French Open begins...

The second Gran Slam tennis tournament of the year began today: Roland Garros (The French Open). You may recall, Serena Williams and Roger Federer won the 2005 Australian Open women's and men's titles. Last year's winners were Anastasia Myskina and Gaston Gaudio. It is very unlikely either of these players will repeat as champions. In fact, Myskina lost her opening round match today, becoming the first defending French Open champion to lose in the first round of her title defense. Gaudio won his first round match, but the clear contenders on the men's side are Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. On the women's side, Serena is out (ankle injury), Henin-Hardenne is back (after skipping the 2004 tournament and currently riding a 14-match winning streak) and Davenport is the top seed. I'll have more detailed predictions in a later post but right now I expect the list of final four women to include Sharapova, Williams, Davenport and Mauresmo. Venus won her match today (6-3, 6-2) against an opponent she beat 6-0, 6-0 last week on her way to winning her first title (even if it was aTier III) in 13 months, over Nicole Vaidisova.