FRENCH OPEN 2009: MadProfessah's Tournament Review

Here is my review of the 2009 French Open. Look how pretty Sveta (and Roger) look. That's one way to dispel those gay rumors.

MadProfessah made fourteen predictions, 7 each for the last three rounds of the Men's and Women's draws at Roland Garros.

On the men's side I was correct in 3 of 4 quarterfinal matches, 2 of 2 semifinal matches and 1 of 1 final matches. That's 6 out of 7 correct predictions. The only match I got wrong was Fernando Gonzalez defeating Andy Murrray. That's pretty good, overall!

On the women's side I was correct in 1 of 4 quarterfinal matches, 2 of 2 semifinal matches and 0 of 1 final matches, that's 3 of 7 correct predictions. I did not predict Kuznetsova defeating Serena, Stosur defeating Cirstea and Cibulkova defeating Sharapova. I am happy that Kuznetsova defeated Safina, but I expected the World #1 to come through in that match instead.

Overall, my record was 9 correct calls out of 14 predictions.

Here are my grades for the new members of the Top 10 (Men's and Women's rankings released on Monday June 8th).

1 Rafael Nadal ESP. 4th Round loss (to Robin Soderling). It was only a matter of time before The King of Clay would be dethroned at Roland Garros, but very few people felt that it would be this year. It should be interesting to see how Nadal bounces back from winning in places very few ever expected him to (Melbourne and Wimbledon) and losing in a place very few ever expected him to (Paris). Grade: B.
2 Roger Federer SUI. Champion. After being the second best player on clay for the last five years, finally Federer was able to sieze on the stumble of his greatest rival to complete his career grand slam and (mostly) silence the naysayers who would deny his place in the pantheon of tennis greats. Grade: A+.
3 Andy Murray GBR. Quarterfinal loss (to Fernando Gonzalez). Did pretty well until he ran into the buzzsaw that is Gonzalez' forehand. Murray is still showing that he is still improving and it is probably only a matter of time before he breaks through and wins a major title like his contemporaries. Grade: B+.
4 Novak Djokovic SRB. 3rd Round loss (to Phillip Kohlschreiber). A very disappointing result for an alleged top 4 player, who had played very well during the run-up clay court season, especially in an absolutely stunning match that he lost against Nadal in the Madrid semifinal. Grade: C-.
5 Juan Martín del Potro ARG. Semifinal loss (to Roger Federer). Demonstrated that despite being the most physically dangerous of the "up and comers" he is not happy with having achieved his highest ever ranking and best ever result at a slam, but wants much much more, as demonstrated by manging to impressively claw his way back to even in the 5th set of his winnable semifinal match against the Great Roger Federer. Grade: A-.
6 Andy Roddick USA. 4th Round loss (to Gael Monfils). The recently married American had his best ever result at the clay court major, losing to a resurgent Monfils who appears to be the only French player to relish playing in front of his home crowd. This result bodes well for Roddick's chances in his strongest section of the year, which is yet to come. Grade: A-.
7 Gilles Simon FRA. 3rd Round loss (to Victor Hanescu). A weak result for the top-rated French player at his home country's slam. Grade: C-.
8 Fernando Verdasco ESP. 4th Round loss (to Nikolay Davydenko). The vastly improved Spaniard was unfortunate to run into the Russian on a day when he was simply playing flawless tennis (6 unforced errors in 3 sets!) Grade: B.
9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA. 4th Round loss (to Juan Martín del Potro). Unfortunately, the always fun to watch Frenchman was simply overpowereed by someone stronger, faster and hungrier. Grade: B+.
10 Fernando Gonzalez CHI. Semifinal loss (to Robin Soderling). Gonzalez made a lot of tennis fans into believers by his demolition of the latest addition to the Nadal-Federer conversation in the quarterfinals and his nearly complete come back against Soderling in the semifinals, only to lose the last five games of the match not due to weakness on his end, but due to strength of his opponent. Grade: A-.

Here are the Women's grades:

1 Dinara Safina RUS. Finalist (lost to Kuznetsova). Lived up to her seeding by making the Roland Garros final for the second consecutive year, then demonstrated why she probably will not remain at the top of the game for much longer by completely disintegrating right before our eyes. Grade: B+.
2 Serena Williams USA. Quarterfinal (lost to Kuznetsova). Did well to make the fourth round of the clay court major despite zero matches on clay beforehand, although her curious lack of resolve leading 3-1 in the 3rd to the eventual champion may indicate troublesome fissures in her confidence as she tries to repeat her appearance in the last two major finals of the year. Grade: A-.
3 Venus Williams USA. 3rd Round (Lost to Agnes Szavay). For the third year in a row Venus lost in the third round, disappointing her legion of fans who want her to perform as well at the beginning of the summer as she does at the end of it, in odd-numbered years. Grade: B-.
4 Elena Dementieva RUS. 3rd Round (lost to Samantha Stosur). Another disappointing major from the Beijing Olympic singles gold medallist. Grade: C.
5 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS. Champion. Finally Sveta exceeded her seeding and took advantage of her opportunities to overcome her well-publicized demons, both by defeating Serena Williams in a tight three-set match (the best of the tournament) and following it up with a demolition of the World #1 to win her second major title, her first in five years. Grade: A+.
6 Jelena Jankovic SRB. 4th Round (lost to Sorana Cirstea). The former World #1 is now in serious danger of not even being considered of ever being a one-slam wonder. Grade: C-.
7 Vera Zvonareva RUS. Did Not Play. Grade: INCOMPLETE.
8 Victoria Azarenka BLR. Quarterfinal (lost to Safina). For one set Azarenka beat the **** out of the ball and made the #1 player in the world look like the confused and unsteady player she is. Grade: A.
9 Caroline Wozniacki DEN. 3rd Round (lost to Sorana Cirstea). The hard-hitting Danish youngster did not play up to expectations, but was another one of the victims of the true standouts in this year's tournament: Romanian Sorana Cirstea. Grade: B.
10 Nadia Petrova RUS. 2nd Round (lost to Maria Sharapova). Petrova had an excellent opportunity to finally defeat the most successful of her Russian peers, but again blinked when faced with the finish line. Her consolation prize was to take out the Williams sisters in doubles. Grade: B-.

On to Wimbledon!