TAG | French Open
Every tennis fan has geared up to watch the French Open 2011, which commenced on May 22 to June 5. Enthusiasts, for their favorite players, are rooting religiously. The 110th edition of the Grand Slam is currently taking place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France and it is played on clay courts. Aficionados are eager to see if Rafael Nadal, five-time French Open champion will clinch the title again. Last year, in the women’s category an Italian player, Francesca Schiavone emerged victorious.
In 2011, Novak Djokovic took his unbeaten record to 38 wins. In the first round, he enjoyed a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 dismissal of hapless Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker. To break John McEnroe’s Open era record of 42 for the best-unbeaten start, Djokovic needs five more wins and a sixth victory will make him the first man to win the Australian and French Opens back-to-back since Jim Courier in 1992.
At this year’s French Open, Roger Federer was all about the serve in the opening match and his strategy served him well. Without facing a single break point in beating Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3), the 16-time Grand Slam champion advanced to the second round.
Federer said that from his side, the important thing was to be solid in his own serve. He added that he thought he played a good match.
For the women, defending champion Francesca Schiavone and top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki made it through.
lines have received a ton of action these last few weeks for 2011 French Open. The odds are Roger Federer (1/100), Maxime Teixeira (22), Novak Djokovic (1/100), Victor Hanescu (22), Caroline Wozniacki (1/25) and Aleksandra Wozniak (11).
Justine Henin, former woman’s World No.1 announced her retirement from active tennis due to her elbow injury. On her website, the 28-year-old Belgian said that the doctors told her that she could not continue her profession at this high level as her elbow is too fragile. In Melbourne last week, Henin’s final match was a third-round defeat to Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova. Since her third-round loss in the Australian Open to Kuznetsova, she had undergone multiple medical examinations.
During her career, she won seven Grand Slams and in 2008, she had quit the sport first when she was ranked number one in the world before returning to the WTA Tour in Jan 2010. Henin won the US Open twice, the Australian Open in 2004 and the French Open on four occasions. Wimbledon was the only Grand Slam title to elude her. There she was the beaten finalist in 2001 and 2006. In 2004, she had won Olympic gold.
At the beginning of the 2010 season, she had a change of heart and returned to the game, reaching the final at the Australian Open. The rest of her comeback season was not as reassuring. In her fourth-round loss to Kim Clijsters, she fractured a ligament in her right elbow.
Henin said that she was shocked, when doctors asked her to give up tennis. The same injury has forced her to call time on her playing days for good. She added that she suffered a lot last week and she has rarely been spared the pain. She believed that her will would take the upper hand. She has accepted that her career finally ends.
French Open · Grand Slam title · Justine Henin · Kim Clijsters · Svetlana Kuznetsova
In women’s tennis the year 1966 was a great year. In Wimbledon, Billie Jean King took home her first Grand Slam victory. After showing what she was capable of in 1966, there were high expectations for her in 1967 also she was the favorite in sports betting odds in that year.
The Australian Open would be the first Grand Slam of the year. Previous to this year this event had been owned my Margaret Court. In that tournament for 8 consecutive years, Court had managed to take home the Grand Slam title. By winning the first Grand Slam of her career, Nancy Richey took the opportunity to make her name in tennis. In her career this would be the first of two Grand Slams that she would win. French Open would be the next Grand Slam of the year. Francoise Durr would be the woman to win the tournament. She would never go on to win another Grand Slam in her career.
Wimbledon would be the next tournament of the year. Billie Jean King advanced through the tournament and would take home the Grand Slam title. This was the 2nd Grand Slam of her career and the 2nd consecutive Wimbledon Grand Slam for her.
US Open would be the last Grand Slam of the year. In previous years, in this tournament Maria Bueno had been the dominating player. She managed to win the tournament in 3 of the previous 4 years. The victory the previous year would be her last career Grand Slam.
Billie Jean King had already earned the attention of everyone in the tennis world and she was ready to take the next step. Billie Jean King played great throughout the tournament and managed to take home the Grand Slam title at the US Open. This would be the first Grand Slam of her career that was not at Wimbledon.
Though Margaret Court stepped away from the National forefront for a while, Billie Jean King and Nancy Richey would continue to play well through the next year.
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This Past Week – Roger Federer Bags Fifth ATP Finals Title
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This past week, by defeating his top rival Rafael Nadal at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Roger Federer finished the tennis season on a high note.
By winning all four between them both players dominated men’s tennis major tournaments this year. With Federer making it 16 major titles by winning the Australian Open title, Nadal won the French Open, U.S. open and Wimbledon. In order to win 21 of the last 23 majors, both competitors have combined together.
Federer who has lost 14 of 22 matches played against Nadal, the victory in the ATP provides some sense of payback for him. Rafael now holds the top position to Federer’s number two spot, as he has also ended Roger’s long time dominance of the number one ranking in men’s tennis.
By Federer winning all three, they have met three times in this season-ending tournament. By only dropping 13 points in the entire match which was won in three sets by a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, he dominated his service points on Sunday. Federer appeared to upset the Spaniard by keeping the points short and staying on the offensive throughout the match as Nadal could only manage one break of server in the second set.
As he appeared to tire late in the match, a three-hour semifinal against Andy Murray the previous day may have contributed to Nadal’s loss. Nadal, to his credit praised Federer for the way he played all week and did not mention this as the reason.
ATP · French Open · Rafael Nadal · Roger Federer · U.S. Open
With a 6-4, 7-6(2) victory over Sam Stosur of Australia in the French Open finals, Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam title. It was Schiavone’s first Grand Slam title.
Venus vs. Serena final was expected by many but was delivered a match between two women who were each playing in their first Grand Slam final.
On the men’s side, Rafael Nadal, bet on sports star, won his fifth French Open title with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Robin Soderling. Nadal is now only one French Open title behind Bjorn Borg for the most won in men’s tennis history and claimed his seventh Grand Slam title.
Last year, Nadal lost to Soderling and was able to turn around this year to recapture his dominance on the clay court.
In straight sets, while both the men’s and women’s finals were won, neither were lacking in skill, excitement or defensive prowess.
In the first few days of the 2010 French Open, several dramatic matches have already taken place. So far, the men’s side has definitely been more interesting than the women’s draw.
By taking out Peter Luczak in three sets, defending champion and number one seed Roger Federer cruised through his opening match. Second seed Rafael Nadal, on his quest to a fifth Roland Garros title, also advanced in straight sets. Federer and Nadal are expected to keep on cruising, as their next opponents Falla and Zeballos don’t pose any threats.
So far, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick have played the most dramatic tennis. Murray defeated crowd favorite Richard Gasquet in a match that lasted over four hours, after losing the first two sets. In the middle of the third set, it seemed that Murray was on his way to a straight set loss. However, Murray ultimately won the match due to better fitness and Gasquet was visibly tired towards the end of the third set.
Against the Fin Jarkko Nieminen, Andy Roddick also had some trouble in his first round match. Roddick lost the next two sets, after easily winning the first set. In the fourth set, Roddick was a few points away from elimination. However, Andy comfortably won the fifth set 6-3 and managed to pull out the fourth set in a tiebreak.
The only major upset was the elimination of last year’s finalist Dinara Safina by 39 year old Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, on the women’s side. For an ugly three set loss to one of the oldest players in WTA history, Safina’s injured back, new coach, and the usual mental fragility was a formula. The Williams sisters and Justine Henin advanced through their first round matches comfortably in straight sets.
To Roger Federer, the clay surface at the French Open had always served as a nemesis.
It wasn’t until 2009 that Federer broke through at Roland Garros even though the splendid Swiss star had dominated the three other grand slam tournaments on the ATP Tour. Federer finally solved the French Open last year when he beat Swede Robin Soderling in the final for his first French Open title who is perhaps the greatest player in the history of the sport, and became of one of the most favorite online sports betting tennis stars of all time.
Federer’s rival Rafael Nadal was dominating headlines, prior to his championship win. By winning his 30th consecutive match at the tournament when he beat Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili in the second round, the powerful left-hander set a French Open record.
Nadal, ran his streak to 31 consecutive wins prior to be defeated by Soderling in four sets in the quarterfinals and Nadal had won four consecutive French Open titles from 2004-08.
Juan Martin del Potro was oust by Soderling in the semifinals. To make it to the final, Federer defeated Fernando Gonzalez.
A championship upset stunned all on the women’s side.
Top-seed Dinara Safina was beaten by seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova. The semifinals featured two participants with double-digit seeds, prior to the championship match. Dominika Cibulková was the 20th seed and Samantha Stosur was seeded 30th, yet both made it to the semifinals.
Former world No. 1 Maria Sharipova was bounced in the quarterfinals as was second-seed Serena Williams. Venus, Serena’s sister, could not get past the third round.
Dinara Safina · French Open · Roger Federer · Swede Robin Soderling
As the clay court season comes to a climax at the end of May, there is a lot of anticipation from fans and players. The dynamics of the 2010 French Open are certainly more uncertain on the women’s side than in the men’s draw.
The rankings can be misleading, when it comes to selecting favorites for winning Roland Garros. Serena Williams (#1) and her sister Venus Williams (#3) are not the favorites to capture the title in Paris even though they may start with such high rankings. Both Williams sisters had very little match play since the Australian Open. In Rome, Serena and Venus, Jelena Jankovic beat both recently. Despite of ranking lower than the Williams sisters are, Jankovic poses a bigger threat at this year’s French Open.
Caroline Wozniacki, the young Danish superstar ranked a career high #2, but she has had an inconsistent clay court season so far. At the Ponte Vedra Beach, she won the title but had some early round losses in recent tournaments. Nevertheless, Wozniacki can be the “dark horse” at this year’s French Open and make a similar run to the one she had at last year’s US Open.
No one is really talking about last year’s finalists Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina. Both of them have their chances of repeating last year’s results are not favorable and ranked outside the top five.
At this year’s Roland Garros, the most exciting conversation is about the Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin. To have these superstars back in the game, the tennis world is thrilled. Although they ranked outside the top 10, they are the strong contenders for the title. To Henin’s collection of four French Open trophies, she will be looking forward to add another title to her collection. There is no doubt that the French crowd will heavily favor the Belgians.
