A French Open special preview The
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Final preparations were made for what promises to be a compelling 15 clay-filled days.
6 Signings of the Times
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A pricey expansion plan would significantly increase the size of the Roland Garros grounds.
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Caroline Wozniacki
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The WTA’s top-ranked player has a chance for a big breakthrough in Paris.
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Francesca Schiavone Few are giving her much of a chance to win the French Open women’s singles title. That’s what they said last year.
Maria Sharapova Impressive back-t0-back wins in Rome last weekend against Wozniacki and Stosur has put the one-time WTA queen in position to regain her crown.
Novak Djokovic His 39-match win streak includes a pair of clay-court victories over Rafa and has some thinking Djokovic may never lose.
Player signatures adorn the walls of the players’ access staircase.
7 Growing Pains
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15 When It’s On . . .
Tennis Channel, ESPN2 and NBC deliver this year’s action to the comfort of your living room.
Rafael Nadal A men’s singles title at Roland Garros will tie Rafa with Björn Borg for the most ever with six. He may be facing his stiffest test yet.
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An employee sets the last layer of clay on the Court Philippe Chatrier, Roland Garros’ main venue with a seating capacity of 14,480. Built in 1928, the stadium was known simply as “Court Central” until 1998, when it was renamed for the long-time president of the Fédération Française de Tennis, who helped restore tennis as a Summer Olympic sport in 1988.
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BIG Pictures Signings of the Times Autographs of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are among the hundreds on the walls next to the players’ access staircase at the Roland Garros stadium.
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At 21.3 acres, the French Open grounds are by far the smallest of the four Grand Slam tournaments. The French Tennis Federation voted earlier this year against moving to proposed new sites at Versailles and in the suburbs at Gonesse and Marne-La-Vallee, opting instead for a proposed $370-million expansion plan that would increase the Roland Garros grounds to nearly 34 acres.
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TOPNOTCH TENNIS
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The last time we saw Caroline Wozniacki on the court of a major tournament was during the semifinals of the 2011 Australian Open. She held a match point in the second set against Li Na when serving at 5-4, 40-30. She was broken, and it wouldn’t be the last time: Li earned breaks in Wozniacki’s final three service games of the second and third sets. So the question remains: Can Wozniacki win a major? She has been to a final and a few semis, but she’s never been that far at the French Open, her latest chance at a breakthrough. While she’s a grinder’s grinder, Wozniacki’s worst surface may be clay. Paradoxically, its slowness requires a higher level of power and, more important, heaviness from a player’s strokes, neither of which her shots have. That’s the downside—matches on the dirt will often be out of her control. But there’s an upside to her chances at Roland Garros, and it’s her simple consistency. Wozniacki remains, despite her recent slight struggles, the top player who is the least likely to beat herself.
Caroline Wozniacki
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Novak Djokovic “We will see what’s going on in the clay season,” Rafael Nadal said in Indian Wells two months ago after having lost to Novak Djokovic in the final of the BNP Paribas Open. It was a notso-subtle suggestion that the surging Serb wouldn’t be nearly as formidable once off the hard courts. What’s going on in the clay season is hardly what Nadal—or the rest of the world—expected: Djokovic in Rome won his seventh title of 2011, extending his win streak to 39 straight matches dating back to the 2010 Davis Cup final. For a second consecutive weekend, Djokovic topped Nadal on his favorite surface. The highlight of Rome, however, was Djokovic’s semifinal against Andy Murray. Down 4-5 in the third and looking utterly punch-drunk, Djokovic could have gone down swinging with honor and headed for Roland Garros with a little less weight on his back. He didn’t do that. He did the even more honorable thing by ignoring his body, his opponent and the inevitable end to his streak, and winning instead. He doesn’t know how to do anything else.
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Francesca Schiavone
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Too often in women’s tennis we’ve seen players crumble in the unfamiliar setting of a Grand Slam final. They play tentatively (see Safina, Dinara), complain too much (see Jankovic, Jelena) or just plain choke (not enough room to list here). Not Francesca Schiavone. Given the chance of her career at the 2010 French Open, she played aggressively and without hesitation. She smacked forehands (unusual for her), sliced backhands and dropped down delicate volleys to become, at age 29, the oldest first-time women’s Slam winner in the Open era. It was a wonderfully inspiring performance. Few expect Schiavone to repeat, given her struggles since achieving a career-best No. 4 ranking in January. Her performance this spring has been marked by early defeats to lesserranked players, including a pair of consecutive lopsided losses in Miami and Stuttgart to Agnieszka Radwanska. And yet the current scattershot state of women’s tennis, combined with a sentimental crowd, gives the Milan native at least some hope of becoming the most improbable back-to-back winner of a Grand Slam tournament. Schiavone’s supporters wore T-shirts to last year’s final emblazoned with the same words that justifiably apply to this year’s challenge: “Sciavo, Nothing is Impossible.”
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Rafael Nadal Want proof of Rafael Nadal’s unrivaled excellence on clay? When he takes center stage at Roland Garros this week, check out the court itself. Like skid marks at the scene of an accident, the long trenches Nadal leaves in the backcourt are legacies of his speed, quickness and coverage area. The ball marks he leaves are like ballistic reports, confirming power, accuracy and spin. The forensic evidence is bolstered by the empirical evidence: Nadal has won the French Open five of the six times he’s entered. With a sixth title in Paris, he will tie Bjorn Borg for most ever. But even the stoic Swede didn’t win with Nadal’s level of authority, capable as he is of cruising through the draw without dropping a solitary set. This year could be the stiffest French Open test yet for the world’s No. 1 player—he has lost twice this month to Novak Djokovic, in Madrid and then Rome. Should Nadal win his sixth French, he’ll solidify himself as the best ever on clay. We’ll be inclined to then go a step further and submit that no player has ever been as comprehensively dominant on any surface. M O R E AT tennis.com
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Maria Sharapova
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It was during the 2007 French Open that Maria Sharapova referred to herself as a “cow on ice” when playing on clay. That was hardly the case in Rome last weekend—Sharapova had the breakout tournament her fans have been, at various times, hoping for, expecting and writing off, for the better part of two years. She did it because the baseline bombs that she had been missing during that time were detonating just inside the lines again. And because stronger legs and an improved ability to recover allowed her to defend surprisingly well against Sam Stosur in the final. The WTA has been looking for a queen this year. Kim Clijsters doesn’t want the title or the role, so we’ve watched and wondered whether, in turn, Wozniacki, Azarenka, Goerges or Kvitova might be the woman to slide all the way to Paris with it. The latest to join that parade might be the most promising. Sharapova, unlike the others, already is a queen. All she needs is for bombs to find the lines. We already know she has the regal strut—and the guts—to back it up.
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TV Schedule
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DATE
ROUND
TIME (EST)
Sunday, May 22
Early-round play Early-round play
5 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Tennis Channel ESPN2
Monday, May 23
Early-round play
5 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Tennis Channel
Tuesday, May 24
Early-round play Early-round play
5 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Tennis Channel ESPN2
Wednesday, May 25
Early-round play Early-round play
5 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Tennis Channel ESPN2
Thursday, May 26
Early-round play Early-round play
5 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Tennis Channel ESPN2
Friday, May 27
Early-round play Early-round play
5 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Tennis Channel ESPN2
Saturday, May 28
Early-round play Early-round play
5 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Tennis Channel NBC
Sunday, May 29
Round of 16 Round of 16
5 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Tennis Channel NBC
Monday, May 30
Round of 16 Round of 16
5 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Tennis Channel ESPN2
Tuesday, May 31
Quarterfinals Quarterfinals
8 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Tennis Channel ESPN2
Wednesday, June 1
Quarterfinals Quarterfinals
8 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Tennis Channel ESPN2
Thursday, June 2
Women’s Semifinals
8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
ESPN2
Friday, June 3
Men’s Semifinals
11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
NBC
Saturday, June 4
Women’s Final
9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
NBC
Sunday, June 5
Men’s Final
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
NBC
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