Tag Archives: marion bartoli

forza!

Posted on June 2, 2011 | 2 Comments

I confess I have not been rising at 3 am all these mornings of tennis from Paris, that’s when the live tennis begins, 11 am in France.  But today, I woke up at 5 am, set to watch the women’s semifinals, and they didn’t even start until 6 am.

First up, Maria Sharapova and Li Na on a very windy but sunny afternoon.  With an exceedingly high ball toss, Maria had her hands full.  Full of difficulty.  Where earlier in the tournament, and in Rome, where she won the title, her serve was working well, today the windy conditions played havoc with it.  And it made the critical difference. Her first serve percentage was only 45% and that just never gets the job done in this kind of match.

Li Na was in command, with just a few patchy spots where she sprayed her forehand, and she’s a better mover than Maria.  Over and over she exposed the limitations of Maria’s footwork.  Breaks of serve were exchanged.  Li went out in front to begin, then Sharapova broke back to get things back on serve.  In the final game of the first set, Maria serving, Li took a 40 – 0 lead, thanks to double faults from her opponent and on the final point, Maria went in for a forehand kill shot, but the ball clipped the tape and bounced out.  A pretty unpleasant way to lose the first set, if you were Maria.

The second set was closer but in the end, at 5-5, Li came out to win a love service game.  In the final game, Sharapova threw in her ninth double fault of the match, Li generated two match points for herself.  Maria gifted her the match by serving one more double fault, losing the second set 7-5.  Yet another ignominious end to a set, and in this case, the whole shebang.

Maria will not complete her career Grand Slam, as she had hoped.  Li Na will play in the finals on Saturday, her second Grand Slam final, having made it to the Australian Open final earlier this year.

So the second set of semifinalists, Marion Bartoli of France and Francesca Schiavone of Italy, took the court a short while later knowing one of them would play the Chinese woman in the final.  But which one would it be?

To my mind, the outcome of this match was easier to read early on, though you still never know.  The truth is that Francesca is the better player.  Actually the truth is that Francesca is a clay court player and none of the other three semifinalists were or are, including Bartoli who should know how to slide but doesn’t.  In addition, Francesca has tremendous variety in her game, off both wings she can and does slice the ball and hit it with topspin.  You don’t know which is coming when and you have to be ready for both.  Will it jump up high and you’ll hit it back with all your strength from shoulder height?  Or will it sidespin low on the court, requiring you to bend your knees to get down to it?

Francesca has a fine, powerful serve, surprising since she is so small herself, and even in the windy conditions, it worked reliably.  Bartoli’s game is flat and hard hitting and though Francesca had to run and work hard, you could still see that it was the Italian who was calling the shots and the French woman who was reacting.

The stadium was packed and though the French have taken a long time to warm to Marion, they were fully behind her.  Last year, everyone was cheering for Francesca in the final against Sam Stosur, and in earlier matches.  But she wasn’t playing a French woman then.    Still, nothing deterred Francesca today.  (Although there was something that went on with the umpire early in the match and I don’t know if she was noting how long Bartoli was taking between points.  Marion did get a warning for time violation once, but the fact is she averaged 35 seconds between points to Francesca’s 26.)   She played her game, defended her title and earned herself another chance on Saturday to take home the title for a second year in a row.

I like Li Na, she has a great fun personality, always laughing and joking, but I’ll be on Francesca’s side for this one.  It’s such a wonderful story.  She’s thirty years old, a veteran, she’s been knocking on the door for a long time.  She’s incredibly ripped, works hard.  Anyone who has worked long and hard towards a goal can appreciate that when the reward comes, it comes because of all the work.  It’s not a fluke, it’s all there in the final moment, every practice session, every match, every everything.  So for all spirited men and women who work hard and have a dream, Francesca is an inspiration.

Go win the final, Francesca, hoist the trophy and take home a big fat paycheck.  She did that last year and has joked that all her friends expect her to pick up the dinner checks.  I’m sure this bighearted girl does it with pleasure.  Her Italian friends, many of whom drove from Italy last year at the last minute, are all here this  year, seated in a pack with flags and hats and who knows what all.

Two heart grabbing women will take the court on Saturday for the final of the French Open.  One will win.  Don’t miss it, get up early, tune in to NBC.

And come back to Cupcakes and Tennis, the tennis blog with a sweet spot, right through the final days.  I’m all in, can’t wait for the exciting men’s semis tomorrow and then both finals on Saturday and Sunday.  Still hard to predict, but I’ll call Schiavone now for the women’s side.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.

PS – I watched French Open Tonight last night on Tennis Channel and there was Bill Macatee interviewing none other than Guga Kuerten, the Brazilian player I wrote about in a blog post earlier this week.  Guga was probably the most loved player of any generation and it’s not hard to see why.  You just like him.  He’s a little like Francesca that way.  You just like her.  Guga is a former number one player and he won the French Open three times between 1997 and 2001.  He retired from the tour in 2008, never fully recovering from hip surgery.  These days he’s busy with his foundation in Brazil that helps poor kids, which he was himself, and he says it’s more meaningful to him than all his success and titles in tennis.

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nowhere to hide

Posted on June 1, 2011 | 1 Comment

If you watched Maria Sharapova play tennis anytime since recovering from the shoulder surgery she had a couple years ago, you would have thought her glory days were over.  The serve, which had always been a real strength, a weapon,  and the key to her game, was a mess.  The toss was off, she was attempting to learn a whole new motion, good luck with that.  She double faulted over and over and over, no exaggeration.  It was painful to watch.

Not painful to watch these days.  You no longer wonder and worry what will happen when she goes to the line to serve.  You have confidence, as does she, that she will toss it straight up, in the right place, and connect with it for a ball that nearly everyone will find difficult to return.  After that, she will hammer you with furious ground shots from the forehand and backhand wing and if your name is Andrea Petkovic and you find yourself on Suzanne Lenglen on June 1, 2011, your tournament will be over.

And not just over.  But over with a beatdown.  Maria recovered from her encounter with Caroline Garcia in the nick of time by reeling off eleven games in a row, thank you very much.  Today it was the reverse.  She reeled off seven in a row, 6-0 for a bagel first set, and then one more before Andrea got on the board.  Good golly Miss Molly.  You think Maria wants this title?

It will complete her career Grand Slam, an achievement for the exalted few.  Roger completed his in Paris, Andre did the same in the City of Light and it’s a pretty good bet Maria will do it on Saturday.  She dispensed with Petkovic, who had beaten her earlier this year at the Australian Open but whom she got the better of in Miami, 6-0, 6-3.

Her next opponent will be Li Na, the Chinese player making history for her own country by advancing to the semifinals in Paris.  Li Na won her quaterfinal match on Chatrier against Victoria Azarenka and most, including me, would have picked Vika to win that one.  Pretty convincing, playing some of the best tennis of her life, she won in straights, 7-5, 6-2.

Of the four women’s semifinalists, the only one I picked correctly was Francesca Schiavone.  She’ll take on Bartoli tomorrow.  I’ll predict the final between Schiavone and Sharapova and Maria the winner on Saturday.  But even now with only four women remaining, it could turn out differently.  Li Na could upset Maria.  Marion could upset Francesca.  And that’s what makes this women’s competition interesting to the last.

On the men’s side, I am pleased to report that the top four players in the world will compete for the two final spots.  And I had all four of them in my racquet bracket.  So, as I’ve said before and you all know, on the men’s side, these were the guys you expected to be right where they are.  Friday we’ll see two thrilling matches, or so we hope.  Djokovic vs. Federer, Nadal vs. Murray.

Anything can happen there.  But Rafa finally played a match he has to feel good about today against Robin Soderling, a victory in straights, but for the first time these two weeks, he looked like he had it going.  Hitting the ball cleanly, placing it impossibly, making the wow shots.  Robin fought back in the third set and took it to a tiebreak after looking flat footed for the first two sets, but Rafa won the tiebreak convincingly and that was that. 6-4, 6-1, 7-6.

The crowd, packed to the gills, really got into the exciting third set, after being quiet for the first two sets.  They didn’t come to see a lopsided match, just to see Rafa spank Soderling.  What they really wanted was a five set edge of your seat thriller.  Most are probably on Rafa’s side, but plenty were cheering for Soderling.

And, of course, the particular match-up of Rafa and Robin Soderling carries a weight at the French Open no other does.  Two years ago the two took the court, Chatrier, for a round of sixteen match.  I was in the stands, had a very nice seat low down on the umpire side, where I could see all the action from the door where the players come on and off the court.  I had watched Soderling in the previous round on the Bull Ring and he beat David Ferrer that day, not a happy camper, because at that point who thought Soderling would get past him?

In May 2009, Soderling was 25 in the world, he’d been on the tour for eight years, was twenty five years old.  No one payed that much attention to him.  I watched him play that day (and although he wasn’t a well known player, he was one I liked and wanted to see play) and I can’t tell you how fast and hard  he was hitting the ball, and finding the lines and the corners for winners.  Ferrer was thoroughly frustrated and ten feet from where I was sitting would pass by his chair on the changeovers, his towel in his teeth like a dog, muttering angrily.  I remember thinking if Soderling played like that against Nadal, he would beat him.

And he did.  And that’s when Soderling got famous and it’s also when he did a bunch of things to take himself and his game more seriously.  He still didn’t quite have the belief on court today, but this is a guy who isn’t the most popular in the locker room, but who has gotten the respect of his fellow players.  Robin Soderling is the only player who has beaten Rafael Nadal at the French Open. The only player.  So when these two come on court that’s what everyone knows and remembers and that’s what everyone wants to see again.  So far he hasn’t beaten him again, not in last year’s final and not today.  But there’s always next year and until someone else beats Rafa on Chatrier, Robeeeen’s the Man!

Much has been said about the fact that Rafa plays slowly and often eats up the clock and then some between points.  He gets called on this occasionally but not nearly as much as it happens.  Today even Soderling was getting annoyed and calling out to the umpire to do something about it.  Rafa even slowed things down on Soderling’s serve and you’re always supposed to play at the speed of the server.  Whatever speed you prefer, the rule at a Grand Slam is you’ve got twenty seconds from the time the umpire announces the score to the time your ball should be up in the air.  Rafa averaged 27 seconds for the match.  Does it matter?  Not  here and there, but when it’s like that for a whole important match, yes, you bet it counts.  What if Rafa had to get ready every single time in no more than twenty seconds, would he be as prepared each time or would it throw him off?  I think if he had to be rigorous about the time, he’d make the adjustment eventually but to begin with I think it would be difficult; he would feel rushed and he would flub some shots.  And at this level in these matches, it’s always the slimmest of margins that determines the winner.

Murray started slowly on Lenglen against number 35 in the world, Juan Ignacio Chela.  Chela went up 5-2 in the first set, had numerous set points, chances to win it, didn’t do it.  The second set looked like it was going to be easy for Andy but Chela fought back to make him work harder for it.  Finally, Chela, the skinny thirty two year old, lost his legs and went away quietly.  7-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Murray has shown a lot of fight.  He’s got a bum ankle, try playing on that, and popped who knows how many pills just to get through the matches he’s had to play.  You better believe he’ll come out to play against Rafa, and congrats to Andy on reaching his first semifinal at Roland Garros.

Wind was a factor on court again today.  Let’s pray to the weather gods for perfect sunshine and calm for the last four days.

Thanks for reading Cupcakes and Tennis, the tennis blog with a sweet spot.  See you tomorrow.

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the heart of the matter

Posted on May 31, 2011 | 2 Comments

Maybe it’s because so much tennis is being played, maybe it’s because the stakes aren’t yet that high, but in the beginning of a major tournament the focus of attention isn’t always on the role that heart plays.  But if you want to see heart on the court, heart that makes the difference, that is the critical component,  stick around for the quarterfinals, the gateway to what matters most to players, a Grand Slam title.

It was well on display today on both Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen.  Francesca Schiavone, the defending champion, found herself in a deep hole the same size as the one Maria Sharapova was in a few days ago in her match against newcomer Caroline Garcia.  Nineteen year old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the last teenager in the draw, was having her way with the nearly thirty one year old veteran.  The score?  6-1, 4-1.  In the words of the late Yogi Berra, it’s getting late early.

How was Schiavone going to get herself out of this one?  Well, Maria did it with steely determination, unwaivering self-belief and that worked for her, it usually does.  Francesca is Italian, though.  She’s all heart.

She came back to win the second set 7-5.  The third set was a topsy turvy affair.  Francesca took the lead 5-1 and served for it at 5-2, but couldn’t convert.  She served for it again at 5-4, and couldn’t convert.  Yikes.  The wind was swirling, the temperatures were cool.  Conditions were difficult.

Finally she broke her opponent to go up 6-5 and then she served for the match for the third time.  She had two match points that went begging.  Finally, Francesca created a third match point for herself with a drop shot executed from the baseline, to perfection.  Gutsy.  You could see her look up at her box, on their feet, and say “Forza!”

And so, finally again, on that match point, a microcosm of the whole match, Anastasia made a volley reply and Schiavone drove it past her for a winner down the line, taking the deciding set 7-5 as well.

Walking off the court, Francesca scooped a handful of the red clay and smeared it on her face.

Who wants it more?  Who doesn’t get tight?  Who doesn’t choke?  Who has the most heart?

All of these questions were to be answered on Lenglen in the fifth set between Murray and Troicki, the resumption of their match from the day before that was suspended as darkness fell, two sets each.   Murray came from two sets down to take sets three and four, and when they took the court this afternoon for the deciding set, he was working from behind all the way again.

Troicki went out to a 5-2 lead.  He served for the match at 5-3 and was up 30-0, two points from the victory,  and then the wheels fell off.  He choked, he got tight, you could see it.  He kept looking around and up to his box with a self-defeating smile, shoulder shrugs that seemed to say it was out of his control, it was someone else’s fault.  That is not going to get it done.  That is the opposite of heart, of digging deep.

Nineteen minutes later Murray had charged back all the way and was at 6-5, serving for the match himself.  He went up 40-0, Troicki fought back and saved those three match points.  But it was too little too late.  Murray had a fourth match point on the Ad and as in the women’s match, he ended the last point, requiring some incredible gets from him that he made, with a glorious shot, in this case a backhand crosscourt passing shot for the winner.  This is the fifth time in his career that Murray has come back from two sets to love to win a five setter.

Murray is into the quarterfinals (the match against Troicki was still round of 16) and he’ll play Juan Ignacio Chela, a match he is much the favorite to win.

While Djokovic was having another day off, due to Fognini’s withdrawal, Roger Federer and Gael Monfils took the court for their quarterfinal match.  Roger won the first two sets and you had to wonder if it was already over or if Gael was going to put up more of a fight.  To his credit he played a very competitive third set, 6-6,  but Roger went out in front in the tiebreak and never looked back.

At 6-1 in the tiebreak, I found myself saying out loud “A handful of match points”, only to be echoed in exactly those words by Patrick McEnroe who was calling the match on ESPN.  Hey, Patrick, wanna spend more time at home with the wife and kids?  I’m available.

Federer has not dropped a set in the tournament.  And this is his 28th consecutive appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal or better.  Think about that.  Seven years, all four tournaments, round and round we go from Paris to London to New York to Melbourne and start all over again, not to mention all the other stops on the tour.  He has never retired from a match; he has been nearly totally injury free.  It makes a case for staying relaxed in your body.  He’s fluid, light on his feet.  Even Rafa Nadal has said that he would play like Federer if he could, that it takes much more effort for him to play his game.

Roger will play Novak in the semifinals on Friday.  It should be a fantastic, exciting match.

On both the men’s and women’s sides, history is being made in this year’s French.  Never before in the Open era have the top three women’s seeds been gone before the second week.  And never before have all five of the top men’s seeds advanced.

In a day of play that was marked by heart, the match between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Marion Bartoli on Lenglen was no exception.  Sveta won the French in 2009, I saw her win it against Dinara Safina (who?), someone you had to feel sorry for she went into such a meltdown.  Kuzy, as she is known, is the first to admit she often gets nervous at the end of big matches, but that day Safina’s nerves took up all the air and space.

Today, Marion Bartoli was on her game.  She’s such a quirky player, with the weird serve motion, and the constant jumping around and shadow cuts at the ball to get ready.  She’s a little chunky too.  But she hits the ball well off of both sides, two hands for forehand and backhand, and if you get it in her strike zone, she’s lethal.  Today she was relentless and Sveta played well, but not quite well enough.  Was it heart?  Lord knows Marion wanted it.  She’s French, the crowd was really behind her and she used it and worked it.

She served for it at 5-2 in the second, having won the first in a tiebreak.  Unable to close the door, she got another chance at 5-4 and she took it.

At this level of tennis, you can’t fade, you can’t blame, you can’t hold back.  Famously, Guga Kuerten, drew a heart on the clay on Chatrier, and then lay down inside it.  That says it all.

gustavo kuerten at roland garros, laying in the heart he drew in the clay

guga laying in the heart he drew

(Via Kamakshi Tandon)

One last comment on today’s action.  There was a unique moment in the Murray Troicki match early in their deciding set.  A ball kid thought the point was over when Troicki, up at the net, hit an overhead, but Murray got it back and Troicki angled another overhead for a winner.  But just as he was going for that shot, the ball kid was running out on the court at the net, just barely not colliding with him.  It was disruption of play, unintended, and the umpire ruled that the point be replayed.  Troicki was upset, understandably.  The kid felt terrible, a young boy, maybe ten or twelve. Being a ball kid in France is a huge honor, thousands of kids apply from all over the country for the coveted positions.  A point or two later when the same boy hesitated to retrieve the ball, Troicki messed with him in a way that was testy and unkind and to my mind, showed his true character, not a pretty picture.  I just hope the head of the ball kids wasn’t too hard on him.

That’s it for today.  This is really a fun, special French Open.  Stay tuned for the remaining matches, there are bound to be some great moments.

See you tomorrow at Cupcakes and Tennis, the tennis blog with a sweet spot.

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happy memorial day

Posted on May 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Here it’s Memorial Day Monday, in Paris it’s Day 9 of the French Open.  If you were judging from the packed stands on Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen this afternoon, though, you’d swear it was a holiday.

One of the most exciting matches of the tournament so far was the two parter between David Ferrer and Gael Monfils.  With Monfils up two sets to one and Ferrer  up 2-0 in the fourth set, play was suspended last night due to darkness.  The two opponents had to wait out a five setter between Chela and Falla, the former taking the victory, before they could get on court today to finish.  There was a great shot of them in the players’ lounge hanging around until they were called with Ferrer sitting up right next to a reclining, possibly sleeping, Monfils.

Finally on court, Ferrer continued to press in the set he already had a lead in and took it rather quickly 6-1.  But then Gael actually did wake up from his nap and the fifth set was completely riveting.  Gael broke early to take a 3-1 lead.  At 5-3 Monfils served for the match. The crowd was just wildly excited.   He had two match points and relatively easy shots for the win on both of them and he dinked them into the net.  Ferrer ended up breaking for 5-4.  That quieted the crowd down.

They go into fifth set no tiebreak battle.  In the next game, Monfils had another match point, his third, and couldn’t convert.  Ferrer got out of that game, 6-6.   At 7-6, Monfils in the lead, Ferrer quickly dug himself in a deep hole, 0-40,  and all of a sudden, Monfils is looking at three more match points.  After squandering three, who knew he would get all these chances again, and so soon?  He was not to be denied this time, winning the match on the fourth match point with a no guts no glory passing shot down the line, 8-6 in the fifth.  The French crowd, not a seat empty, were rewarded and could go have dinner.

In the 6-5 game, there were a couple of dicey line calls on Monfils’ serve.  On the first, Ferrer walked up to the line and immediately rubbed out the mark, indicating it had been good.  But shotspot showed it had been out.  It happened again, Monfils now with two serves instead of a second serve only, and the chair umpire came out to have a look and called it good, giving Monfils another first serve, but shotspot again showed it to be out.  Now the technology isn’t one hundred percent, but it’s pretty close.  At moments like these in matches, this kind of thing gone wrong can be terribly expensive, can cost someone the match.  Ferrer ended up winning that point, but still.

Monfils will face Federer in the quarterfinals and I imagine it will be a lot of fun to watch, but I don’t think Roger is going to walk off the loser.  I’m a big fan of Ferrer, but I doubt he would have given Roger trouble in the end.  Against both these players, Federer has been dominant.

What is great is to see Monfils doing more with his talent than he has previously.  His coach, Roger Rashid, has been with him for three years, a record in itself apparently as Monfils has gone through coaches like they were paper napkins.  Rashid coached Lleyton Hewitt, a player who is more like Ferrer, no work too hard or too much, fighter spirit, utterly maxing out on what they’ve got to work with on small frames.  For Roger Rashid to make an impact on Monfils has been exceedingly difficult it seems.  He’s tried hard to get Gael in better physical condition so he won’t suffer all the injuries he’s had, and you can actually see him shouting at Gael on court to play harder, want it more.  I’d bet there have been more than a few times that he thought of throwing in the towel, I don’t need this shit, and getting on a plane back to his family in Australia.

That’s the thing about coaching, it takes you on the road for weeks and weeks every year.  If you’re going to do it, you damn well better have a player who makes it worth your while.

Nadal won his match against 32 year old Ivan Ljubicic, in straights, but in his press conference afterwards, he spoke candidly about how he still isn’t feeling quite right out there.  Not as consistent, more nervous at times.  If Rafa thinks he’s a different Rafa, at least so far, on court at his beloved French, I guess we ought to believe him.

Meanwhile, fierce contender and Superman tennis player Novak Djokovic is into the semifinals.  He won’t be playing a quarterfinal match because Fabio Fognini had to withdraw with what indeed wasn’t just cramping yesterday.  He’s got a muscle tear and it won’t get better in time for him to play the match tomorrow.  You had to feel bad for the guy.  His best result in a major, about to have the opportunity to maybe be the one who breaks the Novak streak, or at least have the challenge of playing him on Chatrier, a huge pleasure and privilege, and he can’t do it.

Andy Murray and Victor Troicki played the last match of the day on Lenglen and they’ll have to finish it tomorrow.  At first it looked like Murray was having real difficulty moving, the result of a bad ankle tweak two days ago.  But he fought back and the players walked off at darkness with one deciding set yet to be played.  Don’t miss that tomorrow.

On the women’s side, Li Na defeated Petra Kvitova, both surprising and not.  Either one of them could have won that match, but Kvitova beat herself.

Maria Sharapova faced off against Agnes Radwanska and piled up huge numbers of winners and unforced errors in a game of total aggression on her part and steady play by her opponent.  But Maria is playing well and when you combine that with her dogged determination, she’s going to come out on top.  Aggie had five set points to win the second set and take it to a third and she couldn’t close the door.  Maria did it instead winning the match 7-6, 7-5.

And on Court One, Andrea Petkovic, the German player who has come into the spotlight this year, won her match in three tough sets against Maria Kirilenko.  Last year she lost on the same court to Kuznetsova, so it must have felt good to her to take the victory this year.

Finally, Azarenka dispensed with Makarova in two easy sets.

So it’s down to eight women and you still don’t know who’s going to win.  Sharapova, Li Na, Schiavone, Petkovic, Azarenka, Pavlyuchenkova, Kuznetsova and Bartoli.  Do you know?  I don’t.  The quarterfinal matches should all be interesting.

And it’s down to seven men.  Nadal, Soderling, Chela, Monfils, Federer, Djokovic and either Murray or Troicki.  Besides Novak, already there, who else will be in the semis?

Still some great tennis to come as we now head into the true business end of the tournament.  Thanks for reading Cupcakes and Tennis, the tennis blog with a sweet spot.

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smack dab in the middle

Posted on May 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

Last Sunday, it all kicked off.  The eager crowds mingled through the grounds and play began.  Next Sunday, the only match to be played will be the last, the men’s final.

Today, the middle Sunday, some of the story has been told, but not all.  The round of sixteen started and the second match on Lenglen between Fabio Fognini and Albert Montanes turned out to be a more than four hour five setter complete with twists and turns, and a lot of drama especially in the last set.

When I turned on the television after seven this morning,  I heard Leif Shiras saying someone had 97 unforced errors.  Not having seen who was playing or the score, I figured if there were that many errors it had to be a five set match.  With a cup of coffee, I watched the exciting finish to a match that was 8-8 at that point.

Earlier in the set, Fognini was experiencing leg cramps and they don’t go away.  By the time I tuned in, he could barely walk or even stand up but he played the match out, withstood a slew of foot fault calls, including on his own game point and even his own match point (and he didn’t even blanch, much less walk over and shout Italian obscenities at the linesman…)and saved five, count them, five!, match points before finally closing down the match at 11-9.  It was pretty incredible.

He was both cheered and booed, the latter because of some controversy surrounding the leg cramping and whether he was entitled to any medical treatment.  Leg cramping can only be treated during changeovers or change of ends and during that allotted time.  It doesn’t qualify for a medical treatment time out.  But the trainers said Fognini’s troubles were not leg cramping, so I guess he was entitled to what he took.  And if the crowd didn’t like the way he won, take it up with the umpire who allowed everything that happened.

The match brings up one of the trickiest circumstances a player can face on court, that of the injured opponent.  You’d think it would make it easier, your opponent is hampered in some way, you’re not, just play your game and win.  But it really isn’t as simple a it seems.  Your concern for the other player enters into it, so now you have trouble competing the way you were before.  And you’re trying to calibrate how you need to play against the injured player, go for more, hold back, and it all gets confusing.  Change one thing, change everything, as a friend of mine always says, and so it is.

It was a good day for Italy because after that absorbing match, on walked Francesca Schiavone, the defending champion, and Jelena Jankovic for a war that was both expected and realized.  Not surprisingly, it went the distance with Francesca taking the first set, Jelena the second and they went neck and neck to 4-4 in the third for a very tense finish.

Both of these girls are emotional and it’s fun to watch.  John McEnroe, Mary Carillo and Ted Robinson commentated the match and there was plenty of laughter and teasing as Francesca yelled at her box and Jelena yelled at hers.  A lot was on the line for both players.  Jelena has never won a major and at twenty six the window starts to close, so she really wanted to win this match and advance.

For Francesca, she’s the defending champion and she’d like to take it home again.  Not to mention that the first match of the day on Chatrier saw Vera Zvonareva, the number three seed, lose to the fourteenth seed, Russian nineteen year old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.   So she’s really thinking maybe she can go all the way.

Meanwhile, there’s a match to finish as all these emotions swirl and bubble up.  And Francesca broke Jelena in the next game to take a 5-4 lead and then serve for it.  She did just that and won it.  Before she left the court, after signing a few of those big tennis balls, she got down on the court and kissed it.

By that time it was nearly seven o’clock and once again there was concern if the next match between David Ferrer and Gael Monfils would be able to finish.  Ferrer came out the same as he always does, ready to fight to the last.  Monfils came out as he always does, so athletic you think he’s made of plastic you can shape and mold, so much the showman you can’t help but be charmed.  On Kids Day a few days ago, Gael entertained on Chatrier by doing a one handed handstand!  Are you kidding?

So was it to be slow and steady or flash and flamboyance that would take the day?  We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.  The players got in three sets, with Monfils up 2-1, there was still some daylight so they opened the fourth set.  But no television coverage then, so I listened to RG Radio for the last bit.  Monfils injured himself in some way, Ferrer broke him to go up 2-0 and play was stopped until tomorrow.

Roger Federer has traveled under the radar so far, but he hasn’t dropped a set yet.  He played his fellow Swiss and friend, Stan Wawrinka, and won in straights.

Djokovic did the same against Richard Gasquet.  What was Richard doing, standing ten feet behind the baseline the whole time?  Certain things in tennis are determined by the laws of geometry and physics.  If you stand that far back, you can’t create angles and your opponent can.  And standing back that far it takes longer for your ball to travel back to your opponent which gives him more time to set up for the next shot and you less chance of winning the point.

If you know you can’t win from back there, why be there?  You might as well make it a walkover and go have lunch.    Hug the baseline, get into net when you can and if you still lose, well, okay, at least you had a chance to win.

Still, no one expected Richard Gasquet to win the match today and it would have been a complete miracle if he had.  It’s great that he got to the round of sixteen and now I hope he does as well or better at Wimbledon.

The French were consoled by the win of another countryman, or woman in this case.  Marion Bartoli advances to the quarterfinals, and she’ll have plenty of energy since she only played one set and two games before Gisela Dulko retired with an injury.

The final match to talk about today took place on Court One instead of Lenglen, because of the long matches there.  Kuznetsova against Hantuchova, it went three and Sveta won it.  So she’s a former champion and Francesca is the current champion, and Maria wants to win it to complete her Grand Slam wins.

And maybe none of them does it.  Maybe Azarenka wins or Kvitova or Petkovic.  It’s still wide open, perhaps even more so with the top three seeds and Stosur all gone.

Lots more tomorrow, what better way to spend Memorial Day weekend?  See you then and thanks for hanging out with me at Cupcakes and Tennis, the tennis blog with a sweet spot.

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