Gustavo Kuerten briefly rekindled his Parisian love affair on Sunday before bidding a tearful farewell to the French Open. The Brazilian has enjoyed a special relationship with Roland Garros since he celebrated his third and final triumph in 2001 by drawing a giant love-heart in the red clay with his racket.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have turned to playing mind games ahead of the latest instalment of their epic French Open rivalry. Federer believes he is the more positive of the two men while Nadal, bidding for a fourth historic trophy, says the world number one’s decision to bring in Jose Higueras as coach could backfire.
Rafael Nadal’s ruthless pursuit of an historic fourth straight French Open title is likely to deliver another, possibly fatal blow to Roger Federer’s lingering dream of an elusive Roland Garros crown. The Spaniard boasts a perfect record of three titles and 21 wins in 21 matches since his debut in Paris in 2005.
Gustavo Kuerten has just two more tournaments left before he slips reluctantly into retirement, a desperate leave-taking forced on him by a crippled hip that simply refuses to heal. But the former world number one, and triple French Open champion, is taking a sackful of memories with him and even the bad times are being filed away amongst the golden moments.
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/ 25 January 2008
Roger Federer’s invincibility was pierced, then pummelled and finally pulled apart at Melbourne Park on Friday, the world number one being brutally ejected from the Australian Open semifinals by Novak Djokovic. The Swiss champion and top seed fell 7-5 6-3 7-6, ending his bid to reach an 11th consecutive Grand Slam final.