slam pedigree to make it out of his quarter. Nalbandian seems to somehow raise his level of play in master’s series events and Grand Slams, so he is definitely one to lookout for. Nicolas Almagro is also in his part of the draw, however despite much clay court success the past few years he has failed to translate that into victories when the pressure is on.

The final quarter has Nadal of course, and it is a toss up to predict his quarter final opponent. I’d have to go with Fernando Verdasco, but don’t be surprised if it is a lesser know player who steps it up instead.

Some first round matchups I would love to watch if they were televised include Andreas Seppi versus Mario Ancic which should be a good five-setter. Robin Soderling against Juan Monaco will pit two recently streaking players against one another. Finally, Kuerten/Mathieu as I mentioned before will be a real treat. Will Guga draw one last heart in the clay before he departs?

Darkhorses in this year’s edition include Soderling, Andreev, Radek Stepanek, Jose Acasuso and the aforementioned Granollers.

Notable absentees are Andy Roddick (shoulder), Tommy Haas (also injured), Tsonga (knee) and my personal favourite Nicolas Kiefer with a sore throat!

To recap my predictions for the final eight we have Federer, Wawrinka, Davydenko, Ferrer, Blake, Djokovic, Nalbandian and Nadal. I would not be surprised to see the top four seeds emerge in the semis with Federer toping Davydenko and Nadal besting Djokovic. Expect another successful performance from Rafa in the finals, with the French Open title once again eluding Roger Federer. At least he has the grass court season coming up just around the corner.

Justine Henin Retires!

By Mike McIntyre

A shocking development in the WTA has just broken with the word that world number one, Justine Henin has just announced her retirement from professional tennis today. This is a big blow to Belgian tennis, having already lost Kim Clijsters to retirement a year ago.

Henin, a permanent top ten fixture in the 21st century, has struggled as of late in comparison with her usual standard of brilliance. Still, at twenty five years of age she is still certainly in her physical prime with many more accomplishments to come. No word yet on the reason for her retirement, but one can surmise that nagging injuries, the vigorous tour schedule and perhaps a lack of confidence and/or motivation all played a part in this decision. In the past year Henin had hinted at other aspirations.

“I’m young in life but starting to get old on the tour. I’m growing up, and I need different things,” said Henin. “Now I’ve been playing tennis for 20 years and it’s been my whole life but…you need to think about the future.”

Henin was coming off her strongest year on the tour in 2007, where she went 63-4 and won two grand slams as well. So far in 2008, she has gone 16-4 with two titles to her credit. An Olympic champion, Henin also has taken three of the four grand slams in her career, with only Wimbledon missing from her repertoire. With Wimbledon just over a month away, one would think that Henin would want to take one last crack at it before making such a decision. She had made the final in 2006 and semi final a year ago, so she was definitely in the hunt. Not having that final slam will undoubtedly be taken into consideration when comparing her against some of the greatest female tennis players of all time. And yet Henin had the following to say about failing to reach the title at Wimbledon.

“Winning Wimbledon would not make me happier than I am,” she said. “I could never dream of Wimbledon. It was destiny. I didn’t feel myself capable. It was too much for me.”

In her retirement press conference today, Henin also acknowledged that she had been contemplating retirement seriously since late last year.

“I thought long about this,” Henin said, her voice cracking and eyes watering. “I started thinking about it late last year. I was at the end of the road. I leave with my head held high.”

WTA CEO Larry Scott had the following words in response to the retirement announcement.

“Justine Henin will be remembered as one of the all-time great champions in women’s tennis, and a woman who made up for her lack of size with a will to win and fighting spirit that was second to none,” Scott said. “It is rare that an athlete leaves at the very top of her game in this day and age, but Justine has always played by her own rules, in the very best sense of those words.”

French Open Preparation Continues

By Mike McIntyre

As we begin the last major tournaments on the men's and women's tours this week before the French Open, both Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin appears to have hit a bump in the road as they prepare to defend their Roland Garros titles from a year ago. Nadal was knocked off by unseeded Juan-Carlos Ferrero in the second round in Rome, while Henin was defeated in the third round by upstart Dinara Safina in Berlin. This is certainly not the confidence boost either player was hoping for as we now sit just two weeks away from the biggest clay court tournament of the year. While Nadal gets a shot at redemption this week at the Hamburg Masters, Henin has pulled out of the WTA tournament in Rome. Lets now look at the tournaments coming up this week as the players check to see where their clay court games now stand.

On the men's side, the Masters Series event in Hamburg should be very interesting considering the recent stumbles of both Federer and Nadal. For Nadal, his early defeat in Rome could have been a sign that the young Spaniard needed a break. I'll never understand who plans his schedule, but a lesson in time management may be in order. If Nadal does not take the time to recover between tournaments, he is putting his health and future success on the tour in jeopardy. Expect him to bounce back especially with the less than challenging draw he has received.

Returning to Hamburg will hopefully be the jump start Roger Federer has been waiting for in 2008. Still without a Masters Series title to his name this year, Federer missed a great opportunity last week in Rome by falling to Radek "the Worm" Stepanek. He won the Hamburg tournament last year, but came in with a much bigger head of steam. Without a strong showing here, I would say his chances at finally winning Roland Garros are slim indeed. He shouldn't be challenged until meeting David Ferrer in the quarters. Even then, he has the advantage of being seeded first and not meeting Nadal or Djokovic until the finals.

The rest of the field should produce some great clay court match-ups. I particularly like seeing some heavyweight clay court players face each other in round one, such as Monaco/Volandri and Alamgro/Acasuso. This tournament usually provides us with some upsets and surprise quarter-finalists, and I would not be shocked if that held true this year. Watch for Marcel Granollers to perhaps make a splash in his section of the draw. Already a winner on clay in Houston, Texas earlier this year, he came through the qualifying section as the top seed and enters with a couple of wins under his belt already at this venue. My semi final picks in fact include Granollers against Federer and Nadal against Djokovic or Robredo. Djokovic might be tired after a full week of tennis, and Robredo is the only other active player in this draw to have hoisted the trophy before in Hamburg.

On the WTA tour, expect less upsets as the women take to the courts in Rome. Last week's final of Dinara Safina vs Elena Dementieva was certainly not one I would have predicted, and the top players should get back to business this time around. I wouldn't count on Safina continuing her impressive form of late, where she knocked off three top ten players in the world in Berlin. She may be tired, and somewhat less focused after such an improbable and exciting week. She also has the misfortune of having to face a solid player in Victoria Azarenka in round one, and then likely Ana Ivanovic in round three.

Past champions in Rome who are back once again include Jelena Jankovic and the Williams sisters. Noticeably absent from the draw are Amelie Mauresmo who is battling a rib injury and Justin Henin. Without serious match play leading up to her home tournament at Roland Garros, it appears another year will pass with Mauresmo disappointing the French fans. As for Henin, she must feel that a week off will benefit her more as she prepares her title defense. My semi final picks here in Rome would be Jankovic vs Sharapova, who has an easy path to the final four and on the other side Ivanovic vs Serena Williams who has had quite a year thus far.

If you're looking for a preview of who to watch at the French Open this year, keep your eyes open for this week's results. Players on both tours will be looking to hit their stride as the clay court season edges closer to its culmination in Paris.