So it finally happened. Monica lost in the first round of a Grand
Slam at her 39th attempt. Not unexpected given that Monica's very
participation had been jeopardised by her latest stress-fracture (I'm
not actually sure which foot it is this time). Nevertheless, this
triggers the old prophecy about the end of the world and the coming
of the Antiseles. It's probably in its mother's womb right now.
Repent!

Monica played hard-hitting Russian Nadia Petrova (who, ironically,
beat Karina Habsudová in the first round of Karina's last French Open
in 2001) on Court One at Roland Garros on Tuesday evening - the
latest possible time, which suggests Monica had asked the tournament-
organisers for recovery-time. Repent!

The match started at 19:28 DST (French time). I followed live-score
updates at www.rolandgarros.org.

Monica made an encouraging start, holding serve in the opening game,
and breaking to 30 for 2-0. Then she was 40/15 up on her serve - two
points for a 3-0 lead - but then lost four points in a row to get
broken back. Repent!

Petrova held for 2-2, then Monica was again pegged back from 40/15 to
40/40. But this time she escaped a game of five deuces, saving one
break-point in the process, and held for 3-2 with an ace.

Monica took a 4-2 lead by breaking to 15 (the last game she would
win). But Petrova upped her tempo for the rest of the match, breaking
back to love to make it 4-3. Repent!

The game on Petrova's serve at 3-4 was probably the key to the first
set. Monica had three break-points at 0/40, but was pegged back to
40/40. She had a fourth break-point, but after three deuces, Petrova
held to level up at 4-4. Repent!

Petrova broke Monica to love, and thus served for the first set at 5-
4. Petrova had three set-points at 40/0. Monica saved the first two,
but Petrova won the first set 6-4 at 20:07 DST. Repent!

It was always going to be tough for an injured Monica to recover from
a set down, but the second set went nightmarishly wrong. Monica was
broken to 15 in the first game. She pegged Petrova back from 40/15 to
40/40, but couldn't stop her holding for 2-0. Monica was broken to 30
for 3-0. Petrova held to love for 4-0. Repent!

I just wanted Monica to win a game now, or at least retire to prevent
an embarrassing scoreline from going down in history. Serving at 0-4,
she saved break-points at 30/40 and Advantage Petrova, but was broken
after the second deuce. Repent!

Monica made a dying kick as Petrova served for the match at 5-0. She
had 0/30, but it went to 30/30. Monica had one break-point at 30/40,
and saved one match-point, but after the second deuce Petrova won the
match at 20:30:19 DST. The ordeal had lasted 61 minutes. Repent!

I wish Monica had retired in that second set. People who don't know
better are going to look at that scoreline and think that Monica is
simply a **** player in her old age. Repent!

Monica hit 12 double-faults (Petrova 4), only won 26% of points on
2nd serve (Petrova 63%), and hit 20 winners (Petrova 18) but 48
unforced errors (Petrova 25). These statistics suggest that Monica
went for broke, trying to avoid long rallies on the gruelling clay,
but it didn't work. Repent!

Photos:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030527/168/4767a.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030527/168/4767p.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030528/168/47eof.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030528/168/47eoh.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030528/241/479me.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030528/241/47aij.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030527/241/4762l.html

More at Monica's French Open page:
http://www.rolandgarros.org/en_FR/bios/ws/wtas141.html

"I was debating playing or not. Like I said in Rome, I wanted to play
in the French Open and once I decided to play, I gave it my best
shot. That was definitely not one of my best performances, but it was
the best that I could give today. I wasn't coming here with too many
expectations; obviously my wish to play is not matching my
performance and I just have to accept that. Last year I had a very
good year, and when I'm healthy, I know I can play well, have good
results and still have real pleasure out there."

Monica admitted that the injury may cause her to miss Wimbledon, or
even retire altogether. :-((( But she's not going to rush into any
rash decisions.

"This year has not been a good year. I just have to give it a break
and reassess what I'm going to do. I know I'm in the later stages of
my career. I don't have the luxury of taking five-to-six months off.
At the same time, I don't want to have surgery. I'm hard-headed but I
understand that I just have to give it time. I might have to take a
bit of a longer break. Definitely, I would love to play Wimbledon.
But if I'm at the level I was here, you definitely won't see me."

Was this her last French Open?

"If I can't practice the level that I want to, yeah, definitely. And
if I can, then for sure not, because this is not the way I would like
to leave. I do think if I'm healthy I can play good tennis, and I
won't give up - but I also must listen to my body. It's no fun to
play when you're in pain. I'm learning that this year. I'll try to
stay positive and stay in shape, and we'll see."

This was not only Monica's first-ever loss in the first round of a
Grand Slam, but the first time she had ever failed to reach the
quarter-finals of the French Open in ten previous attempts. Repent!

Tuesday 27th May 2003 will go down as one of the blackest dates in
Selesian history. It's the day when the Nando SportServer closed
down, having served as my favourite source of tennis-news and photos
since Monica's comeback in 1995. It's also the day I purchased
Radiohead's tear-jerking (by Thom Yorke's own admission) new
single "There There":

There's always a siren
Singing you to shipwreck
Steer away from these rocks
We'd be a walking disaster

Just because you feel it
Doesn't mean it's there.


Monica herself may have been a walking disaster, but it was a good
first round for the Selesians who were actually able to run:

+ Fabrice Santoro beat Michael Chang, 7-5 6-1 6-1

A poignant match as this is Chang's last French Open.

Photos of Fabrice Santoro:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030527/168/4742w.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030527/170/475li.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030527/168/475ma.html

+ Marion Bartoli beat Rossana Neffa-de los Ríos, 6-3 6-0
+ María Antonia Sánchez Lorenzo beat ELENA DEMENTIEVA (13), 6-3 6-3

A very impressive result for María Antonia. She's vastly more
experienced on clay than Dementieva; this is María Antonia's seventh
French Open.

Photo of María Antonia Sánchez Lorenzo:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030527/168/4749z.html


We said goodbye in the first round to the following Selesians:

- Jan-Michael Gambill lost to FERNANDO GONZALEZ (19), 6-0 6-2 6-3
- Raemon Sluiter lost to Hicham Arazi, 6-2 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-0

Photo of Jan-Michael Gambill:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030527/168/473n4.html

- Akiko Morigami lost to Barbara Schett, 4-6 6-4 6-0

Repent!

This French Open had such wishful beginnings, with four of my five
fanship-players passing the first round. But then Monica lost, and
has been quickly followed out of the exit-door by Daniela Hantuchová
and Iva Majoli. The only ones I've got left are Jelena Dokic and
Iroda Tulyaganova (who will upset Lindsay Davenport tomorrow).

Repent!

--
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/

P.S. I have added the new photos to the Photos section:
* Monica Seles > 2003 (+3 photos)
* María Antonia Sánchez Lorenzo (+1 photo)
* Fabrice Santoro (+3 photos)
* Jan-Michael Gambill (+1 photo)