I can't believe it, but the French Open starts tomorrow! And it's the only slam that has a full day of action going on, and that full day includes an 11 AM match for Ana, with Novak on center court afterwards. Also, Janko is playing tomorrow. And no Rafa or Fed tomorrow. It's kind of strange that way...
Thankfully for me, none of my favorites face each other in the first round. Vania and Viktor managed to make it in because of withdrawals, and otherwise almost all of my players will be playing. Lindsay had ruled herself out months ago, and Sania Mirza, who is sort of a player I like, is out with injury. The only one I'm worried about majorly is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, since he just withdrew from his Casablanca semi with a knee problem. His knee, according to reports, is swelling up again. Even if he decides to play at the French, how long will his knee hold up? And with Wimbledon soon, a tourney where he could do better than the 4th round... Gael is slightly questionable with his groin problem, but I think he will play. I really hope he does well, because the French crowds love him.
Talking about Frenchies, I hope Amelie can put something together. They aren't putting as much pressure on her this year, so hopefully something can happen. Alize Cornet will be carrying the pressure because of her Rome result, and because Marion Bartoli is sucking. The French used to have Nathalie Dechy...what happened to her? Then again some people like Dominik Hrbaty have completely disappeared, so things definitely happen...
Mario has a first-round match against Andreas Seppi, which I think is winnable. But then again he just lost to Robby Ginepri on clay! Talking about Americans, Andy Roddick gets injured the one year he could probably get past round 1, and the Americans will have someone in the 2nd round because Robby Ginepri is going against Donald Young. Scoville Jenkins might make round 2 as well, if Tsonga has to retire or withdraws and is replaced by a lucky loser.
Novak, of course, is on Rafa's half of the draw. He goes first against Denis Gremelmayr, which I feel will be a 4-set match. Ana gets Sofia Arvidsson, which shouldn't be so bad. Marin has a tough but winnable match against Robin Haase, Gael Monfils faces Arnaud Clement, Richard Gasquet faces Florent Serra (PLEASE WIN RICHIE), Viktor Troicki faces Marc Gicquel, Andy Murray faces Jonathan Eysseric. Maria Kirilenko faces Maria Elena Camerin, Dinara Safina faces Kateryna Bondarenko, Vania faces Violette Huck (winnable? but goes against a frenchie), Sveta faces Aiko Nakamura, Michaella Krajicek faces Sanda Mamic, Amelie faces Olga Savchuk (PLEASE WIN AS WELL), Jelena faces Monica Niculescu.
Ok, Tsonga is officially out! (I just checked the site.) NOOOOOOOOOO. He's having the knee operation so no for Wimbledon too... But he probably should get one, hope he is back in later this year or in 2009 with awesomeness!
On the men's side, Rafa should win. On the women's side, the whole thing is wide open after Justine retired. I'm going to guess that someone from the bottom half, or Jelena, Ana, or Serena will win. I hope it is a Serbian, but if Dinara or Sveta put something awesome together, I would be really happy. Probably not as happy as a Serbian winning. But even happier if Amelie won! Or if Gael on the men's side won! That would be basically miraculous. I both hope and expect Novak to reach the semis, so best of luck to my faves! I'll probably post again after tomorrow's action.
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