Notes from French Open 2013

PROMISING SIGHTS

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

France’s No.1 player has started showing a little more consistency in the majors which is nice to see considering the immense talent that Tsonga possesses. The partnership with new coach Roger Rasheed seems to be paying off for Jo. He’s made the quarterfinals of both the Slams this year, with Federer his opponent in both – winning one and losing one. On clay, not his most favoured surface, he did reach the semis before falling to a very good clay courter in Ferrer. Wimbledon and the US Open will be more to his liking and we will be looking forward to him unleashing that explosive game of his.

American Women

Four Americans made the Round of 16 in the women’s draw for the first time in Paris since 2004, led by eventual champion Serena Williams. Of the others, Sloane Stephens continues to impress and the USA has a fine young player in the 19-year old to look forward to in the coming years.

The Old Guard

Tommy Haas and Tommy Robredo turned back the clocks during the tournament. Haas, at the age of 35, made his first Roland Garros quarterfinal. He has had a superb season and continued his good showing at the French Open, losing to top seed Djokovic in the quarters. Robredo became the darling of the masses as he came back, not once, not twice, but 3 times from a 2 set deficit to turn the tables and prevail. He eventually ran into another 31-yr-old David Ferrer who stopped his run at the quarterfinal stage.