Tennis Talking Points

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
May 29, 2009

Tennis Talking Points

Andy Roddick

<i>Our weekly Friday look at newsmakers in the tennis world.</i><br><br>The highest-ranked American player reached the third round of the French Open for the first time in eight years. In fact, he hadn't won a match at Roland Garros since 2005.

Maria Sharapova

The 22-year-old Russian has showed tenacity at her first major tournament since missing nine months with a shoulder injury. ''I think these types of matches are really important for me, for my game,'' Sharapova said after beating 11th-seeded Nadia Petrova 6-2, 1-6, 8-6 in the second round in Paris.

Rafael Nadal

Nadal's French Open victories have become so routine and expected that he's drawing more attention for his fashion choices. ''It's better than [to] dress [in] the same color every week, no?'' Nadal said in response to questions about his new look.

Dinara Safina

Safina entered the French Open in exceptional form, on the strength of back-to-back singles titles in Rome and Madrid. The top-ranked women's player showed no signs of regression early in Paris: She dropped a total of two games in her first two matches.

Alexa Glatch

In her first career match at Roland Garros, the 19-year-old native of Newport Beach, Calif., routed No. 14 seed Flavia Pannetta 6-1, 6-1. But Glatch came undone in the second round against Lourdes Dominguez Lino, squandering a big second-set lead in a 7-6 (0), 7-5 loss.

Fabrice Santoro

"The Magician" made his 20th consecutive appearance at Roland Garros -- matching Francois Jauffret's all-time mark -- and bowed 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 to Christophe Rochus in the first round. Santoro, a 36-year-old Frenchman who is retiring at the end of the year, has played in a record 67 Grand Slam tournaments.

Michelle Larcher de Brito

The shrieking 16-year-old qualifier from Portugal was one of the biggest early stories at the French Open thanks to back-to-back victories, including a second-round upset of No. 15 Zheng Jie.

Marat Safin

Like Fabrice Santoro, Safin lost early in what he says will be his final French Open. The two-time Grand Slam winner fell in the second round to Frenchman Josselin Ouanna 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 3-6, 10-8 7-6 (2).

Amelie Mauresmo

France's Mauresmo has won two Grand Slams and spent 39 weeks at No. 1. But when it comes to her home tournament, something has never clicked for the tour veteran. After her first-round loss to Anna-Lena Groenefeld this year, Mauresmo has made 15 appearances at Roland Garros while advancing as far as the quarterfinals only twice.

Devin Britton

The 18-year-old freshman at Ole Miss became the youngest men's singles champion in NCAA Division I history with his comeback victory against Ohio State's Steven Moneke. On the women's side, Duke freshman Mallory Cecil downed Miami's Laura Vallverdu.