Arno

I have received dozens of emails asking me why I had yet to share my views of the French Open which started last Sunday, in Paris.

Seriously, I didn’t receive one single email but this is a blog. I could write pretty much anything I want to, no one would notice. Does anybody really care about the truth anyway? Just like no one would know that Russia’s Maria Sharapova played and won today in Roland-Garros if they were watching the Tennis Channel.

This is interesting. She is No.1 in the world. One of the most recognized female athletes on earth. And yet, not one single word about her performance. That must be 21st century journalism for you.

Maybe, and it’s just a guess, the Tennis Channel has decided to keep Maria’s win over Italy’s Karin Knapp a secret so that people will watch their match on NBC later. That is definitely 20th century television.

I really wonder why TV execs keep assuming that we are all that stupid. I thought only politicians made a living cheating us.

Then, they will all complain that ratings are not good for tennis and that no one is interested in the sport … anymore. (they usually add anymore because they all miss the days of Pete Sampras’s dominance, when he was “boring” and “not flamboyant enough” for tv).

Try broadcasting the Super Bowl on Monday afternoon, the day after it’s played. I can guarantee you that the ratings won’t be that good. And no, I am not comparing the French Open with the Superbowl. I am pretty sure more people would rather watch Sharapova in her beautiful short blue dress than overweight overpaid men in shiny padded tights.

Sharapova is now set to meet fellow Russian Dinara Safin in the 4th round. And then Safina (yes, you read it first, Safina will upset Sharapova) will meet another Russian, Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinal and then Zvonareva will meet Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals. Kuznetsova is also Russian, that was easy. But I don’t know who will advance to the final yet.

On the other side of the draw, World No.2 Ana Ivanovic will advance to her second consecutive final in Paris and her second Grand Slam final this year.

Jelena Jankovic, Kuznetsova or Ivanovic could overcome Maria Sharapova atop the world rankings after the French Open.

On the men’s side, Spain’s Rafael Nadal is very likely to tie Bjorn Borg’s record of four consecutive wins in Paris.

Nadal is 24-0 lifetime at the French Open (before the 4th round). He is 111-2 on clay since the beginning of 2005. He has lost seven sets in three years in Roland-Garros, three of them to Roger Federer, one to Sebastien Grosjean, one to Mariano Puerta, one to Paul-Henri Mathieu and one to Lleyton Hewitt.

Five French players, Jeremy Chardy, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Michael Llodra, Gael Monfils and Julien Benneteau have reached the fourth round of their national Open, for the first time since 1971. Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the two best French players, pulled out before the start of the event because of injuries.

First off, last week I wrote : Nadal will win again in Barcelona next week, unless David Ferrer can play his best for two sets in the final.

Ferrer played well in the second set, Nadal won in three. Not bragging, just saying. He makes it so easy though. As long as he is healthy, he’ll keep winning on clay, in Rome this week, Hamburg next week and in Paris in June. He has never lost more than one set in a match at Roland-Garros.

Andy Roddick made his 2008 debut on clay this morning in Rome, with an easy win over his friend Mardy Fish. Roger Federer and Nadal have already played two tournaments on the red dirt. The French Open has never been Roddick’s priority. He is 4-7 lifetime there.

Federer could face David Ferrer in the quarterfinals, Novak Djokovic or David Nalbandian in the semis and Nadal in the final. That’s one heavy bracket.

This was true until Wednesday when Ferrer, Nalbandian and Nadal lost to Radek Stepanek -- one big upset --, Nicolas Almagro and Juan Carlos Ferrero --another very big upset--.

It may not be an excuse, let's call it an explanation, Nadal was hampered by massive blisters under his right foot. He received treatment at 1-4 in the second set and went on to lose the final games.

Almagro has been playing very well on clay this year. He beat Nalbandian in the final in Acapulco, Mexico, in March.

A few months ago, I wrote Parity, Stupidity which you can still read here.

The men play a Masters Series event in Rome, Italy this week. They will be in Hamburg, Germany, next week, for another clay court Masters Series tournament, the last of three this year. The Masters Series are the ATP Tour top tier events.

The women play a Tier I event in Berlin, Germany, this week and will be in Rome netx week, for another Tier I tournament. The Tier I classification is the highest on the WTA Tour.

Only the Grand Slam events, which are run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), rank higher in the world of tennis.

 The total purse for each of the two Masters Series events is nearly US$ 3,520,000 (€2,270,000). While on the women’s side the total prize money for each of the two events is US$1,340,000.

I don’t know if the difference is justified. I haven’t talked to the organizers or the sponsors or the Tours about it. My point is that we are far from the parity much heralded by the WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott.

The only joint tournament which men and women don’t play the same week that offers equal prize money is the “The Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships” in the United Arab Emirates.

The first Masters Series, on clay, of the season takes place this week at the Monte Carlo Country Club, in Monaco.

The last seven winners in Monte Carlo have all gone on to the final of the French Open that year. Nadal is the three-time defending champion in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and Roland Garros. Since 1991 only Marcelo Rios of Chile, in 1997, and Cedric Pioline of France, in 2000, have won in the Principality and failed to reach the final in Paris once.

Rafael Nadal is 24-1 lifetime in Monte Carlo and tied New Zealand's Anthony Wilding record of four consecutive wins here. Wilding won between 1911 and 1914. Nadal lost to Argentina's Guillermo Coria in the third round in 2003 and is a perfect 22-0 since. Coria won the title in 2004, served for the match in Paris but lost in five sets to fellow-Argentine Gaston Gaudio. He never recovered and is attempting a come-back, playing challenger events.

He is also the second player to claim both the single and double titles at a Masters Series, with his win alongside Spain's Tommy Robredo.

Nicolas Almagro has won two of the four clay court events he’s entered this year. He served for the title last week in Valencia, Spain, but eventually lost to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

Sam Querrey is the only American in the draw in Monte Carlo. He won his first two matches, beating Spain’s Carlos Moya and Italy’s Andreas Seppi. The U.S. is set to meet Spain in Spain, probably on Clay, in the Davis Cup semifinals in September.

10 French and 9 Spanish players entered the main draw in Monte Carlo. Two of the French have reached the 3rd round --Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils--, while 5 of the Spaniards are still alive before the quarterfinals.

Roger Federer committed 54 unforced errors in his come-from-behind win over Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo in the 2nd round in Monte Carlo. He was down 1-5 in the 3rd set before rallying and claiming the tie-breaker 7-1.

Federer, runner-up here the last two years, is now working with Spain’s Jose Higueras. Higueras claimed 16 ATP titles, 15 of them on clay, as a player and helped guide Michael Chang (1989) and Jim Courier (1991-92) to Roland Garros crowns.

For the first time in his 225-match ATP career, Croatia's Ivo Karlovic failed to serve a single ace in his straight-set loss to France's Gael Monfils.

Sam Querrey is the first American to reach the quarterfinals in Monte Carlo since Vince Spadea in 2003.

The first six seeds made it to the last eight. Only Richard Gasquet (7), who lost to Querrey in the 3rd round and Mikhail Youzhny (8), who lost to Igor Andreev in the 2nd round, are missing.

The top four seeds, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Davydenko are also the four leaders of the 2008 ATP Race. Only once before have the top four seeds all advanced to the semifinals of an ATP Masters Series event. That first happened in Cincinnati in 1999, when Pete Sampras, Patrick Rafter, Andre Agassi, and Yevgeny Kafelnikov all made the last four.

Nadal will win again in Barcelona next week, unless David Ferrer can play his best for two sets in the final. Other players to watch are James Blake and Guillermo Coria.

Rafael Nadal, who qualified for the final of the Sony Ericsson on Friday afternoon, does respect college basketball but can’t stand the Madness.

“I respect 100% college basketball. I think it’s very important,” he said. He is also somewhat aware of the significance of the event. “I know it’s very important, the college basketball, because I see always the American players and the men in the locker room watching it.”

The reason behind his dislike of this American institution is simply based on a scheduling conflict.

“But, well, we can’t have the calendar thinking about the college basketball, no? So we are 100% disappointed about this decision of the ATP.”

CBS, the official broadcaster of both the Sony Ericsson Open finals and the NCAA basketball tournament, wants the finals of both events to be played over the same weekend.

The previous years, 8 weeks separated the Miami finals from the start of the French Open, in Paris, France, the second grand slam of the year and the pinnacle of the clay season. This year, the gap between the two is only 7 weeks.

Many believe that the reason why the ATP changed its schedule is because of the Olympics, while the Australian Open or the French Open did not move their dates on the calendar, neither did Wimbledon or the U.S. Open, which is scheduled to start one weel after the end of the Olympic tennis tournament.

With three clay court Masters Series events –Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg --, the biggest International Series event of the clay season, in Barcelona, Spain and a Davis Cup weekend to fit in, Nadal feels like he’s been robbed one week from his favorite time of the year.

His English, although much improved, is still tentative at best. But when it comes to talk about the clay season, he becomes very eloquent and his point comes across rather clearly.

“We have three Masters Series on clay during all the season, and we have three Masters Series in four weeks. So for us it’s terrible. And three Masters Series in the middle of the biggest tournament on clay in the world: Barcelona. So if you see the calendar, that is unbelievable. Everybody can say about the Olympics. It’s not for the Olympics. It’s because these two tournaments [Indian Wells and Miami, the two hardcourt Masters Series played in the U.S. in the spring] are one week later, because you have university or something like this, college basketball … For me it’s terrible. You know, I’m a clay player, but I can play very well on all surface. But play four weeks it’s impossible if you are playing well, no?”

Nadal is very polite and did not bring the issue up by himself. What triggered his rant was a remark about how European players complain about being in the United States for over a month and how he, unlike most of them, usually fares well in Indian Wells and Miami and seems comfortable being here.

“I’m very comfortable in the United States, but not for this time … the European players are, well, I don’t know, very angry about these decisions, no?”