French Recap

1. Nadal wins his fourth, QED. Tactics are a funny thing. Federer's looked... OK on paper: attack Rafa, force the issue, draw him forward, etc. etc. Embrace the unholy dropshot. But as Fed himself admitted, Rafa continues to improve, and continued improvement means adjusting to the other guy's tactics before he has a chance to use them. Fed didn't get a lot of balls to attack yesterday. I think, like, maybe five in the second set, when for about 15 minutes who looked like he was getting back in the match.

2. Fed needs to serve bigger. The problem with having an awesome all-around game is that when you need to to emphasize one shot, it isn't always there, due to your philosophy of balance. Obviously, the way that Nadal works over Fed's backhand put too much pressure on the Swiss forehand, hence the many unforced errors from that wing. It might have made sense to switch to a big-serving strategy--except that Fed never really seems to serve all that big against Nadal. My guess is that if he could have borrowed Sampras' serve for a few sets, he would have.

3. The women's final: Yay Serbia.

4. Roger's Psyche. Look, he knows better than anyone how tough Nadal is on clay, and how nearly unbeatable the guy is a Roland Garros. In my experience, when you get plowed in a match, it's really no big deal in the long run. There are gonna be days when the other guy is simply a beast. Such is sport.

5. Roger's Physique. He's really not too terribly beaten up, for a 26-year-old who's been at it for his whole life. So there's that to bank on. However...

6. Nadal's durability. Brad Gilbert, for one, noted before the French that Nadal is in kinda rough shape, what with the knees and the feet and all. And yet he manages to play through the pain, dazzlingly. That plus the score in the final is truly awe-inspiring.

7. Fed's pace. Was it just me or does Roger seem to be hitting the ball harder than usual?

8. The American men. Honestly, what's the point? They all look like they'd rather be anyplace else. It's friggin' rude. The French Open is thinking man's tennis. So adapt, you dumb jocks.

9. Threads. I didn't much care for Nadal's lime green or Roger's weird little rugby collars. Monfils looked like he was wearing coveralls or a singlet of some sort. Overall, I'd say Adidas had a better tourney than Nike, although Lacoste was well-represented.

10. Zee Frenchmen. Allez! Very pleasurable to see them do so well in their national champs. With Tsonga and Gasquet not even in the event, we could be on the verge of a new national dynasty. They will certainly do better at Wimbly and the USO than the Spanish.