I used to get such terrible butterflies before games/matches (in every sport I played) that I often couldn't eat. So my teammates took to forcing bananas and Gatorade down my throat. To this day, I have a hard time swallowing either...

Ed - do you have a link to the Pascual/Medina Garrigues presser after their win? I'd love to read it - El Jon said it was quite good.

Hi, Ed - Another thing about Tony's groundbreaking book is that it has more personal depth than you expect when you first open it: that incidental stuff about his basically being a functional junkie for a good chunk of his early career, and his admitting (via his portrayal of Scott Bryan) that he was in many ways unmotivated and an underachiever - that his kitchens are playpens for grown ups whereas other guys run kitchens that are shrines to the culinary arts. I think these elements of the book, presented as matter of factly as they are, help elevate it above just a funny look at those wacky, hard-partying toques.

As a writer I also still chuckle at that line he has early in the book that even though he's more a writer now than a chef, he still thinks of himself as a chef and that (I'm paraphrasing) if his car ever broke down in the middle of the night, he'd call a chef, not a writer, for a rescue. Funny!

Thanks for the book recommendation, Ed! I look forward to reading that one. I will be on vacation in a couple of weeks so I may pick that up for the trip. Pete's book is now avaailble on pre-order from Amazon and I hope that gets here soon, too.

Sad about Horst Skoff dying so young. My main memory of him was a very spirited Davis Cup match in 1990 in Austria vs. Michael Chang. Chang, if memory serves, was down two sets to none and came back to win in 5 in the deciding match of the tie, which victory allowed the US to move on to the finals vs. Australia, which we won. I watched that match with my mom and we decided that if Chang was able to come back and win, we would convince my Dad to take us to the Davis Cup finals, which we did! That was my first live professional tennis. RIP, Horst.

kitchen confidential is a fantastic book. one of my favorites and a must for any foodie or anyone remotely interested in the business. it makes you realize how much goes into becoming an executive chef and tony is disarmingly honest and a gifted writer. i would give anything to have a similar account in tennis. maybe in a decade andy murray might be the best candidate for the job!

This time last year, I was an arrogant league player. This year, I'm a humbled tournament beginner. I've watched balls fly past me from every position on the court as I play guys well above 5.0 while I'm still struggling to consolidate and define my game.

These experiences have completely redefined watching a tennis match for me.

To utterly dismantle a man who is equal to you in skill and superior in experience is a work of supreme strength. I am awed by what happened this weekend, and more so after my experiences.

Tennis is a funny thing. Somewhere, you have to gain the confidence to win matches, and oddly you have to gain that confidence from losses. You have to lose any number of times to better opponents, then lose to equal opponents, and finally realize you really should beat these guys that were once so much better than you. And along the way, you have to deal with so many guys that will always be better than you.

In those moments, you have to focus your mind on the next shot, and unleash everything your body has to offer while reining in the "too much" it wants to offer. Constructing a point, rather than blasting for a corner, can be the hardest thing to do.

The second game of that awful match was so hard to watch. Things worked and didn't work and worked and fell apart so quickly, and then the confidence just faded away. There were going to be no backhand miracle answers.

With that match, and with my recent tournament experiences, I've quit believing in GOATs. Roger is not the GOAT. He's the best, except when he isn't. Rafa has elevated his game, and I expect we'll see him smash that fleet foot of his down on Wimbledon soon. After these most recent seven decimations, nothing would surprise me less than to see him close off those last couple cracks in his hard-court game and rise to the top of everything. Then again, Federer couldn't close that one crack in his game up around his left shoulder. Who knows what will happen to the honorable Mallorcan?

I'm sure he'll be the best, except when he isn't.

The videos posted are "no longer available" :(

"It was a much more competitive match, but Ivanovic forced the action, breaking Safina five times and striking 41 winners."

Hi Ed, the stats on the RG website are incorrect, they are just adding 'points won on 1st serve' & 'points won on 2nd serve' and putting that number in the winner column for some reason.

Not one match on that site has correct winners stats. Charles Bricker has talked about this in his blog(apparently RG is the only major that doesn't use IBM to do match stats)

This is rather depressing to me, seeing so many media reports of Nadal's imaginary '46 winners' in the final yesterday, when he only made about 20. And Ivanovic had very few as well(this is clay after all, that alone should make some of these numbers raise eyebrows)

For confirmation you can compare the match stats on atptennis to RG's website. You will see that each & every match stat at RG is just using the 'service points won' number to represent 'winners.'

Ed,
My heroes(besides Nadal and Ivanovic) of the week would have been Gael Monfils and Dinara Safina.

Safina - She was the story of the French Open as she rallied from a set and 5-2 twice to win and dominated Kuznetsova.

Monfils - He lived up to promise these 2 weeks and winning over Ferrer was easier than I expected then to follow that with a tight 4 set match with Federer.

Hey Ed...its no coincidence that retired pros often show up on TV as analysts and not as scribes working for papers or magazines. Even though ex-players often have a greater understanding of what it takes to compete against the likes of Federer or Nadal, they don't have the ability to communicate it in the written word. Very few are capable of what Bourdain did/does, hence the lack of in the ex-pros working in the print tennis journalism field...

As a fan of Roger, it was quite a disappointment that he put up in the finals. I could have slept in and not woke up so early to watch him get bulldozed. I think Federer might not even win a single slam this year:(

KP: Saw your post during the French Open regarding the way their website calculated the winners statistics. Very strange than the official website of a Grand Slam tournament would incorrectly compute stats like that.

Master Ace: Agree with your additional heroes of the week.

I always choose the breakfast of champions (John Belushi style) "Little Chocolate Donuts".

KP: I saw your comment too and I was surprised because the FO website was done by IBM and was similar to what the AO had. So I am still trying to understand how IBM will do the website and not the statistics.

Ed - as always a good read to start the new week of tennis
Hey - if you hear anything about Gasquet 's summer schedule could you let me know
would be curious if in skipping the Olympics , he might be signing up to play a few of the American hard court warmups -
LA maybe ? I would have to get some tickets to see that one then
as it stands right now , I was not that excited about going - but this might spice things up a bit

thanks

K.K. - the point of your 2.43 is what?

I'm a fan of both Roger and Rafa so I was sure I'd be happy for whomever won, but despite my best efforts to be reasonable yesterday I was sad beyond reason for Roger. Professional tennis is such a brutal sport. Even figure skating--the other individual "sport" is not so bad. At least you know your misery can't last longer than four minutes, but in tennis you just have to stand there and let fifteen thousand people (to count just the ones present) watch you fall apart. I adore Roger as much as ever. He's human, he's been under a lot of pressure to be The One, he's had to strike balls day in, day out for all his life. In my mind this doesn't take anything away from him. What he's already accomplished makes him extraordinary. But I still feel bad for what he had to endure yesterday. I might give up watching tennis altogether. It's not for the faint of heart.

"Pete's book is now availble on pre-order from Amazon and I hope that gets here soon, too."

Jenn: I pre-ordered Pete's book from Amazon a few weeks ago, and expect it to ship in the next day or two. Looking forward to reading that.

I am a huge Rafa fan but I have to say I was sad that Federer got rolled over by Rafa.I think Rafa was too. Another thing does anybody know the errors\winners count for both the men in that match?

Just for the record...not only was the FO women's final much more competitive than the men's, as Ed pointed out, but the men's 3-set final was only 15 minutes longer than the women's 2-set final.

Pete, I would like to hear your comment on the Federer's statement after the match (to J. McEnroe). It seemed to me that Federer was out of touch with the reality. He said that "Nadal improved, but I improved too", after a match where he has shown amazing inconsistency. He was clearly out of the match most of the time, not focused, missing a lot. I think he is on the downward slope, not because of his game, but because of his mental state. I don't think he really understands the game that well any more.

...and this makes Nadal future #1 and Djokovic #2.

arbiter - What Federer meant was a general statement about his claycourt game - and he has become a smarter claycourt player, even Borg and Wilander noted that his tactics were smarter, that he was playing more patiently and with more variety than before. So he has improved on that front. Unfortunately, Fed has lost his confidence and therefore his mental edge, and, when that happens during a match, it wreaks havoc with his game, as it did during the final against Nadal. As you said, it's not his game so much as his mental state. That's what he needs to get together, and that's when we will see full-flight Federer again.

Ruth did you get the Venus coffee table book?

Ruth did you get the Venus coffee table book?

wow, rafa with 5:1 to win wimbledon? whooooaaaa, that'll be the day! i agree with master ace, the story of roland garros is dinara safina and gael monfils, who brightened up the clay slam and made it very interesting for everyone --- including the french fans!

today on bbc, nole was being interviewed by sue barker and a man named andrew (not our venerable andrew statman here at tw) and it was a refreshing interview, light, full of laughs and smiles, nole his usual honest self. he said for wimby he would rather be on rafa's half of the draw while ruing the fact he was also there during roland garros. cheeky smile but at least he didn't hedge! so he thinks rafa is less of a threat on grass -- reasonable.

thanks for the book reco... when i'm not so distracted, i will try to get a copy.

jenn, i pre ordered pete's pete book two months ago through barnes and noble. wheeeee!

aww codepoke, that was a wonderful post upthread. he is the best, except when he isn't. take heart, ye mortals.

Ed, great thoughts. I love to eat a couple of tuna melts on wheat before my matches. Not too filling, but a great source of energy. I'll take a banana sometimes, but I find that bananas don't digest quickly enough for me.

Can Gasquet just go ahead and retire now? Who pulls out of the Olympics to play hum-drum matches that will be on the calendar next year? I'm completely flabbergasted.

Hey Pete, did the site just add the new spell check feature? Or is it some strange program I've mistakenly downloaded? If so, Kudos on a great feature!! Now, about that defunct search feature...

Clearly lots of players do...neither Roddick nor Fish chose to compete in the Olympics??? Then who the hail is going to replace him, Young? Spadea? This sucks.

Svelterogue,
Read that earlier about Novak want a repeat draw just like the French Open

Kenneth- what about Andy Roddick? He is not going to he Olympics either.Should he retire as well?

Kenneth: Blake and Ginepri, I think.

But y'know, Victor Hanescu is probably going to win the Olympic gold anyway, so it doesn't matter.

frankly - with the timing of the Olympics in relation to the summer hard courts that lead up to the US Open - I am surprised that more players have not dropped out of the Olympics

greatest road trip indeed
Toronto - LA - Beijing -Indianapolis - Cincinnati, etc
that is one long road

"Ruth did you get the Venus coffee table book?"

No, Mrs. Santa. Do tell me more about this.

After he moved to above #60 in the rankings, Ginepri (and others) spoke as if he will be a definite for the Olympics. I suppose that with Roddick not going, Blake and Ginepri are now the highest ranked Americans eligible to go to Beijing.

Ruth - what about Querrey ? Isn't he higher than Ginepri
hovering somewhere around 40

I would love to see a Sharapova vs Mauresmo matchup in the third or fourth round of Wimbledon. I FLOVED their 2006 semifinal.

I would love to see a Sharapova vs Mauresmo matchup in the third or fourth round of Wimbledon. I FLOVED their 2006 semifinal.

beth:

Yes, Sam is ranked 41 while Ginepri is ranked 59.

I LOVED at the end of the final, when Rafa attempted French. I thought it was so cute.

Thanks Pete, for making me stay up late reading this. haha, I thought I'd read everything on this site relating to Roland Garros, but boy was I wrong. Great article, love the videos.

Darnet, the videos didn't work for me.
Great coverage of Roland Garros tennis.com. I'm looking forward to following Wimbledon here.

beth: Right about Querrey. I think that the Olympics rules allow up to 4 singles players from each country as long as they're ranked #60 and above. So, Blake, Querrey, whom I'd forgotten about (sorry, Sam!), and Robby would all be eligible. (I'll check to see if I forgot any other above #60 American.)

French sports newspaper L'Équipe brutally summed up the RG final: "Nadal, four titles; Federer, four games."

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/06/09/phenomenal_federer_doesnt_need.html

article in UK's Guardian newspaper

Well, can't help it, I still feel for him, I'm seriously repressing the score of this match, and hopefully he will to.

A Wimby title, that would be a good cure.

For the Kim fans, I guess that would exclude me, the WTA world is reporting that she's thinking of a come back. A question if the Queen decided to come back, would her ranking points be given back to her which would make her the world's #1 because she has more ranking points than Ana. Anyone know?

Samantha Elin,
Guess all the texting b/w Lindsay and Kim has put a thought into her head about coming back. If Justine came back right now, I would say she will be number 1 by approx. 400 points but if she came after Wimbledon, that may be a different story.

Thanks Patrick, I think a lot of the players who leave prematurely want to come back, so I think there is a good chance that the GOHE(Greatest of her era) will be back.

El Jon reported that Henin had given up her points since she was not playing - evidently losing possibility of ranking bonus money.

"• More for plus side of the ledger, I hear that Henin was asked whether she wanted her name removed from the WTA rankings. It was explained that she might still be eligible for bonuses as long as she remained in the top ten. No, she said. She'd rather retire at No.1 and lose the money than watch her ranking inexorably slip.

I see that somebody else way up at the top(beginning) has asked for this too. I'm referring to the link for the press conference with the Women's Doubles title holders(Ruano & Medina). I would dearly like to read this. Thanks!

(a question: Who is el Jon? I'm new on here and am still learning my way about,sorry.)

Some perspective. Even the great Rod Laver -- winner of two calendar-year Grand Slams and tennis GOAT -- had to endure losing to his own nemesis on clay. When Laver turned pro in 1963, he was runner up to Ken Rosewall in the French Professional Championships held on Roland Garros for four straight years: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966. Laver was the No. 1 ranked tennis player from 1964 to 1970, and yet in 1965 was thrashed 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 by Rosewall. Rosewall was so good on clay that he won 8 French Pros in 9 years. Laver finally won the French Pro in 1967 and 1968. However, to add insult to injury, in the first French Open in 1968, Ken Rosewall again beat Laver 6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. Laver won his only French Open in 1969, beating Rosewall.

Second, common sense and tennis history should inform tennis writers to keep some perspective. First, every other tennis player present and past -- including Bjorn Borg and all those who won career grand slams -- would have been bulldozed by Nadal yesterday, given the level he played from the start. Too bad it was Federer who happened to play Nadal yesterday, and he started off without his best stuff. Everyone is entitled to a bad day at the office occasionally. It would be stupid to write off Federer's chances at Roland Garros, even with Nadal playing. Federer is the only player to have taken nine sets off Nadal in nine clay matches (Djokovic has only won one set off Nadal in five matches). Federer had stretched where he dominated Nadal in Hamburg and Monte Carlo.

Third, it is too early to jump on the Nadal bandwagon after another successful two-month clay season. From July 2007 to April 2008 -- nine months -- Nadal failed to win even one little tournament. Just a few months ago, Nadal had his own lopsided losses: 6-4 6-1 to Federer (TMC), 6-1 6-0 to Youzhny (Chennai), 6-2 6-1 to Nalbandian (Madrid), 6-4 6-0 to Nalbandian (Paris), 6-2 6-3 6-2 to Tsonga (Australian), 6-3 6-2 Djokovic (Indian Wells). Many in the tennis press lost confidence in Nadal, and wrote off or ignored the Spaniard and instead jumped on the Djokovic bandwagon. Now, all of a sudden, Nadal is The Man once again based on the strength of this clay king's hot clay season.

Fourth, tennis writers are jumping to report Bjorn Borg's predictions about Wimbledon, even though Borg was dead wrong about the French Open final: "I think it's going to be a really open final. Either one can win. I think it's going to be a long match, very close, close match. But both are playing the best tennis, and we're going to see some good tennis tomorrow...a lot of people, they say no one can beat Nadal tomorrow the way he's been playing. But I think Roger has a really, really good chance tomorrow." Borg was more dominant and successful at the French Open than he was at Wimbledon. If he got it wrong for the French Open, why should we believe him on Wimbledon?

Gabriela,
el Jon name is Jon Wertheim who writes tennis for Sports Illustrated.

www.si.com

thank you very much master ace.

• Virginia Ruano Pascual and Anabel Medina Garigues won the doubles. And for the most endearing interview of the tournament, check out their transcript.

The above was copied and pasted from an article by Jon Wertheim on www.si.com

Does anybody know what transcript he's referring to and where to find it? Thanks!

I haven't seen the transcript of the interview, but I saw on the yahoo tennis slideshow pictures of the two players with their trophies; and the cutest little boy was holding Ruano Pascual's. One picture caption said that he was her son, but I wondered about that because I'd never heard her mentioned in any of several articles about tennis Moms. Later, another caption identified the cutie as her nephew.

I'll check to see if the interview appears on the ASAP site, a wonderful site that Wertheim introduced me (and all of his readers) to a couple years ago.

Ruth it's a photography book by Koto Bolofo. He's a fashion/other stuff photographer. He's really good. He had another photography book about the Goodwill festival (motor racing) called Racing Style. I'll post a link if Amazon ever comes back up.

Goodwood not Goodwill

"Third, it is too early to jump on the Nadal bandwagon after another successful two-month clay season. From July 2007 to April 2008 -- nine months -- Nadal failed to win even one little tournament. Just a few months ago, Nadal had his own lopsided losses: 6-4 6-1 to Federer (TMC), 6-1 6-0 to Youzhny (Chennai), 6-2 6-1 to Nalbandian (Madrid), 6-4 6-0 to Nalbandian (Paris), 6-2 6-3 6-2 to Tsonga (Australian), 6-3 6-2 Djokovic (Indian Wells). Many in the tennis press lost confidence in Nadal, and wrote off or ignored the Spaniard"
__________

This happens every year. When Rafa dominates the clay season, his off-clay expectation is exaggerated. Like you said, he didn't win a tournament for 9-10 months and had the bad losses you mention. Even though the press did unfairly write him off, it is nothing compared to what the press does to Roger. Can you imagine if Federer went 9-10 months without winning a title? My God, he'd be massacred!

Anyway, it is not fair to judge or diminish the chances of Federer or Djokovic (for that matter) on other surfaces, based on what Nadal does on clay. In my opinion that has no bearing on what Federer and Djokovic will do on grass and especially hardcourts.

Beth, no I don't think Roddick should retire, I was just saying that in anger abour Reeshard because I really like to see him play and have had little chance to do that this year. He's always absent with injury. Like Tsonga. Jeez, the French sure do produce some frail players. I remember Grosjean, another fav of mine, really hampered by injuries during his best years.

^
Oui, c'est moi.

Alexis, apart from Estoril Roger hasn't won a tournament in over 6 months (I think, correct me if I'm wrong). If he doesn't win Wimbledon, it may be 9 months before he actually wins again. And yes you're right, if this shouls pass he will be unfairly skewered in the media and on this message board. You can still be great without winning tournaments.

I never said Nadal wasn't great. Even I said he was unfairly judged when he didn't win a title for those 9 months. And I think the press is once again being harsh on Roger for his clay season. Pete Sampras wishes he had Roger's RG record....

Kitchen Confidential is a book that personifies the essence of clay court tennis. It is about grinding it out. Even more so for the journeyman clay court specialist.

I bet Bourdain would have something snappy to say about this post on a tennis message board. It would probably be generally or very vulgar. He smokes too many cigarettes to have any use for a tennis court, but I'm sure he could find a use for the racquet.

Although, I'm reminded of a story I've heard Brad Gilbert tell about seeing Xavier Malisse smoking a cigarette before a match with Andy Roddick at Roland Garros. He was sure Andy was going to win (this was still near a time when Andy could still remember some success over there). Of course, he got stomped. But he still comes back for more. That's Kitchen (or tennis) Confidential.

Chris Evert is going to marry Greg Norman??? Hope they have a wonderful life together. hope these ladies (Henin, Clijsters Davenport) would make up their minds Do you want to date and be a wife/mother or do you want to play tennis? *Groan* (ok-call me a sexist)