Official Roland Garros 2005 Thread

[FLiam]

Draw has been made.

British number one Tim Henman will take on Italy's Potito Starace in the first round of the French Open next week.

Henman, seeded seventh, could face Roger Federer in the last eight and Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals.

Fellow Briton Greg Rusedski plays a qualifier in round one, with second seed Andy Roddick a potential third-round opponent.

Top seed Lindsay Davenport opens against Katerina Srebotnik and Maria Sharapova faces Evgenia Linetskaya.

Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne meets Conchita Martinez in the first round and compatriot Kim Clijsters faces a qualifier.

World number one Federer will face Sweden's Robin Soderling in the first round.

Nadal, the fourth seed, meets Lars Burgsmuller first and could face fellow 18-year-old Richard Gasquet of France in round three.

With Federer, Nadal and Gasquet in the top half of the draw, eighth seed Guillermo Coria will be a strong favourite to come through the bottom half.

The Argentine opens against Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark.

Should Henman beat world number 63 Starace he would take on Luis Horna or Jerome Haehnel, with 31st seed Juan Ignacio Chela a possible third-round opponent.

source: bbc.co.uk/sport

So, who is everyone's picks?

I am disapointed that Hewitt didn't recover in time from him being an idiot and falling over. I was looking foward to seeing him return.

Anyway, my pick for the tournament is Federer or Coria. Both men I think will reach at least the quarter's if they don't win it. Nadal is of course in with a shout of winning it but I am not sure if he can last thorughout the whole two weeks to be honest, but hey, he could prove me wrong. And I hope Henman can match his result from last year, unlikely that he will, but here's hoping.

[Malenko]

I know you won't like to hear what i'm going to say knowing you would like him to go for, but to be honest i wouldn't be surprised if Henman lost in the second or third round. I'm not saying he will, but i wouldn't be surprised if he did. I think he has a good chance of being in the last 8 at least though.

I have this feeling Federer will lose in the semis. The final will be Argentina vs Spain

[sahyder1]

It's really hard to pick against Federer right now but I definitely want to see Roddick get over the hump and actually start winning a bit.

No Serena on the women's side of the bracket makes me a happy camper although it'd been a lot better if Venus was the one that wasn't there.

[Mongrel]

Roddick won't win on clay I don't think. My bet is either Nadal or Coria, but it is hard to go past Federer.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Henman bomb out in the first couple of rounds.

[naiwf]

I haven't really looked at the draw, but I'll go with Coria & Henin-Hardenne here. If Guillermo chokes AGAIN, I'd say Nadal or Federer will benefit, and the only other person I could see winning the French on the women's side is Sharapova if she doesn't gag while trying to get the world # 1 ranking in the process. If Kimmy was healthy I'd have tabbed her, but an injured knee and clay is a bad combo.

While the tourneys should be interesting, this is always my least favorite of the 4 majors since I just don't like "clay court tennis". Hopefully the unpredictablity of selecting a winner makes up for the 4+ hour snorefests I'm sure we'll see at points throughout.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

The lovely Justine Henin for the ladies I hope.

And Rusedski for the mens

I love Greg but if he goes further than the second round I'll dance naked in the street.

[Malenko]

The lovely Justine Henin for the ladies I hope.

And Rusedski for the mens

I love Greg but if he goes further than the second round I'll dance naked in the street.

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[Dan]

Lovely?

[IAceI]

Stop putting Henman down, he got to the Semi-Finals last year and when he lost to Chela in Hamburg I still felt Henman seemed the better player, for the most part at least, and if they meet in the third round again I could see Henman taking it.

I could see Nadal maybe choking in the semi finals against Federer or the finals against Coria, Coria needs a Grand Slam to gain some confidence and we all know there's no chance of Coria winning at Wimbledon.

Surprised there was no mention of Gaudio either, he is the reigning champion after all and his first worries would most likely be round three where we could expect someone like David Ferrer or Fernando Verdasco.

Looks like a great draw though but I wish they wouldn't have Roddick as second seed and more or less LOOK and see who is more likely to do well taking the court into consideration.

My picks would have to be Federer and Justine. Quote me on it.

[Malenko]

My picks would have to be Federer and Justine. Quote me on it.

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[IAceI]

That's just my weird affection for Coria. I got a necklace made especially for me that's nearly the same as his - or as close as possible, and I'm trying to grow my hair like him, also I'm going to spend £35 on his white top with the orange coloured stripes and the shorts too.

[FLiam]

That's just my weird affection for Coria. I got a necklace made especially for me that's nearly the same as his - or as close as possible, and I'm trying to grow my hair like him, also I'm going to spend £35 on his white top with the orange coloured stripes and the shorts too.

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Really? :blink:

[naiwf]

That's just my weird affection for Coria. I got a necklace made especially for me that's nearly the same as his - or as close as possible, and I'm trying to grow my hair like him, also I'm going to spend £35 on his white top with the orange coloured stripes and the shorts too.

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[FLiam]

Anybody see Agassi's match today? Man, that was hard to watch, fair play to him and he deserves a load of credit for finishing the match, top class.

[IAceI]

Actually the shirt and shorts are £70 overall.

Coria is someone I idolise, I love to watch him play - unfortunately I haven't seen too much so far, my mam records it on Sky + and rewatches it and skips most of them.

Saw Sharapova win - had to turn it to mute though. Sheesh.

[Malenko]

All the spanish players are losing today. (apart from Robredo and Ferrero that is). The only two surprises to me yesterday were Hrbaty and Verdasco losing in the fifth set. Everything else is going as predicted.

[IAceI]

I was extremely surprised to see Verdasco go out in round 1. Looks like Gaudio only has Ferrer as much as a worry right now.

Canas schooled Monfilis.

[FLiam]

About Sharapova, yeh, she is extremly noisy nowadays, every single shot she plays she screams at the top of her lungs.

She never used to, last year she would occasionally but now it is like every shot.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I don't like female grunters and screamers.

It's bad sportsmanship.

That Argentinian used to back in the day and so did Seles.

They start to grunt just before or after the shot to put off their opponent.

Screaching is for retards.

When I used to play some guys used to do that, so it's all the more satisfying as a silent player when you beat them heh heh

[sahyder1]

Agassi losing yesterday definitely surprised me. Henman just lost too....tought break too. Had he managed to pull out this set he might've been in pretty good shape because the other guy was in pain the last couple of games.