2006 Roland Garros Picks

Most of the "can-he-keep-it-up?" discussion heading into Paris is centered around Rafael Nadal's quest to break the tie with Guillermo Vilas' record 53-match clay winning streak (he'll need a 1st Round win over Robin Soderling to do that) and his attempt to further stretch his lopsided career mark (5-1) against Roger Federer, but no one is mentioning the fact that Roger Federer is chasing a rare feat of his own in Paris.

If Federer can somehow find a way to overcome the teenaged Spaniard (he was a match point away from doing it in Rome... twice, in fact), the world #1 could claim his fourth straight slam title -- the ATP equivalent of the non-calendar year "Serena Slam." If he DOES do it, "true" Grand Slam talk would be stirred up for Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. But a "RogerSlam" would be almost as, if not just as, impressive. Guess the headline writers for the tennis pages on all the major sports websites are too busy talking about who WON'T be at Roland Garros (you know, like Guga...who no one was expecting anyhow) to worry about everyone who WILL be there. C'est la vie.

On with some predictions:

*ROUND OF 16*
#1 Federer d. Melzer
#7 Robredo d. #12 Ancic
#21 Grosjean d. #3 Nalbandian
#6 Davydenko d. #10 Gaudio
#11 Stepanek d. #27 O.Rochus
#4 Ljubicic d. #15 Ferrer
#25 Monfils d. #9 Gonzalez
#2 Nadal d. #22 Hrbaty

*QUARTERFINALS*
#1 Federer d. #7 Robredo
#6 Davydenko d. #21 Grosjean
#4 Ljubicic d. #11 Stepanek
#2 Nadal d. #25 Monfils

*SEMIFINALS*
#1 Federer d. #6 Davydenko
#2 Nadal d. #4 Ljubicic

*FINAL*
#2 Nadal d. #1 Federer

...so, 60 in a row, but not 4.

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