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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May '06 Awards

==PLAYERS OF THE MONTH==
1.Rafael Nadal
2.Tommy Robredo
3.Roger Federer
4.Nikolay Davydenko
5.David Nalbandian

==RISERS==
1.Tommy Robredo
2.Radek Stepanek

==SURPRISES==
1.James Blake (on clay)
2.Ivo Karlovic

==VETERANS==
1.Albert Portas
2.Mark Knowles & Daniel Nestor

==FRESH FACES==
1.Gael Monfils
2.Gilles Simon

==DOWN==
1.Roger Federer (vs. Nadal)
2.Guillermo Coria

==MATCH OF THE MONTH==
Rome Final - Nadal def. Federer
...6-7(0)/7-6(5)/6-4/2-6/7-6(5). In 5:05, and after saving 2 MP, Nadal runs his record vs. The Almighty One to 5-1 and tied Guillermo Vilas' record 53-match winning streak on clay.

==BREAKOUT OF THE MONTH==
With Federer and Nadal out after their marathon Rome final just days earlier, Tommy Robredo collected their scraps and walked away with his first-ever Masters Series title in Hamburg.

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April '06 Awards

==PLAYERS OF THE MONTH==
1.Rafael Nadal
2.Nicolas Almagro
3.Roger Federer
4.Andy Roddick
5.Mardy Fish

==RISERS==
1.Nicolas Almagro
2.Mardy Fish
3.Jurgen Melzer
4.Dmitry Tursunov
5.Tommy Robredo

==SURPRISES==
1.Gilles Simon
2.Bjorn Phau

==VETERANS==
1.Daniele Bracciali
2.Paul Goldstein

==FRESH FACES==
1.Stanislas Wawrinka
2.Chris Guccione

==DOWN==
1.Guillermo Coria
2.Richard Gasquet


==TOP PERFORMANCE==
Rafael Nadal on clay (still). His Monte Carlo title defense, and win over Roger Federer, was just part of the two title-winning turns in April that ran his clay match winning streak to an all-time 2nd-best 46 in a row.

==TOP COMEBACK==
In Houston, Mardy Fish won his first ATP singles title since 2003.

==TOP COMEBACK (DAVIS CUP)==
Andy Roddick's resurgence at least picked up a little traction in Davis Cup play, as his 2-0 propelled the U.S. past Chile.

==TOP BREAKOUT==
Chris Guccione for Australia in Davis Cup vs. Belarus

==TOP MATCH==
Monte Carlo F - Nadal def. Federer
...6-2/6-7/6-3/7-6. Make it 4-1 for Nadal against the (not quite so) Incomparable One (at least on clay).

=="THANKS FOR NOTHING" AWARD==
To James Blake, presented by the U.S. Davis Cup team. The Americans defeated Chile in the QF, but with no help from Blake, who blew a two sets to none lead to Fernando Gonzalez and lost in a 10-8 fifth set.

==LONG LIVE... 2005!==
Hope the Croats enjoyed their '05 Davis Cup title, since they'll have to wait another year before being able to seriously consider adding a second championship. The Croatian team exited in the QF at the hands of the Argentines this time around.

==IT IS WHAT IT IS==
Thomas Enqvist (19 ATP titles, with an Oz RU in '99) and Albert Costa (12 titles, including the '02 Roland Garros crown) both called it a career in April.

==BUT WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?==
Andy Murray fired his coach over some sort of disagreement. Hey, Murray's first career title in San Jose WAS a whole month ago now... what did you expect?

All for now.

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More Federerisms

7) When children ask, "Where does rain come from?," their mothers tell them that it's just Roger Federer crying.
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8) When he was a boy, as he was tossing the ball during his service motion, Roger Federer had a notion about finding a way to connect people around the world through their computers. But as he was hitting the ball for an ace (naturally), he abandoned the idea for the "Rogernet" because it just wasn't big enough for him to waste so much of his time on it. As he moved to the Ad side of the court, he realized that a simple time machine would allow him to face Rod Laver in his prime and...
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9) Roger Federer bought a piece of property that included access to a large freshwater spring. Within a few days, he went into the wine business.
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10) Roger Federer discovered fire... well, he would have had he gotten the chance (that time machine idea was too simple, so he decided to leave that one to someone else). Of course, it he'd been born in caveman times he'd never have found the Holy Grail or the location of the lost city of Atlantis (there weren't any boat or planes back then, don't you know). Oops, was that supposed to be a secret? Sorry, Roger.
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11) Roger Federer doesn't fly to Melbourne for the Australian Open each January. He walks there.
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For more: Federerisms, Pt.I

All for now. To be continued...

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