So it's time for the second Grand Slam of the year. Who will win? Nadal is odds on obviously but can he be upset? He lost to Federer last week and was pushed hard by Djokovic. Murray looked very solid yesterday, but being in Nadal's half of the draw he'll be happy with a semi final. At time of writing Rafa isn't having it his own way in his opening round. He's a set up but down a break in the second.

In the ladies I think it's between Safina and Jankovic. Venus has never been great on clay, Serena and Sharapova are both struggling with injuries and Ivanovic is struggling with her play.

So any thoughts on events in Paris, stick them in here!

Andy Murray all the way, someone has to beat Nadal on Clay and it might as well be him!

Nadal is in trouble!

1-1 with Soderling but down a break in the 3rd.

Nadal....out. To some guy I have never heard of. There you go.

Andy Murray has a great chance to break through now.....

I'm still in shock. I remember there was hope for Soderling when he was around 18/19 but nothing ever came of it. This is by far the biggest win of his career. In related news Coral stated they took only one bet on Soderling to win. He was 100/1 at start of play. Wonder how much the bettor put on.

As much as I would like to see Andy go far his half is still quite tough. Gonzalez in the next round won't be easy and guys like Davydenko could still cause a surprise. The happiest person must be Federer, this is a great chance for him and I think we'll see him raise his game now.

I would say this is Federer's last great chance to win the French. If it does not happen this year, I dont see it happening at all (not that that would lessen my opinion of him much).

I have been blown away by how well Andy Roddick has played on clay.....but I feel like it cant last much longer.

Murray does have a tough draw.

Mary Carillo is the worst announcer in all of sports.

Listen to Annabel Croft and say that.

Soderling really stepped up in that match.

I'm not sure how I feel about Nadal losing. I thought I wanted a Nadal/Federer final for pretty much every major. Thing is, now the FO is wide open for the men's singles. That's kind of exciting.

Can't remember which Williams it was, but when they won their FIRST round match, they went down on thweir knees (I think) and fist pumped as if they'd won the whole tourney, when thei opponent was unseeded. They might be very good, but they are very poor sportspersons and I hope they never win another match in their lives.

Federer down two sets and a rally to win?

My boy might just be able to get the career slam!

It was awesome. I really hope he does it!



Probably Serena, she's usually the more unsporting/annoying/OTT of the two. And good luck with the bolded, like it or not they're still the best females on tour. In related female tennis news. Jankovic is out. Lost to an unseeded 19yo Romanian named Sorana Cirstea, who I feel slightly drawn to. Opinions?

Decent. Ivanovic is hard to top in terms of eye catching... Good thing she dumped Verdasco :-X

I'm like totally uninterested in the women's bracket now. Seems like ever since Henin retired that the women's draw has just been so ridiculously boring. Nobody has much of an advantage over anybody else. It's sort of silly. It's like a top woman will trash someone in the first set 6-1 or bagel them and then turn around and get crushed in straight sets.

I love to see an occasional upset in sports, but it seems like when a top woman loses I just say, "Well it wasn't that unlikely."

Wow. Murray loses big and Soderling follows the upset of Nadal by annihilating Davydenko 6-1,6-3, 6-1. Thats a demolition in the quarters. Would love to see him in the final against Federer.

Federer is on the comeback trail again, down two sets to one he wins the fourth 6-1 and is up a break at 2-0 in the fifth.

NO SURRENDER!

Well, it's safe to say that Del Potro has arrived fully on the tour.

That said...

S;lkgjSDljfasaldfkdsal GO FED. #14 AND A CAREER SLAM IS THREE SETS AWAY.

Yeah, he has been clutch this week. I think he will find a way against Soderling (or that Soderling will choke as many first time finalists do).

This really cements his place in tennis history if he can get it done. I think it would have to put him #1.

Absolutely. Doesn't even matter that Sampras would have the same amount of slams. No career slam for Sampras, plus Roger isn't retired.

Can't wait for sunday.

4:1, $5:$1.25, on FTP that Roger wins. Will listen to different offers...

Takers?

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

So happy Federer won

Btw, the pre-match odds for Federer were 2/9. I was so sure this was good bet. After winning the first games convincingly, he went to 1/10. 5 minutes later, he was 1/20. If only I had money!

There is a general opinion in the sport that the first player to break, often early in a match, can open up their game a lot more and feel very comfortable.

Well, Federer just broke the mother of all breaks. I really feel like he can open up his game entirely in every match and not feel so tense like he has lately after this. Not only is he in the Career slam elite group, but his name is already posted as the best player to ever play the sport by most people. I mean, that has got to take the edge off of every match. All he has to worry about now is solidifing his slam numbers. Sounds great to me.

It really doesn't matter now since he has the Grand Slam, but I would love to see him beat Nadal in the French Open finals at one point in his career.

Does anyone know Roger's record in the past 3 years vs. all opponents, excluding Nadal?

Same for Nadal?

You can use this link to compare any 2 players you like. That's the best I can do.

ATP head to head

65-9, 2007,
66-15, 2008,
33-6, 2009, heading into Wimbledon.

That's 164-30. Seven of the losses have been to Nadal, Four wins have been from Nadal.

Taking those out, he's 160-23 with no Nadal.

Nadal went:
70-15 in 2007,
82-11 in 2008,
44-5 in 2009, heading into Wimbledon.

That's 196-31.
Taking out Federer's 7 defeats and Nadal's 4 loses to him he would be: 189-27.