Monica has dropped another alarming hint about retirement, as she is
quoted on CEEFAX as saying she is "trying to give it a last push" for
her tenth Grand-Slam title. Monica has said on several occasions that
she will only keep playing as long as she still believes she can win
another Grand Slam, as well as still enjoying tennis.

CEEFAX played a nasty trick on me when they announced the seedings on
Tuesday, as they omitted Monica and said there was no 11th seed due to
withdrawals! Thankfully they were wrong - and I'm sure that given the
nature of her foot-injury, Monica would not pull out of the French
Open before the day of her first match (or maybe the day before).

Monica's quarter of the French Open draw is as follows (* denotes
Selesian players):

JENNIFER CAPRIATI [7] v Joannette Kruger
Rossana Neffa-de los Rios v Marion Bartoli*
qualifier v Cristina Torrens Valero
qualifier v FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE [32]

AMANDA COETZER [17] v Katarina Srebotnik
Marissa Irvin v qualifier
Silvija Talaja v Janette Husarova
Nadia Petrova v MONICA SELES* [12]

ELENA DEMENTIEVA [13] v Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo*
Anca Barna v Maja Matevzic
Denisa Chladkova v Anais Laurendon
Martina Muller v VERA ZVONAREVA [22]

SILVIA FARINA ELIA [26] v Conchita Martinez Granados
qualifier v Zuzana Ondraskova
Iveta Benesova v Evie Dominikovic
qualifier v VENUS WILLIAMS [3]


FIRST ROUND: Nadia Petrova is the very player against whom Monica
retired at the Italian Open! This is a strange twist of fate, typical
of Monica's career. Monica has *never* lost in the first round of a
Grand Slam, and I hope she will carry this record to the end of her
career. If Monica's foot is better then she should make amends for
what happened in Rome, but it could be somewhat of a psychological
blow to have to play Petrova again. I pray for a happy ending this time.

SECOND ROUND: Silvija Talaja or Janette Husarova would not pose too
many problems for a healthy Monica. It all depends on how Monica's
foot, since it's the sort of injury that can flare up at any time.

THIRD ROUND: Amanda Coetzer could be very dangerous if Monica's not
okay, because she is one of the best movers in women's tennis and gets
everything back. She has already beaten Monica (Tokyo Pan Pacific Open
1999), and is just the player to magnify any problems her opponents
might have.

FOURTH ROUND: Jennifer Capriati has been in very good form recently,
after overcoming a terrible start to 2003. I believe Monica could
still take her out if she is in full health, but I'm actually hoping
that Marion Bartoli can do the job in the second round (not likely,
but her two-handed style of play deserves to attract a miracle!).

QUARTER-FINALS: Venus Williams in Monica's quarter yet again! :-|| The
only thing in Monica's favour is her expertise and experience on clay,
the surface on which the Williams power is least effective. I'm
actually hoping that Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo can do the job in
the fourth round (not likely, but her two-handed style of play
deserves to attract a miracle!).

Pessimistic prediction:
1r - Nadia Petrova, 3-6 1-4 retired

Optimistic prediction:
1r + Nadia Petrova, 6-3 6-1
2r + Janette Husarova, 6-4 6-2
3r + AMANDA COETZER [17], 6-2 7-5
4r + JENNIFER CAPRIATI [7], 6-4 3-6 7-5
qf - VENUS WILLIAMS [3], 4-6 6-7

Fantastic prediction:
1r + Nadia Petrova, 6-3 6-1
2r + Janette Husarova, 6-4 6-2
3r + AMANDA COETZER [17], 6-2 7-5
4r + Marion Bartoli, 6-3 6-2
qf + Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo, 6-4 6-3
sf + JELENA DOKIC [10], 5-7 6-4 8-6
f + DANIELA HANTUCHOVA [9], 6-4 5-7 6-3

Other Selesian first-round matches not listed above:
WS: Akiko Morigami* v Barbara Schett
MS: Hicham Arazi v Raemon Sluiter*
MS: Michael Chang v Fabrice Santoro*
MS: Jan-Michael Gambill* v FERNANDO GONZALEZ [19]

--
Andrew Broad
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/tennis/
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/tennis/seles/