Andy Murray, who always feels at home on the hardcourts of the United States, did well to reach the quarterfinals of the 2009 French Open. However, when the world No. 3 cracked the round of 8 for the first time at Roland Garros, there was little he could do against a man with a golden gun. Fernando Gonzalez shot [...]
It could well be that the first Tuesday of June in 2009 will represent a mere blip on the radar screen of Dominika Cibulkova’s tennis career. Then again, if this tireless Slovakian becomes a powerhouse in her profession, she’ll look back on a magical afternoon in Paris as the moment when her life changed forever. [...]
One day after Roger Federer personified patience on a tennis court, Dinara Safina evidently learned a few lessons of her own. Only 24 hours after Federer overcame a confident and hard-hitting opponent to win a full-length match, Safina–the No. 1 seed in the women’s portion of the 2009 French Open–withstood a ball-blasting barrage from Belarus’s [...]
For the last four years, men’s tennis has had Roger and Rafa, two giants who have transcended the rest of the sport. For the past two years, the ATP Tour featured a Big Three in which Novak Djokovic joined the studs from Switzerland and Spain. Over the past 12 months, the Big Three has allowed [...]
Less than three years ago, the career arc of Jelena Jankovic appeared to be headed for the highest heavens. After a miserable Monday in Paris, a struggling Serbian finds herself at a crossroads, her plans for Roland Garros reduced to rubble. Jankovic, the No. 5 seed at the French Open, lost her women’s singles fourth-round [...]
If Roger Federer continues to play with fire, his hopes of Grand Slam glory will go by the wayside. Then again, after yet another remarkable escape at a major tournament, perhaps the iconic Swiss champion won’t have to dance so intimately with the grim reaper of tennis as the 2009 French Open continues. In a [...]
Sunday, May 31, 2009, will be remembered for one thing and one thing only in the history of tennis. The date has become etched into eternity as the day Rafael Nadal lost his first match at Roland Garros, to Sweden’s Robin Soderling. Anything else that happened in Paris on 5/31/09 will be forgotten by casual tennis [...]
The official public record indicates that Maria Sharapova has played four women’s singles matches at the 2009 French Open. For all intents and purposes, however, it sure seems as though the three-time Grand Slam champion has played only one match during her stay in Paris. The key, though, is that the globally-recognized figure has found [...]
If ever a tennis match other than a Wimbledon final deserved a banner headline, in raging capital letters, this was it. The words are simple but substantial, and they carry the weight of 41 years of Open era men’s tennis: Robin Soderling defeated Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of the 2009 French Open on Sunday. [...]
Over the past month and a half, only Rafael Nadal had played better claycourt tennis than Novak Djokovic. On a stunning Saturday afternoon in Paris, the Serbian superstar wasn’t as good as a 29th-seeded floater from Germany. As a result, the French Open has been turned upside-down… and a prolonged stretch of steady play no [...]
