Tennis 

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From Special to Blah

Outsports asked two readers--fanatical tennis fans--to offer their comments on the French Open:

From Yonex Guy:

This years French Open was, as usual, totally unpredictable. If it were predictable, then we would all be watching and sighing over the same old, same old at the All England Club.

One thing I have always loved about Roland Garros is that fact that nobody is predicted to truly win the slam because of the clay, the weather, health and fitness truly coming to the forefront here. I do love this slam for the men because the red clay neutralizes the big serves and makes the rallies more watchable.

This year's Roland Garros lived up to its history: totally unbelievable tennis, players and seeds, non-seeds playing all the way into the Round of 16. The rain did dull the glamour of the event as seeing umbrellas in this beautiful city is somehow surreal.

Overall, I love the fact that ESPN and ESPN2 showed the true dimension  of the event. ESPN showed much tennis as possible, and I enjoyed the commentary from Mary Joe Fernandez, Pam Shriver, Patrick McEnroe and Cliff Drysdale. I never liked that CBS and NBC get the finals while ESPN and USA bow out. NBC/CBS’s coverage has always been shoddy at best.

From Bridgeport Jake:

It will be interesting to see how Venus Williams will react to the fact that she is no longer the best tennis player in the world. Before when she was #3 or #2 in the world, there was no question that she had that inner confidence that, rankings be damned, she was supreme.

On the court on Saturday, I think she showed a bit of mental fragility knowing that Serena was going to destroy every weak serve, and thus it wasn't surprising that she had such a low first-serve percentage. Serena is simply the best returner the game has seen in a while. Will Venus be happy to sit at #2, facing her sister once in awhile and winning on occasion? Will she start cutting back again, knowing that she proved what she needed to prove and doesn't need all this hassle? Will other players start smelling blood and expose Venus's vulnerabilities to attack tennis? Or will she do what it takes to get back to #1? Should be interesting to watch.

As unhealthy as the continuing concentration (whether it's Top 3 or Top 10) at the highest echelon of women's tennis is, it's certainly more buzz-generating than the spectacle of Thomas Johansson and Albert Costa winning the first two Grand Slams of the year. Or the run of eight different Grand Slam winners in the past eight tourneys.  These no-name, midlevel, one-shot wonders (as opposed to attention-grabbing Cinderellas or drama-ridden close-but-no-cigars) had never made it past the quarters in any Grand Slam and are destined for the dustbins of history. Once a year or so maybe, but twice in two Slams? Uh oh. Why do I have the sinking feeling that the Wimbledon champion is going to be Fabrice Santoro ... or Thomas Enqvist ... or Bohdan Uhlirich?

As for the French Open itself, something about the World Cup going on, plus the rain, plus no night matches, plus the routineness of many of the "big" matches, plus NBC's lackluster coverage ... it just felt kind of blah. I'm not worried, though. The US Open more than makes up for the French's failings. It's the perfect made-for-TV tennis event. Can't wait.

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The French had it all. History and redemption were on display at Roland Garros. Story.

Discuss the French Open on our Discussion Board

June 11, 2002