The 1st week of the French© Michael Cecilio
Jun 1, 1998
The French Open is finally underway!!!! For me, personally, it's been a rather long wait. I love when the Grand Slams are on, the feelings of jubilation and disappointment and intrigue and expectation all come hand in hand at the Grand Slams. It's been a wait of nearly four months, that is, since the Australian Open Grand Slam event. And we don't have to wait long for the next Grand Slam either. In three weeks time, Wimbledon at the All England Lawn and Bowl Tennis Club takes place. If you ask me, though, the Grand Slams should be spaced out evenly because we wait forever between Wimbledon and the US, between US and Australian and between Australian and French.
Anyway, getting down to the real stories of the past week (by the way, as you may have noticed, I'm writing my bi-weekly article a week after my last article. I thought that everyone who visits my topic page at this point of time is probably looking for something on the French Open, and would be utterly disappointed if they did not find something on it). It has been one hell of a tournament, and we're only half way!!!! In the men's draw, we find only one of the Top eight seeds have made it to the third round!!!! C'est tres incroyable!! Who would have guessed it?!? Certainly not I. I have to say though, I'm not terribly surprised about Rafter's loss. Even before the tournament, I thought he definitely would not make the second week. And with the amount of trouble he had in his first round match against non-entity Sebastien Lareau (although Suite101 staff from Canada can argue that), I knew he would be out by the next round. Things just have not been going his way. At least, us Aussies can find some solace in the fact that Jason Stoltenberg was the one who beat Rafter (to tell you the truth, I'm actually happier that Stoltenberg was the one who prevailed). Stoltenberg seems to be having a much better year than Rafter, reaching three finals this year - although his ranking doesn't show it (at #60), I'd say he'll become a force for the remainder of the year (isn't that right, Joel! :o). The opposite goes for Rafter, though. His ranking right now does not reflect the player he currently is - although it will in the next rankings issue, given he loses SO many points from last year's semi-final berth.
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