Previewing Nadal vs. Soderling

When the semifinals are set we'll have a preview of each individually, but this quarterfinal between Robin Soderling, two time finalist here, and Rafael Nadal, five time champion, is too good not to take an in-depth look. After the jump, we'll look at who has the advantage in each facet of the game and who should come out on top.

Quarterfinals Preview

It's Quarterfinal time at the 2011 French Open! 8 players remain in both the men's and women's draws, and over the next two days, that number will be down to 4. Actually, one player has already gained a berth in the semifinals. Fabio Fognini withdrew from Roland Garros, and thus his opponent, Novak Djokovic, automatically is into the semis. Also, and a bit more misleading, one Round of 16 match still must be completed. A hobbled Andy Murray lost the first two sets to Viktor Troicki, but he fought back and won two in a row, setting up one set for the right to advance to the semifinal. After the jump, we're going to take a look at all of the quarterfinals currently set up, and when the Murray-Troicki match is finalized, we'll have a preview up for that one.

Day 7 Preview

Day 7 is the last day of the first part of the tournament. After tomorrow, the third round will be completed, leaving 16 men and 16 women still alive in their quest to win this tournament. This is where the fun pretenders give way to the real contenders. We're still in that first stage, however, and there's still some weeding out to do. On the men's side, Mardy Fish looks to be the only American to make it to the Round of 16, Nadal and Murray look to make it there again, and of course, there will be a conclusion to the del Potro-Djokovic match. That is the biggest match of the day, and, with the score being tied at one set apiece, it looks to be a race to the finish.  On the women's side, the major players look to avoid the upset bug, as Sharapova, Azarenka, Li, and Petkovic are all in action. With the unpredictability of the women's game in general and of these players' respective forms, anything is possible.

Main Event of the Day: Djokovic vs. del Potro
Undercard Match Worth Watching: Mardy Fish vs. Gilles Simon. The Frenchman has made some unsavory comments about the French Tennis Federation and American tennis, and this will be an interesting match as both are trying to make to their first Round of 16 at the French Open. Fish carries the hope of American tennis, and with Tsonga going out today, there's only Gasquet, Monfils, and Simon left as threats.
Upset Possibilities: del Potro over Djokovic, Cirstea over Li.

Day 6 Results: Huge Upsets, Big Comebacks, Djokovic vs. del Potro to be finished Friday

Day 6 brought the most shocking upset of the tournament, with women's world number one Caroline Wozniacki losing to Daniela Hantuchova, the 28th seed. What was shocking was not the loss, but the way in which Wozniacki was so soundly defeated. It was a 6-1. 6-3 beatdown. Wozniacki never looked to be in the match. The other big upset of the day was Samantha Stosur being taken down by Argentian Gisela Dulko. On the men's side, in the biggest match of the day, there was no conclusion. Due to every match of Chatrier going the distance, they had to move the match to the Lenglen court. They only were able to get two sets in, and surprisingly, del Potro was able to take the second set from Novak Djokovic. They will continue the match tomorrow. On the comeback side, Stanislas Wawrinka was down two sets to love to Jo Wilfried Tsonga on Chatrier. With a very partisan crowd in his favor, Tsonga looked to be on his way to a comfortable victory. Wawrinka, however, never gave up, winning a third set tiebreak and winning the final two sets, 6-2, 6-4. All in all, it was a very exciting day of tennis.

Day 6 Preview: What to Look For

Day 6 looks to be a great day of tennis. There are a lot of great matchups as the third round gets underway. The biggest match of the day by far is Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Martin del Potro. When the draw was made, this match was immediately pointed out. Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, is on his way back from a wrist injury that took him out for all of 2010. He's on the comeback trail now, and this will be very interesting to see how far he has come. In other matches, Roger Federer plays Janko Tipsarevic, which is a really good test of Federer's form. Before Djokovic and del Potro take the court, Stanislas Wawrinka takes on Jo Wilfried Tsonga, which should be a hard hitting affair. Another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, plays Thomaz Bellucci, who is on an absolute tear right now. On the women's side, Samantha Stosur plays Gisela Dulko, a tough Argentinian. Francesca Schiavone takes on Shuai Peng, in what should be a competitive match. And finally on the women's side, Caroline Wozniacki plays Daniela Hantuchova, and Wozniacki looked shaky against Wozniak, so this should be very interesting.

Main Event of the Day: Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Martin del Potro

Undercard Matches Worth Watching: Wozniacki vs. Hantuchova, Wawrinka vs Tsonga

Upset Possibility of the Day: Bellucci over Gasquet. Gasquet has the pressure of a nation on him, and Bellucci is playing out of his mind. It seems Bellucci has a great opportunity to win this one.

Day 5 Results: Clijsters, Melzer, Other top seeds challenged

2011 Roland Garros finally came to life today. In the opening match of the day, Aranxta Rus shocked the tennis world by defeating Kim Clijsters, the number 2 seed. Clijsters had two match points in the second set but collapsed and lost 6-1 in the third. The other shocker of the day came when Jurgen Melzer, the defending semifinalist, lost to Lukas Rosol, a qualifier from the Czech Republic. Elsewhere, there was much drama. Maria Sharapova was down a set and 4-1 to a French wild card player, but she was able to come back. Rafael Nadal also looked...well, normal. He won in straight sets, but his forehand was misfiring greatly. On the American side, Sam Querrey was beaten in straight sets by Ivan Lubicic, but Vania King and Mardy Fish were able to advance.

Day 5 Preview: What to Look For

We're not quite at the meaty part of the tournament yet, but don't worry, it's coming. The big names will be playing the big names soon enough (Friday is Djokovic vs. del Potro) but this is the part of the tournament where you can enjoy some quality tennis between two people you probably never heard of. To this effect, Xavier Malisse plays Fernando Verdasco in the Bullring (Court 1) and Jeremy Chardy vs. Gilles Simon on Chatrier. For those fans who follow the Americans, Mardy Fish, the highest ranked male, plays Robin Hasse, a tough Dutchman, but Fish should be able to win and advance to his first third round appearance here in Paris. Vania King plays Elena Baltacha in a match that pits two countries who desperately want more success, the U.S. and Great Britain. Elsewhere on the American side, Sam Querrey plays Ivan Lubicic in a very tough match for the American. While Lubicic is ranked lower that Querrey, he is always a tough match-up, but Querrey had a great win against Phillip Kohlschreiber in the first round, so perhaps Querrey's fortunes here will turn. If you're one of those people who only follow the big names, that's fine too. Rafael Nadal, Kim Clijsters, Andy Murray, and Robin Soderling are all in action as well

Day 4 Results: No Upsets, Player Carried Out on Stretcher

So Day 4 of the French Open was going pretty straightforwardly, with Federer going on court at 11 and seemingly off by noon. Djokovic, by all appearances, didn't break sweat today. The same went for the women. Caroline Wozniacki had her customary close second set, but other than that, the two finalists from last year, Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur both gave up a combined 4 games. Then Vera Zvonareva happened. As the third seed and the defending Wimbledon and U.S. Open Finalist, she has a lot of expectations going into this tournament. She was playing Sabine Lisicki, the 121st ranked German who, after many injuries, is attempting to make a career resurgence. Lisicki took the first set from Zvonareva 6-4, but the third seed was able to take the second in a grueling 7-5 set. Then it's when it started to get interesting. Lisicki was able to take a 5-2 lead in the third with Zvonareva serving. She even had a match point at 30-40, but Zvonareva was able to hold. It was all downhill from there for the German. She got broken at 30 and asked for the trainer. After the trainer looked at her, they called a doctor to attend to her as well. In a surreal sight, they took her blood pressure on the bench. After a while she continued to play. Zvonareva held easily, and watching it, is was painfully obvious that Lisicki was done. Her grunts weren't normal grunts, but almost pain shrieks. She got broken at 5-6 to end the match, and immediately afterwards the medical team came out and got a stretcher for her. The early word was that it was cramps, and hopefully it wasn't much more. The takeaway is that Zvonareva won, and so all of the top seeds advanced, but there was drama in the Bullring today on an otherwise routine day at the Stade Roland Garros.

Day 4 Preview: What to Look For

After the dramatic five setter today on court Phillipe Chatrier, we now move to the second round. Tomorrow looks to be a bit more calm, but there are a few matches worth watching. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are both in action, but they are playing relative unknowns who shouldn't pose much of a threat, so tomorrow is a perfect day to check out some other matches. Espn3.com and Tennischannel.com are two great sites that stream many courts (legally too!). After the break, some matches to watch.

Day 3 Results: Almagro out; Other Near-Upsets

Day three at Roland Garros featured the first matches for Rafael Nadal, Kim Clijsters, and several other top seeds both on the men's and women's side. Nadal's match with former Georgia Bulldog John Isner, which was the most highly anticipated match of the day, did not disappoint. Just when it seemed like Nadal, who was up a set and break, was going to run away with the match, Isner heated up. The American won both the second and third sets in tiebreaks, and all of a sudden, the King of Clay was six games from being defeated in the first round. Nadal easily took set four, which meant that he would be playing his first ever five-set match at Roland Garros to get out of the first round. An early break in the fifth set proved to be all the Spainard needed, as he took the fifth and final set 6-4, ending a nearly four-hour epic. The rest of the results are after the jump.

WTA Tour: No True Number 1, No True Favorite

You have heard it from everybody- experts, players, coaches, and fans: This is the most wide-open the women's draw has been for a major championship in the last 50 years. Why? Because there seems to be no legitimate worldNo. 1 in women's tennis at the moment. Caroline Wozniacki, who is ranked No 1 at the moment, plays almost every week but has not won a major yet. Serena and Venus Williams do not play in enough tournaments to be ranked no. 1, and Kim Clijsters seems to only play her best at Major Championships, which will not earn her the number 1 ranking. Back to Roland Garros; with the absence of the Williams sisters and Justine Henin, who "retired" again, Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters seem to be the "favorites." However, one can make a case for all top ten seeds. For example, Li Na has been playing her best ternnis in the early stages of 2o11, Victoria Azarenka has looked like a legitimate top-5 player in the world, and Maria Sharapova is coming to Roland Garros after her biggest win on clay at the Italian Open.

Many people would say that the lack of a legitimate No. 1, which leads to a lack of a favorite at Roland Garros, makes this tournament extremely exciting. Others say that it makes it boring because there is not one player who everyone else is gunning for. Either way, the French Open should serve as a preview of things to come on the WTA tour. Experts will be saying the same sort of thing about there being no real favorite on the women's side at Wimbledon and the US Open. This should make for an extremely exciting summer of women's tennis, with lesser-name players breaking through on the biggest stages. Will Caroline Wozniacki be one of these players to break through and cement her No. 1 ranking? Nobody knows. What we do know is that the lack of a real No. 1 player on the WTA tour is great for the game. The days when Serena and Venus Williams won every tournament were not as exciting as the days when players are coming out of nowhere to appear on the game's biggest stage. If only the men's game could be the same way....

Day 3 Preview: What to Look for

There is almost no way that any player could replicate the feat that Stephane Robert accomplished today by beating word number 7 Tomas Berdych. It should be a fun day tomorrow though. In the match everyone's looking forward to, Rafael Nadal begins his defense of his title against American John Isner, he of 70-68 fame. With the new lighter balls that no one likes, it seems as if Isner had a classic puncher's chance. If he can hold his serve and if his forehand is on, he can threaten Nadal. There is precedence for a big hitter defeating Nadal early at Roland Garros. In 2009, Robin Soderling blasted the ball straight through him, and beat him in 4. Could that happen here? We'll find out tomorrow, but this is Isner's best chance, early in a major and conditions favoring a heavy hitter. That being said, I think Nadal will win, but it should be a fun ride.

Main Event of the Day: Nadal vs. Isner, see above
Undercard Match Worth Watching: Ryan Harrison vs. Robin Soderling. Harrison got in as a lucky loser when Soderling's original opponent, Benjamin Becker, withdrew. Harrison, while not as talented, always brings the fight, and this should be a fun scrap.
Upset Possibility of the Day: Besides Isner vs. Nadal, Juan Monaco over Fernando Verdasco. The emotional Spaniard Verdasco, has seen his ranking plummet, and Monaco is the type of player that can capitalize on that and keep it going down. Look for this upset.

Day 2 Results: Berdych out; Rest of top seeds advance

Day 2 of the French Open belonged to Stephane Robert, the Frenchman who is ranked number 140 in the world. Yes, 140. He made it through qualifiers, and as the prize, he drew Tomas Berdych, the number 7 seed and defending semifinalist. Through the first two sets, it appeared to be going according to script. Berdych won the first two sets rather comfortably, 6-3, 6-3. Then everything went awry for the tall Czech player. Robert (the "t" is silent) began finding the magic he needed. Hitting winners, and especially backhand down the line winners, turned the tide in his favor, winning the next two sets 6-2, 6-2. The fifth set was an instant classic, and Berdych had a match point on Robert's serve at 6-7. Robert hit perhaps his biggest serve of the match, and at 7-7, he broke Berdych. He then coolly served out the match to win it 9-7, earning himself the biggest win of his career and sending Berdych hurdling out of the top 10. After the jump, the rest of the results.

Day 2 Preview: What to Look For

Day 2 of the 2011 French Open is upon us. And, unlike Day 1, the stars are out in full force. On Court Phillip Chatrier, defending champion on the women's side, Francesca Schaivone takes on American Melanie Oudin, Novak Djokovic plays Thiemo De Bakker, and then Roger Federer plays the man who almost beat him two weeks ago, Feliciano Lopez. Later in the day world's number one, Caroline Wozniacki plays Kimiko Date Krumm. That won't be the most exciting match, but there is a 21 year age difference between the two, so that might be worth watching for the novelty factor.

Main Event of the Day: Federer vs. Lopez
Upset Possibility: Ivo Karlovic over Juan Martin del Potro
Undercard Match Worth Watching: Oudin vs. Schiavone

Day 1 Results

Day 1 of the 2011 French Open was a quiet day. This is the only major tournament that starts on a Sunday, but since they've began starting on the Sunday, they haven't had any marquee names. Thus, the highest seed that played today was number 7, David Ferrer, who won handily. The only major upset of the day was Marin Cilic, the 19 seed, losing. Other than that, there were mostly one-sided matches. One not so one-sided match was Bethanie Mattek-Sands facing Aranxta Parra Santonja. Mattek-Sands, who has been picked by some to go far, lost the first set 6-2 and was pushed to a second set tiebreaker, which she won 7-5. She won the third set and lived to fight another day. Another American woman was successful today, as Varvara Lepchenko upset Flavia Pennetta 6-3 in the third set. This sets up an all-American second round match, which is quite unusual for American women at Roland Garros. Later today, a preview for Day 2 will be up. Day 2 looks to be the real start of the tournament.

The Streak, The King of Clay, and TMF: The Men's Draw

2011 Roland Garros on the men's side could not be more exciting. Novak Djokovic is 37-0 this season, winning the Australian Open, Dubai, Belgrade, and the four Masters 1000 events he played in, Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Rome. This is longest winning streak to start a season since John McEnroe's 42 match win streak in 1984. This streak is all the more remarkable when you consider that Djokovic started the year ranked number 3 in the world, and has beaten Roger Federer (The Mighty Federer, TMF for short), the consensus greatest player of all time, four times, and Rafael Nadal, the current world number one, in four consecutive Masters 1000 series finals. What is even more remarkable is that two of those wins came on Nadal's favorite surface, clay. Nadal has rightly been caled the King of Clay for his five Roland Garros titles and his absurd records at the other clay court tournaments. In any other year, Nadal would be the clear favorite, having won Barcelona and reaching the finals of the two 1000 series clay court events, but with Djokovic's surge, some are putting Nadal as the slight underdog.

That would certaintly be the clear dream final, but there are a few other men who would love nothing more than to stop that final. The afforementioned TMF, as the third seed and all time Grand Slam leader, is always a threat to win, and having won in 2009, has a great shot as well. Robin Soderling, the Swede, had accomplished the historic feat of defeating Nadal in the 2009 French Open and then Federer in 2010, reaching the final both years. He is in Nadal's section of the draw, and that would make a blockbuster quarterfinal. Andy Murray, the 4 seed, reached the final in Australia but fell to Djokovic. He has been the closest this year to ending Djokovic's streak, taking him to a third set tiebreaker in Rome, so he's made himself into a threat. Finally, David Ferrer, who defeated Nadal in the 2011 Australian Open, is always a threat at the French. After the jump, we're going to look at the draw, quarter by quarter.

The Caroline Wozniacki Show: Breaking Down the Women's Draw

Make no mistake about it, this tournament a one woman show. Caroline Wozniacki, the world number one on the women's side, is attempting to win her first major title. Questions about her legitimitacy as the number one player have dogged her since attaining the ranking, and to her credit, she has not shrunk from the pressure like many of her predecessors have. Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic, two major-less former number ones are two names that immediately come to mind when the topic is brought up. Ana Ivanovic, even though she did win Roland Garros in 2008 and rose to number one with that win, very quickly dropped off and never came close to reaching that height again. Wozniacki has not done this, and has even seemed to enjoy being number one. But the questions remain, and this is why all eyes will be on Wozniacki.

There are some very interesting bit players in this show, however. Kim Clijsters is returning from injury and is attempting to win her first Roland Garros title. Rust might be a factor, but that didn't stop her from winning the 2009 U.S. Open in her third tournament back from retirement. She has to be a factor here. Li Na (or Na Li, I never can figure it out) is coming off her improbable and captivating run in the 2011 Australian Open. Samantha Stosur, the number 6 seed, is returning to Paris after making the final last year. Her form dropped sharply over the course of last year, but she reached the final in Rome, and is looking to make a run. Maria Sharapova, who is never considered a favorite on clay, won in Rome, beating Stosur, and all of a sudden is playing well enough to win. There are numerous other women who have the ability to make a deep charge thorugh this tournament. After the jump, we're going to go through the draw, quarter by quarter.

Roland Garros!!

It's that time of year again! The tennis world descends on Paris for two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros. For those who don't know, Roland Garros is one of the four major tournaments in the tennis calendar. It is the only major played on clay.

If you watch enough television or read enough sports websites, you'll probably see the term French Open and Roland Garros used. They are, for all practical purposes, interchangeable. The French call their tournament Roland Garros, but the name French Open has also been used. We'll try to keep it consistent and call it Roland Garros. For some background information, Roland Garros was a French pilot and aviator during the Great War. His heroism was celebrated by naming the tennis center where he attended after him, and later the tournament followed suit.

Well, that's it for the background info. We'll have a full set of predictions up soon!

Welcome!

Welcome to In The Tramlines! We're very glad you're visiting our blog. My name is Brandon and I will be one of the bloggers here. Our goal here is not to be your main source of tennis news and information but to provide valuable insight and analysis into sport of tennis, from the Professional Tours to the amateurs. We also hope to provide tips as to how to improve your game. Thanks for visiting and we hope you return!