Mornin'. I'm a little late to the party today, but only because I had personal "crisis center" issues that kept me from posting this earlier. Nothing tawdry, like passing out in front of the TV with that-one-too-many drink in hand. We had electrical storms here at the farm in game-rich Andes last night, and narrowly avoided spawning a full-blown tornado. At first, when I heard the deafening rush of noise, like that I of a freight train bearing down, I thought, What the???
I quickly realized it was the wind. It was intense, And I knew from time I'd spent in Oklahoma, where tornadoes are a constant menace, that I ought to grab Buck the Wonderdog (who's scared of thunder anyway) and retreat to the root cellar. But then I thought, What about the Roland Garros Crisis Center?
Okay, just kidding.
I waited to see what would happen next. Shortly the wind diminished somewhat, and the deluge and light(ning) show began. It all played havoc with my broadband connection, and I was also worried that I'd fry my computer and/or modem, so that was that. . . I went to sleep and listened to the rain hammer down on the roof.
Anyway - I posted some thoughts yesterday on the obvious highlight match of the day, Juan Martin del Potro vs. Novak Djokovic. The best of the rest? The Richard Gasquet vs. Thomaz Bellucci clash gets my vote as the battle in which we're likely to see the most spectacular shotmaking. The Roger Federer vs. Janko Tipsarevic will be worth tracking for any number of reasons, not least of which is the upset potential. And the WTA matches I like pit former no. 1 Jelena Jankovic against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and former champ Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Rebecca Marino. Defending champ Francesca Schiavone has already won, having forced Shuai Peng to retire after Schiavone won the only completed set.
Matches you couldn't pay me to watch (pls. don't tell the folks who cut my checks): the second-on, Court 7 battle of the consonants (Nuria Llgostara Vives vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and, on the ATP side, Fabio Fognino vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
-- Pete