Senena is still alive at the French Open....

[a kennedy]

Venus lost though.....and forget the American men....all gone.

[bigwillq]

1. Go Serena!

I hope she wins it all! :bounce:

[Awsi Dooger]

2. Women's tennis is a farce right now

You should see the mocking comments on major tennis forums. Everyone is ripping the women's game. The field is so shallow I've heard commentators at the French Open say they weren't even familiar with some names who were winning matches. It was bad enough already, then Clijsters retired prematurely a few weeks ago. Hingis missed the French with a hip injury. Myskina has been troubled by foot/toe injuries that make it difficult for her to walk, let alone play. Mauresmo has been ousted already, still not 100% after having her appendix out.

Some of the matches are more of a comedy act than tennis. Dementieva was ousted the other day with this bottom line -- 14 double faults and a ratio of 1 winner and 49 unforced errors. Those are not typos. Venus also had 49 unforced errors in her loss.

Plus, Serena's absence from tour last year screwed up the seeding process to the point you get ridiculous matchups in early rounds. She is seeded #8 here which means she will face top seeded Justine Henin in the quarterfinals. Those two were by far the top betting favorites in this event. I've never seen that before, on the men's or women's side, the two top favorites in the same half of the draw and seeded to meet in the quarters. You only get something like that when the overall state of the sport is pathetic.

[a kennedy]

3. What? no mention of the darling of the tennis circuit, Maria???

:puke: :puke: :puke: Just hate the way all media makes one tall blond the focus of all their attention. I admit Maria is a much better player then Anna ever was, but it really galls me that they crown her the "one" just on looks. :eyes:

[bigwillq]

4. Maria is a battler though.

Yeah, she gets a lot of attention b/c of her looks but the girl can play. Did you seen her pull off a tough match today with Schynder? What a match. Maria has a lot of guts and never quits. She's not my fave but she's a tough player.

[MaineDem]

5. She had a tough match today

I was pulling for Patty Schnyder who had three match points but couldn't get it done.

I don't care for Maria although she is a decent player. I don't care for her attitude - like stalling in the middle of a crucial third set game to change rackets. She was warned but she still disrupted Schnyder's serve and concentration.

[Awsi Dooger]

6. We talked about Maria plenty in this forum during the Australian Open

You can tell how far women's tennis has fallen when she is number one. Good player who hits out but lacks variety in her game and has a tendency to retreat against top players. Plus her serve can go haywire. Serena is so far superior to Maria it's comical. But Serena insists on playing too little and too fat. In any recent stretch she couldn't get away with that, but against this crop it's no problem.

[bigwillq]

7. Henin is #1 right now.

Not Maria.

[Awsi Dooger]

8. Right, she regained it a couple of months ago

Maria was #1 during the Australian Open. I tend to lose interest in the women's game these days, between majors.

Nice win for Henin today over Serena. Maybe Serena will use this as a hint to focus and get in better shape. Serena was very fortunate Henin was absent in Australia.

[bigwillq]

9. Serena is in the best shape

she's been in years but I agree she needs to get into better shape. Henin was the fave going in, as the two-time defending champ and three time winner in Paris, so it's not like Henin pulled an upset or anything. Henin did dominate though. Serena will be back, though!

[Awsi Dooger]

10. Henin was only a 3/2 favorite vs. Serena

The line was -150 or bet 3 to win 2. That's the equivalent of a 3 point fave in a football game, almost nothing.

Yeah, Serena no longer is carrying 50 extra pounds like last year, but it's still pathetic when you consider how dominant she could be in this era. Anything less than 15-20 majors will be significantly underachieving. That's why Chris Evert was writing open letters to Serena telling her she was wasting her vast talent.

[bigwillq]

11. I don't think she will win

15-20 majors...maybe before she had some injuries and took all that time off and got out of shape....she doesn't have too many years left and I don't see her getting 15 or more.

[MaineDem]

12. Spoiler alert...

Poor Maria is now out.

Too bad, so sad. ;)

Looks like it's Justine's championship although Ivanovic will be eager to win in the biggest match of her life.

[Awsi Dooger]

13. Not only out, she was annihilated

Winning only 3 games. Sharapova has such a limited game she can really be destroyed on occasion. This was very similar to the Australian final.

Men's side is holding true to form. Federer has gotten a couple of breaks, players he has trouble with losing in the round before he was slated to face them. Canas would have been a severe test but he was upset in the quarters. Even Federer admitted he was happy about it.

[rockymountaindem]

14. Yeah, too bad

I won't be treated to another grueling episode of shrieking and frivilous fist pumping until grass court season :sarcasm:

[a kennedy]

15. Justine is just amazing on the red clay,

she's going to be hard to beat.

[Awsi Dooger]

16. Henin is a 5/1 favorite, Nadal a 2/1 favorite

Those are the approximate man-to-man lines, with no house take.

[MaineDem]

17. Nadal played much better that Roger in the semis.

But I can never give up on Federer's ability. This might be the year he takes it.

But I'm pulling for Ivanovic so what do I know? :)

[Awsi Dooger]

19. Nadal is a much bigger favorite than last year

He was -150 (15 to win 10) in the '06 final. This year it's -230. For reference purposes, that's roughly the difference between a 3 point favorite and a 6 point favorite in a football game.

And it makes sense. Nadal has been in much better form. I'll root for Federer but frankly I'll be very surprised if he pulls it out. He loses confidence against Nadal on clay and his backhand tends to falter.

[MaineDem]

18. The women's final (spoiler)

...was another yawner, unfortunately.

Has Henin ever been challenged? Ok, maybe the Russian a few years ago (Myskina?). But Justine owns Roland Garros!

This won't be the last we see of Ana Ivanovic, however.