When the schedule for today was released yesterday evening, one of the worldy-wise scribes around here looked at it and said, “Well, it’s all academic, isn’t it?”

The gloomy weather forecast for the first week has really cast a cloud over the event so far. Today, the first match of the day were barely underway when the last matches scheduled on each court were cancelled, and on-and-off rain the rest of the day meant only seven matches were completed. The constant interruptions made it even more painful than yesterday, which saw a six-hour rain delay sandwiched between two dry periods.

But unlike Wimbledon, where every twitch in the radar is announced in breathless detail over a PA (“Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, it’s still raining outside...”), the traditional continental disdain for talking about the weather still seems to hold true here. Today, for example, there was simply an abrupt announcement around 6:30 that all matches were “annullés.”

So let’s go to those who really care about such things – here’s the BBC’s Monday-Friday forecast for the French Open:

                  

There’s a chance Tuesday could be decent, but overall, it looks like there’ll be a few more “academic” schedules of play over the next few days. That means some players could end up doing gruelling double duty during the second week – the trainers should start stocking up.

At least the players are getting plenty of rest beforehand, hanging out in the lounge with the usual rain-delay stare, or sitting in the players restaurant eating halibut fillet with bearnaise sauce and spicy puree of carrots. (Not exactly the roast chicken sandwiches of Indian Wells, is it?) When play was cancelled, everyone flocked to the transportation area, waiting for their courtesy car to be called. “Maria Elena Camerin.” “Juan Carlos Ferrero.” “Stanislas Wawrinka.” The end of an unproductive day.

Even with the rain, there were seven winners today – and by extension, seven losers. The most good-humoured loser had to be Stefano Galvani, who was down 6-3, 6-1,5-1 to Nikolay Davydenko when the raindrops started falling more persistently, Davyenko hurried to serve out the match. Then at 40-0, Gavlani jokingly called for play to be stopped. But he relented, and the two shared a laugh at the net afterwards.

Davydenko had his own reasons to smile. First, he almost didn’t make it to his match on time – who expected an 11:00 am start? But he managed to get on court, and then won easily.

Secondly, he’s in the most interesting quarter of the draw, which includes Fernando Gonzalez, Guillermo Canas, Richard Gasquet, David Nalbandian, and a few other dangerous players besides. Having already gone through to the second round, he could be sitting pretty if the rain keeps parading over everyone else’s matches.

Venus Williams also just beat the rain, defeating Alize Cornet to set up a meeting with the former American Anna, Ashley Harkleroad of  Flintstone, Ga. It was in 2003 that Harkleroad leapt into the public eye by beating Daniela Hantuchova 9-7 in the third at Roland Garros, and has travelled a long and winding road since then. She married and then divorced fellow player Alex Bogomolov, also retiring briefly from tennis in the interim.

“I went through some hard times and ended up married, she said yesterday. “My parents were going through some hard times. I don’t know, I think I was leaning on somebody, and I think I needed that at the time.

I think we were too young to be married. And I think he’s much better off without me also, because I don’t think her was all that happy stuck in a small town in Georgia. He’s better off in Miami where he belongs.”

Harkleroad, who is now dating her coach Chuck Adams, has never had much success against Venus and also says that clay is no longer her favorite surface. But, she said, “I think I’m a lot stronger than I was back then, and maybe better. I changed racquets after the Australian Open... and changed my strings, and I’m starting to feel comfortable with it.”

As for her chances of defeating Venus – “She’s not dominating like she used to, so it’s better to play her now than then, right?’

And that kind of reasoning from her opponents, Harkleroad or otherwise, may be Venus’ biggest problem these days.