The Final Five

Kudos to those readers who got my Battlestar Galactica reference! Anyway, we are into the round of 16 at the French OpenRoland Garros and there are, in additional the a bunch of Spanish guys and a lone Lithuanian, five Frenchman! Les Cinq Mousquetaires! A new dynasty dawns! Well, for the moment, at least, as Julien Benneteau gets Federer, and probably won't survive the encounter.

However, on balance, a great weekend for French tennis. I've watched some of the matches, the latest being Matheiu's win over Eduardo "Could Carillo Please Stop Making Fun of My Name?" Schwank, and I like the French players' combination of thinking man's clay court tennis and heart. They are competing as a collective expression of national character, but also for themselves. If the Americans--including the Williams sisters, who are both now out, and played most of their matches as if they were in pain--could achieve a similar synthesis, they might do better on the red dirt.

But hey, we still have Robby Ginepri!

Another thing worth noting is that the French guys, with one exception, the aforementioned Matheiu, all entered the tourney unseeded. It's just damned impressive, an expression of group will.

HOWEVER, if the draw shakes down as expected, we're still looking at Rafa and Jokerman in the bottom semi, which is a plus for Fed, as there's really no one left on his side who I see giving him a real fight, including Stepanek, who of course took the Swiss Superman out at Hamburg. If I'm the Roger, this pleases me, as a Jokerman/Rafa semi could be a real battle, draining the winner for the final.

Verdict: If Fed can play his cards right, despite the astounding quality of Nadal's play so far, he's got a very good chance to finally capture his one missing Slam.

Gin-e-pri! Gin-e-pri! Gin-e-pri!

Oh my! It appears as if the last American male in the French Open draw is Robby "Under Armour" Ginepri. FYI, our boy has a website, and it's not half bad. Honestly, I never thought of him as a clay-court guy--more of a slow hard-court dude, really--but hey, HE'S ALL WE GOT NOW!

He next faces Frenchman Florent "Dead God, I Have A Beautiful Name" Serra. This doesn't bode well, as zee French, zay are on zee good run at Roland Garros this year, despite having lost Gasquet and Tsonga before the tourney began.

Wayne Odesnik, whom I blogged about yesterday, also went down, predictably, to the Jokerman. The commentariat was uniform in their praise of his skills on clay. He certainly brought a better 'tude to the surface than, say, James Blake, who was the very picture of petulance in his loss yesterday to an unheralded, go-for-broke Lithuanian named Ernests "Don't Call Me Natalie" Gulbis. I've written several stories about Blake and have found him to be a wonderful person who seems at times beset by frustration when he can't rise to his own lofty standards. In his loss to Gulbis, however, I thought he let it slip into sullen-ness at the end of the match.

More about why the Americans in Paris, um, are the suck, a bit later. Preview: They are discouraged from youth to think about dealing with slow Euro clay as an intellectual as well as physical challenge.

Wayne Odesnik and Justin Gimelstob Are BFFs!

OK, so we're a couple of days into the '08 French Open and the big story so far is... Wayne Odesnik!

Yes, he's ranked outside the top 100, but this lucky lefty, who had to play his way in, took out Guillermo "Legs" Canas in the first round and now Hyung-Taik Lee in the second. Hello, Novak in round three!

Commendable achievements for young Wayne, but what's truly impressive is his Wikipedia page. It's longer than Jack Kramer's! Makes you think that somebody out there knows more about Odesnik's potential than the rest of us.

Anyway, he's like totally pals with Justin Gimelstob, as this item from ESPN.com demonstrates. Whadday think of the kid, Justin? "Unlike a lot of the young Americans, he's completely determined and dedicated to performing well on clay....This is a huge win for him emotionally and confidence-wise."

C'mon Justin, name names!

Rafa's Stick

OK, I've started paying attention to tennis again--pro tennis--as usual just in time for the French Open. More to come on the Rome and Hamburg outcomes, but first, some geartalk. To wit: Nadal's frame, the Babolat AeroPro Drive Cortex, his yellow scepter of spinny doom. Based on the reliable Tennis Warehouse, is would appear that only he and...Caroline Wozniacki use this racquet. Huh? Arguably the greatest clay court player of all time and he stands alone on the men's tour as a wielder of this sub-12 oz. whupping stick?

I suppose this could have something to do with Nadal's unorthodox style, which hasn't really been widely copied. But still... Of course, Federer's Wilson is pretty much his and his alone, and at 90 sq. inches, a singular choice, because everyone else seems to use the 95 sq.-inch version, but those frames are more similar than different.

Maybe there's a raft of juniors out there swinging AeroPro Drive Cortexes. I dunno. It's certainly not as popular, by a long shot, as the Pure Drive and its ilk, which I see on court all the time, in the hands of everyone from pros to Sunday women's doubles players.