A grand slam on Roland Garros’ clay is quite something. But there’s more to it. Aside from the – expected – coronation of Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal/Novak Djokovic, a few odd things also happened in the French capital.
The story: Judy Murray, coach and cougar
"Guy Forget just strolled thru hotel lobby in Lycra shorts. Nice start to my day.
He is Monsieur Unconventional Chic. Short shorts in the most elegant legs. Mmmmm."
The words are those of Judy Murray on Twitter, mother of Andy (world number 4) and Jamie and divorced since 2005. Judy, who also coached both her sons, never misses the chance to show off her single status. Otherwise, Mummy Murray takes care of everything: her son’s laundry, his microwaveable ready-meals, and his supply of Percy Pigs from M&S. Well, you get the picture, Judy Murray needs a break. At every tournament she has just one urge: to study the men’s draw, ignoring the rackets. See for yourself this other tweet, about Marat Safin:
"Oh my. Marat Safin (in white polo shirt n killer shades) watching Isner v The Sneezer on Chatrier. He’s watching the tennis. I’m watching him.” He must be happy, Andy, to get a new step-father every weekend.
The clay is pink
After Madrid’s blue clay, now there is Paris’ pink clay. To celebrate the ladies semi-finals, the clay on court one turned pink. Or fuchsia, to be exact. Not doing things by halves, the organizers also offered a rose to every woman in the stands. Incidentally, two matches of the ladies Perrier Legends Trophy were also played there: Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotna against Nathalie Tauziat and Sandrine Testud and then Conchita Martinez/Iva Majoli against the duo of Anke Huber/Barbara Schett. Heavy stuff.
The soap opera Vs. Roland Garros
During the Parisian fortnight, the French soap
Plus belle la vie (French equivalent of Corrie ed.), watched daily by an audience of more than six million, had to deal with the vagaries of live tennis broadcasts. If a game lasted too long, that night’s episode was even cancelled. This kind of thing did not go down well with fans of the soap. On Facebook, after the official page announced a delay in the scheduling, no less than 1280 people vented their frustration on the official web-page of the soap. A slogan even appeared in the evening: “
Down with the yellow ball!” Obviously, you don’t mess with a housewife.
The video: the cramps of Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov against Richard Gasquet. The point lasted for 36 shots and the Russian ended up burned out. Face-down in the clay. And then? Pretty rough. Unbearable cramps for the Bulgarian, nausea for the Frenchman and a technical KO of several minutes.
http://youtu.be/S9foAe38cz8
The style: Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Bethanie isn’t here to win a Grand Slam. And with good reason, as she’s only 167th in the WTA rankings. But that doesn’t matter for the girl nicknamed the “Lady Gaga of Tennis”, who is mostly talked about for her dress-sense on court. For a long time, she’s been playing with black compression stockings. At Roland-Garros, she also sported a leopard-print skirt with lycra cycling shorts poking out from under the skirt. Yes, it’s ugly, but we haven’t even mentioned her “sexy” outfits for the sponsors parties on the women’s tour. The easiest would be to have a look at the pictures.
The number: 8
With her victory at Roland-Garros, Maria Sharapova joined a very elite group, that of women who have won all four Grand Slam tournaments. Following Wimbledon in 2004, the US Open in 2006, the Australian Open in 2008 and now Roland-Garros in 2012, the beautiful Russian joins Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Shirley Fry, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Doris Hart and Serena Williams. Tennis royalty.
The quote :
Maria Sharapova doesn’t like Twitter and don’t mind letting others know. From the top of her six feet one, the beautiful Russian has no time to lose with the 140 characters social network:
"I think it’s too much for me. I mean, I’m bored with myself on a daily basis, and I think if I’m bored, like eating a bowl of pasta, I don’t need to let the world know that I’m at this restaurant eating a bowl of pasta, That’s my opinion about it now. Maybe that can change, but I feel like it’s just too much every day to tweet and to write. I write enough texts a day. I can’t even imagine what it would be like if I would tweet constantly. I’m like, I’m getting arthritis in my thumbs. I already text so much, it’s embarrassing.” We’ll have to get over it. Maria has better things to do than to talk to us. Sigh…
The ranking: 1
In winning on the Parisian dirt, Maria Sharapova took back her position as world number one at the expense of Victoria Azarenka. The Russian, who continues a tremendous run in Grand Slams (
runner-up at Wimbledon and in Australia, champion at Roland-Garros ed.), reclaims her crown and proves to be the boss of the ladies tour.
Mathieu Faure
